Analogtechnik’s Ice Age cartridge

 

I’ve been a loyal follower (and satisfied paying customer) of Daniel Kim Dong Bum and his handmade creations from the beginning of his Analogtechnik’s adventure 💫

His skills are awesome and his dedication as a musician (he’s a pro operatic singer) and a precision artisan are out-of-this-world.

… but I already sang the merits of the Man and the Artisan… what’s new to share with you?

I got my very own Ice Age DST15 with fossil (mammoth) ivory cantilever and meteorite magnets: this is the pimped, hot-rod, full-Monty, top-of-the-line handmade cartridge just close to the VERY top-liner - i.e. - the ultra-limited edition DST17, the Queen of Unobtanium. 

Daniel infused in my cartridge all his considerable knowledge and care in finely tuning all the parts which makes this cartridge to be what it is: a statement or the ultimate phono transducer for the discerning music lover.

A musical instrument more than a piece of gear.

Before getting my Ice Age’s I already appreciated some pictures of the building steps which Daniel shared with me and I really looked forward in mounting on 13” The Peak arm.

The ivory cantilever 💫

Today I felt it was time - thanking the rainy day - to open the double carton box which protected the cartridge from road abuses and I finally handled the hefty headshell and mounted and fiddled with VTF and VTA and…

… the arm-lift slowly descended to hit the first grooves of an Enja’s Dollar Brand disc and…

Norma Winston sounded unbelievable 💫

I knew this record quite well, both for his great music and recording AND for a quite “unfriendly” piano tone, ringing like a toy-piano… sure not a Bösendorfer’s…

At first notes I slightly tuned the VTA “on-the-fly” with the always useful Fidelity Research B-60 VTA arm-base to better catch and at same time tame this idiosyncratic piano character…

The brand-new Ice Age’s obeyed to my fine-tuning and after a few minutes I was captured into this “Grande Bellezza”💫

I enjoyed Dollar Brand, then calmly yet feverish I swapped to Bill Frisell, then to a Windham live, then… some Ian Carr’s Nucleus… then…

I wasn’t listening to my vinyl discs for awhile so (maybe) I got a bit of Stendhal’s Syndrome as everything sounded pellucid and gorgeous and lively and true to life, almost painfully true to life.

Considering that my previous Analogtechnik’s was a La Scala DST15 not a cheap, lesser Chinese mass-produced cartridge, nonetheless, listening to the Ice Age, proved to be a journey into myself, into my musical memory and DNA: my conclusion was simple… I’ve been experiencing my very personal idealization of “music at home” made real, almost tangible.

Relaxed yet lively, beefy, organic yet airy and detailed and transparent… I’d risk to become pathetic in my plea about the merits of this cartridges from outer space: I consider myself a sincere, unbiased and straightforward music scholar, always happy to learn more and more… but when experiencing such a level of refinement in audio art, words sound dull and not sufficient to express the inner joy and pleasure while listening to my Gotorama in such a full bloom.

I’d sincerely wish Daniel get crazy and will give away his magical handicrafts for peanuts, but - keeping feet on the ground as it won’t happen - do as I did: stop collecting tin-soldiers and those boring stamps, quit your local pub, stop smoking, get sober, save here and there and your Ice Age will be easily available and will please your ears and soul for years to come.

Kudos to Daniel Kim Dong Bum for this unique achievement which I’m so much enjoying.

My deepest thanks goes also to my pal Misho Myronov for his amazing Wooden Phonostage which still sits on the throne with its amazing retrieval capabilities and to late, always missed Tim de Paravicini for his The Head SUT without whose gears music would be much lesser in my Studietto.

💫

“Music is the best” (Frank Zappa)

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