The Etsuro Urushi Cobalt Blue is a remarkable groove tracer that gets to the heart and soul of music in a way that might just be superior to any other cartridge I have had at home. It excavates as much detail from the groove as my Lyra Kleos SL, which places it at or near the pinnacle of cartridge design at this level. Its facility for low-level detail retrieval, from brushed triangle to ambient hall cues to the subtle nuance of a player’s technique on guitar or piano, is simply superb. What makes it so extraordinary, though, is the way it accomplishes this while presenting music as a richly textured experience that never strays into harshness.
This cartridge is supremely neutral and offers impressive levels of bass extension, hitting deeper and harder than pretty much anything I have ever fitted to a tonearm. My Lyra Kleos SL is slightly brighter at the top end, with perhaps an even more soaring sense of dynamics on (for example) female vocals, which can make music seem a shade more dramatic and exciting at times. The Cobalt Blue counters by offering a more liquid sense of flow to the music. Overall, I feel they operate on a very similar level at a similar price point. Both are stellar cartridges, among the best in the world. If you are in the market for a cartridge of impeccable quality, they should both be at the top of your list for audition. Which you ultimately prefer is going to be a markedly subjective decision based on your tonal priorities.