Sumiko Songbird cartridge promises finer details from your vinyl

(Image credit: Sumiko)

The vinyl revival of recent years has also meant a renewed level of interest in products such as phono stages and cartridges. Sumiko has been in the business of cartridges for more than 40 years and the Sumiko Songbird is the latest addition to its Reference Series.

Manufactured in Japan, the Songbird Low Output – to give it its full name, and draw our attention to the existence of a Songbird High Output – aims to deliver the best of both worlds when it comes to reading the grooves on your records.

It marries the performance of moving coil cartridges with a design that's compatible with moving magnet phono preamps.

Borrowing learnings and technology from the flagship Sumiko Starling cartridge, the mass has been reduced by in turn reducing the number of high-purity copper coils, while construction vibrations have been kept to an absolute minimum.

The end result? According to Sumiko: a large stereo image, deep bass, and details that other cartridges might miss. For £899, you'd hope so.

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff and The Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).