Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

If the closure of Japanese cartridge manufacturer, Koetsu, in 2024 left a gap in the lives of analogue fans the world over, it also left a gap in the portfolio of its UK distributor, Absolute Sounds. In this case, the door led to cartridge brand Analog Relax, and the EX300 under consideration here is its entry level model, retailing in the UK for £2698.

Analog Relax is a Japanese company, based in Tokyo, and focused on ‘creating handcrafted state-of-the-art moving-coil cartridges with a modern attitude, while still respecting and being faithful to the Japanese artisanal traditions’. Now, I don’t know about you, but that recipe sounds somewhat familiar. Could the Koetsu-sized hole in the vinyl world have found a plug?

And... relax

The brand was set up by Yasushi Yurugi, who describes himself as loving ‘analogue records and coffee more than anything else’ and admits to having a collection of several thousand records and eight turntables – a man after my own heart. Yurugi-san graduated from university, at first working in design, then product planning and marketing. Next was a transition to business development in the world of IT and network infrastructure.

The Analog Relax founder confesses to feeling ‘a bit strange about the current world trends that prioritise efficiency and sales above all else’, concluding that the increasing digitisation of the world is indeed bringing convenience, but at the expense of people’s sense of internal harmony and satisfaction. This led him to start his own business developing products and services to support people’s ‘natural happiness’, something that chimes with the Japanese ethos generally. After all, Yamaha is a huge Japanese corporation and, on first glance, makes an odd cross-section of products. But its musical instrument and motorsport portfolio makes perfect sense when you realise the company aims to make things that ‘bring people joy’.

On a mission

Yurugi-san is a drummer, tenor sax player and founder of the world’s only fan club dedicated to American jazz saxophonist Zoot Sims, so for his new company, analogue music reproduction was an obvious focus. The result is Analog Relax, a boutique manufacturer of MC cartridges with a mission statement of giving ‘top priority to making you happy’. And Yurugi-san has even taken his enthusiasm a step further by naming Analog Relax’s parent company ‘ZOOT Communication LLC’.

Above: Well spaced and clearly colour-coded cartridge pins make for a secure connection with your headshell leads. Although the body has numerous angles, setup and alignment is not difficult

As it stands, the Analog Relax range is four-strong and encompasses the EX300, EX500, EX1000 and EX2000 models, retailing for £2698, £4998, £10,998 and £15,000, respectively. The main differences between each model are found in their respective stylus profiles, cantilever and body materials. The company also has an accessories side, offering two record cleaning brushes and two different types of headshell leads. Of the latter, the ‘JP’ types are high quality but relatively conventional, but the ‘Emotional Lead Wire’ variants are rather special, featuring a hand-crafted and highly polished finish to the wires similar to that used for traditional Japanese swords. Two versions of these headshell leads are available – ‘Mellow’ and ‘Soul’ – to match your musical preference.

Body and soul

The EX300 MC seen here is based around a generator using neodymium magnets, and has an elliptical diamond stylus. This is fixed to an aluminium cantilever using Analog Relax’s ‘IF adhesive technology’ [see boxout]. The body material is walnut, a wood also sometimes used for the necks and bodies of guitars. Maple, yakusugi cedar and spruce are used on the manufacturer’s pricier models. The EX300’s body is polished to a luxuriant finish using beeswax which, as Analog Relax quaintly puts it, ‘makes you feel even more excited’.

The top of the cartridge is fitted with a metal plate containing tapped holes for easy fitment. Although the cartridge body has some very elegant angles on it, the front face with the Analog Relax badge is perpendicular to the body sides, so installation and alignment is quite straightforward. The EX300’s generator impedance is 15ohm, meaning that a ‘standard’ MC stage’s 100ohm input impedance should be fine. Tracking force is stated to be 2.0g with no suggested range given, but I found this value was about right, with no great gains achieved by tweaking in either direction.

What’s in a name
With Analog Relax’s EX300 fitted to the SME 309 tonearm [HFN Jan ’23] on my regular Michell Gyro SE, I couldn’t help but think that the company has chosen an apt name for itself. This cartridge is very relaxing to listen to, and this inspires you to search out the sort of material that lets you hear it at its best. I had the best ‘results’ with jazz, smooth classical and a variety of acoustic works.

In part this is due to a tonal balance that errs towards ‘warm’ without sounding soft or woolly, nor particularly diminished in treble clarity or detail. Rather, the EX300’s balance serves to accentuate the richness of the upper midband, which works an absolute treat on the genres favoured by Yurugi-san.

