HiFiction X-quisite ST Cartridge

One of the banes of moving-coil cartridges has been their so-called rising top end, or, to put it less politely, shrillness in the treble. In the past few years, however, a number of cartridge manufacturers have taken measures to quell this problem, mainly by improving the immunity of their cartridges to external and internal vibrations. In particular, Lyra and Ortofon have recently produced top-drawer moving coils that exhibit noticeable improvement in maintaining linearity through the frequency spectrum, particularly in the treble. Now comes the audaciously named X-quisite cartridge from the HiFiction company located in Turbenthal, Switzerland. 

The X-quisite is the brainchild of Micha Huber, the designer of the highly regarded Thales tangential-tracking pivoted tonearm. Following his studies in mechanical engineering, Huber worked for five years building prototypes for the finest Swiss watches. (He has also been a music teacher.) His designs are never less than innovative. HiFiction’s latest bragging rights center on a newly patented monoblock-ceramic design. The cartridge has been constructed so that the cantilever and coil body are not distinct but composed of one ceramic unit. In other words, the joint between the cantilever and coil body that you find on other cartridges has been eliminated. The company maintains that this more rigid approach permits unadulterated transmission of the signal from groove to cartridge. There are several versions of the X-quisite, featuring different materials that range from copper to silver to gold. 

This all sounded mouthwatering to me—and it almost goes without saying that I was eager to hear what this cartridge, which outputs 0.3mV, could deliver via my TechDAS Air Force Zero turntable and SAT CF1-09 tonearm. (Weighing in at 16.3 grams, the X-quisite is best suited for tonearms with a bit of mass.) 

After I contacted the importer Wynn Wong, who heads the eponymous Wynn Audio based in Canada, I decided to audition the silver—or ST—version, as Wynn suggested that it might well be the most revealing of the bunch. A package quickly arrived from Switzerland. Upon opening it, I was impressed by the obvious craftsmanship that went into constructing the $13,126 X-quisite (if you want to spend more you can procure the gold version). The gleaming object represented a clean design if there ever were one. Here truly was Swiss horological precision dedicated to a transducer—the X-quisite incontestably looked exquisite. But what did it sound like?

Some cartridges impress you right off the bat with their swagger or dynamics. The X-quisite wasn’t one of these. Rather, the cartridge’s most distinctive characteristic was its translucency. Any sense of haze, imprecision, or glare that you might have experienced with a previous cartridge was instantly banished and replaced by a supernatural sense of clarity. To a greater extent than any cartridge I have hitherto experienced, the X-quisite produced silent backgrounds and almost eliminated superficial clicks and pops, the latter phenomenon a result of its superb tracking ability, I suspect. The sound was most akin to that of a single-ended triode amp—the ability to stare unimpeded, as it were, into the luminous center of a note, one reproduced with what appears to be no niggling electronic detritus. For the most part, I ran the cartridge in tandem with the Ypsilon VPS 100 phono- stage and silver step-up transformer. For amplification, I switched between the new Parasound JC 1+ and Ypsilon Hyperion monoblock amplifiers. 

The X-quisite’s astonishing tonal purity came home to me on a variety of LPs. On the Quartetto Italiano’s recording of Schubert’s String Quartet in G on the Philips label, the opening movement took on a somewhat hallucinatory cast. The X-quisite rendered the opening bars of the quartet, which begins on a pianissimo major chord that crescendos to a marked double fortissimo, with such fidelity that it almost made me jump out of my seat, so well did it convey the fervor and passion of the playing, as well as the dynamic swell. At the same time, the cartridge nailed the 32^nd notes that are exchanged early on between the first and second violins and the viola. Violent plucks resounded from jet-black backgrounds, giving a sense of the hall space that they resounded into. Again and again, the X-quisite captured the tiniest details that were scanted or overlooked by other cartridges.

To call it a detail freak, however, would be to misinterpret what it is accomplishing. This was not the pursuit of detail for its own sake, but an ability to render the musical intention of the performer with uncanny accuracy. On an East German recording of Ludwig Guttler playing a trumpet concerto by Michael Haydn—yes, Franz Josef did, indeed, have a brother—I was fascinated by the cartridge’s ability to track—or, to put it another way, reproduce—the physical sensation of how much air Guttler was blowing into the trumpet to produce the sense of ebb and flow of a note. Something similar occurred on the venerable Nonesuch label’s recording of the New York Trumpet ensemble playing baroque music. Not only was each trumpeter firmly planted in his own space; it was also possible to discern how each was attacking a note. 