Above: Utilitarian, certainly, but Analog Relax’s soft-covered case and alloy stylus cover offer belt-and-braces protection!

Fed this favoured musical diet, Analog Relax’s entry-level MC set up a majestic swathe of information between and well beyond the placement of the loudspeakers – in fact, this is a real ace up its sleeve. Front-to-back depth perspective was perfectly acceptable, if not exceptional, while the sense of stereo ‘height’ was arguably a little truncated. My PMC twenty5.24 floorstanders [HFN May ’17] are over a metre tall on their spikes, but they seemed to have shrunk ever so slightly with Analog Relax’s cartridge at the helm!

However, this is less an impediment, more a quirk. Charlie Haden’s upright bass during his take on the Miles Davis-penned ‘Nardis’ The Private Collection; Naim Records LP110, appeared slightly smaller in scale than I am accustomed to but didn’t lack for weight in any way. Indeed, the EX300 isn’t shy or retiring when it comes to the low-end, and here added a frisson of fruitiness to the bass strings which was most welcome. All the while, Ernie Watts’ saxophone sounded bold and sonorous, with a real sense of air moving.

Bloomin’ lovely

Analog Relax’s pick-up continued to deliver the goods with music a little more rock-oriented. The funk-infused bass line of Donald Fagen’s ‘Miss Marlene’, from his Sunken Condos album [Reprise Records 93624-94784], skipped along with a deftness of touch that kept the track moving forward beautifully. Again, a little richness was present that added a slight ‘bloom’ to every note, but the rhythm and timing of the piece were never compromised. Once more, it just seemed to be a facet of the cartridge’s innate tonal character – and the EX300 was no less enjoyable for it.

Treble handling was very impressive, with an agreeable balance struck between insight and smoothness. The cymbals being repetitively hit at the beginning of ‘Sea Within A Sea’, the closing track on Brit band The Horrors’ Primary Colours LP [XL Recordings XLLP418], enjoyed a fine metallic ‘ring’ and plenty of clarity. The EX300 delivered them with a little less impact than I am used to, though – almost as if drummer Joe Spurgeon had been told to tone it down just a bit for this one play.

The rest of this MC’s performance held together brilliantly until this seven-minute epic started to get a little ‘busier’. Now the EX300 seemed a little less sure-footed. Previously it had laid the band musicians out well but as the composition became more densely packed, the soundstage seemed to shrink in on itself. The overall musical message was still strong but it became less easy to pick out individual aspects – until the pace slowed, the soundstage spread out and the cartridge’s performance became more authoritative again.

Ravel ’n’ Rafferty

Perhaps this says something about the EX300’s temperament. It is very confident in capturing the heart of both instruments and vocalists when they are playing more steadily, but seems to struggle to keep up when things get more boisterous. Neither is this observation material-dependent. The magnificent climax to the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra’s recording of Ravel’s Boléro [TACET L207], conducted by Carlo Rizzi, experienced the same effect as The Horrors’ psyche-rock.

Above: Alloy cantilever is clear to see here [and see boxout], while the coils and magnet yoke are screened from dust, and more, behind an impregnated fabric cover

All this being said, when the EX300 finds its happy place, it really does give a joyous presentation. Its rendition of Gerry Rafferty’s ‘On A Night Like This’ [North And South; London Records LONLP55] kept things just the right side of lively to ensure that the well spaced and clearly defined production remained stable and focused. I was also thrilled by the natural timbre and delightful weight of the piano notes during the introduction.

His master’s voice

Better still was the jazz trumpet of Quentin Collins that established the pace of ‘Paxos/Antipaxos’ from Chasing The Dragon’s Audiophile Recordings III sampler [Chasing The Dragon VALLP018]. This had a lifelike rasp, and was delicately but definitively underpinned by the backing instrumentation. Analog Relax’s founder genuinely seems to have voiced this cartridge for the type of music he appreciates. This results in a distinctive sound, but I cannot fault him for that.

Hi-Fi News Verdict

The Analog Relax EX300 is appropriately named, giving a superb account of itself when playing quieter, more considered and sophisticated material where it offers up a detailed and, yes, ‘relaxing’ presentation. Outside of this comfort zone there’s a tendency for it to be a little less sure-footed, even if the balance is never less than pleasant. This newcomer is very definitely worth seeking out for audition.

Sound Quality: 82%