Coupled to this ability to track notes closely was a feeling of rhythmic solidity. There was always a sense of flow to the music, but the notes were so clearly enunciated within the musical stream that the rhythm never wavered. On the soprano Jessye Norman’s recording of Schubert lieder, the stately cadences of the song “Schwestergruss” could not have been more audible. This song begins for two measures with a dotted half note in C sharp followed by dotted quarter notes also in C sharp played in unison in the left and right hand. Then the piano glides into triplets in C sharp in the right hand marked in triple pianissimo as Norman enters. So nuanced is this cartridge that I was able to detect Norman’s American accent creep in on the words “von der.” Elsewhere, Norman begins with a tiny trill—the cartridge captured it with laser-like precision, which is to say that it was about as lifelike as you can get. The sensation was akin to a concert at the Kennedy Center years ago when I heard Midori play a solo that ended with a high C at pianissimo. You could have heard a pin drop as the note cut all the way to the back of the concert hall with spooky audibility. Fascinating, isn’t it, how a note that is played at such a low level can command our attention more acutely than a bombastic one? 

Lest you think I was only swanning about in the rarefied reaches of the classical music world, I hasten to assure you that this was most certainly not the case. I put the cartridge through a different set of paces with Sonny Rollins’ classic album Way Out West. This album was superbly recorded by Lester Koenig and remastered by Doug Sax. Once again, I heard the virtues of the X-quisite come to the fore on tunes such as “I’m An Old Cowhand.” The X-quisite captured the extra accent that he put on the first note of the refrain, giving it a sense of momentum. The effortless purity—there’s that word again—of Rollins’ saxophone was also abundantly clear. The sound was easy, unforced, effortless. Ditto for Herb Alpert’s jaunty album Whipped Cream & Other Delights. 

You might think that given the level of detail I’ve described—you can practically hear each wooden bar resounding separately on a marimba—that the X-quisite might be harmonically bleached or overly analytical. This is emphatically not the case. In fact, the cartridge had a rather sinuous quality that came out very well, indeed, on the Alpert album. His trumpet playing has a lingering and seductive cast on the song “Tangerine.” The X-quisite almost seemed to have the ability to suspend time, as notes hung in the air for a split second before terminating in the blissful ether. Then there was its prowess at reproducing overtones. On an album that I would never have discovered absent the sage counsel of Jonathan Weiss of Oswalds Mill Audio, a recording of Scheherazade by Larry Coryell, I was mightily chuffed, as the Brits say, to hear the richness of the chords as the music heated up, becoming progressively more intricate and technically challenging. 

For all its accomplishments, I believe that some vinyl mavens, particularly those who favor large-scale orchestral works or rock music, are likely to want more overt dynamics than the X-quisite produces. This is a detailed and smooth cartridge that penetrates deep into the recesses of the grooves to unearth buried sonic treasures. But the very immaculate character of the X-quisite means that it does not add any extra punch to drums or bulk to the bass. It is extremely nimble in the nether regions, but not prodigious. What it delivers on deep left-hand piano notes, for example, is a granitic tonal foundation with no sense of blur or bloat. But it is not going to give you the sonic equivalent of a Technicolor presentation. It will seduce, not overwhelm, you.

A distinguished entrant into the cartridge wars, the X-quisite offers a winning combination of refinement and suppleness. Throughout, the X-quisite maintains absolute command over pitch, dynamics, and rhythm in the most intricate and delicate passages. In my view, it is well-suited for the vinyl connoisseur searching for the musical truth. The X-quisite’s unique Swiss mix of virtues means that it goes a long way toward providing it. 

Specs & Pricing

Output voltage: 0.3mV @ 5cm/s
Compliance: 12
Tracking force: 1.9–2.1g
Stylus: Micro-ridge
Coil: Pure silver 4N
Cantilever and coil body: Monoblock ceramic (patented)
Body: Titanium-aluminum-wood
Loading: 400–800 ohms
Weight: 16.6g
Price: $13,126

WYNN AUDIO (North American importer)
Unit 31, 20 Wertheim Court
Richmond Hill, ON
L4B3A8 Canada
(212) 826-1111
wynnaudio.com
info@wynnaudio.com

HIFICTION AG
Tösstalstrasse 14
8488 Turbenthal
+41 44 533 88 99
info@hifiction.ch