The Article

MAYA MOVING COIL FROM SEGNO

3rd March 2026

Positioned at an intriguing price point and married to some equally intriguing tech, Paul Rigby is…intrigued

A new moving coil priced at a pound less than £1,000? That is the new Segno Maya. Created by the UK’s own Guy Sergeant (with expert assistance) whom some may know for his work with Pure Sound.

Sergeant honed his cartridge making skills at the shoulder of Kondo, the founder of Audio Note in Japan.

WIRING

Sporting an attractive finish to a box-shaped alloy chassis with – thank goodness – threaded bolt holes but a slightly ill-fitting stylus guard, the Maya peaks the interest because it uses 5N (99.999%) pure silver coils.

From memory, I would suggest that most MC carts at this price point tend to use copper. So I was interested to hear how that silver choice would impact on the sound and thus differentiate it from the competition.

MAGNETS

The coils are suspended in a field generated by a rare earth, Samarium Cobalt magnet. While not unheard of, it is an interesting and relatively rare choice. Mainly because they are expensive and awkward to work with being rather brittle and less forgiving overall during manufacturing.

I would suggest that most companies would target cheaper magnets to save a bit of cash and hassle so plumping for a Samarium Cobalt is a bold choice.

Again, I was interested to know how that sounded.

CANTILIVER

The stylus tip is of a fine line profile and that is mounted into a very stiff Titanium cantilever. Again, this is relatively rare. Heavier than boron perhaps but harder to work with than aluminium.

Again, from memory, I think higher end and older designs from the likes of Technics, Audio-Technica and Panasonic…even JVC are the closest companies I can think of who made a similar selection and I would say it’s a option based on tonal preferences more than anything. But its not a common choice at this price.

So again, I’m interested to know how sound will be impacted.

In fact, let’s get to those sound possibilities.

SOUND QUALITY

I grabbed a couple of albums to test the Maya. The first is Irisation and Las Plantas on the Wah Wah label from, I think, 2007 an album full of acoustic guitar pickings, xylophones, a ton of secondary percussion and pastoral flavours. The second was poppy jazz funk from Level 42’s self-titled 1981 album and the track Turn it On which, I know I’ve used a lot, but has been useful for the recent analogue reviews.

VS GOLDRING ETHOS

To begin? I drafted in my Goldring Ethos, one of the best moving coils priced around the £1k mark that I have heard in many a year sporting an aluminium cantilever, neodymium magnet and copper coils. Soundwise from the Goldring? Smooth mids, balanced output, great detail, broad soundstage and a surprisingly confident bass output, the Maya immediately had a tough challenge on its hands. The Maya would have to go some to even get close to the Goldring, I have to say.

The loading on the Ethos requires 100 Ohms. The Maya recommends between 10 and 100 Ohms but I would look at around 50 Ohms or less. For me, 100 Ohms produced a slightly peaky treble and edgy midrange on the Maya. Everything settled nicely when I backed off that top-end figure. Use your ears to find your own sweet spot but I would certainly move down hill towards 50 and below if you can.

In that sweet spot, the Maya offered exceptional focus and precision. That precision meant that notes started and stopped with immense accuracy. There was zero slurring from this cartridge and music skipped along at pace.

You know? CD players, at least back in my day, spent half of their time trying to sound ‘analogue’. Well, the Maya takes the opposite point on view because it does sound rather CD-like in terms of the precision, accuracy and focus. At the recommended average tracking force of 2g, that precision was almost military in its presentation. So I decreased the tracking to 1.75 to soften things a little which helped to balance the sound. Even so, that combination of the analogue-inspired open, airy and fragile cymbals combined well with the more meticulous presentation from the same.

And don’t think this description is code for bright and edgy sound. Far from it. Vocals are insightful, mids are open and spacious while bass is crisp and punchy. Analogue with the best parts of digital, I would say.

VS ORTOFON CADENZA BRONZE

So how does the Maya compare to a cartridge twice its own price? The £2k Ortofon Cadenza Bronze sporting gold-plated copper coils, neodymium magnet and aluminium cantilever. The Bronze does have an epic, magnificent sound output: larger, very stage-y with a big and bold presence, more imposing bass, broadly balanced in presentation terms too.

What the Maya does that the Cadenza Bronze does not is focus on accuracy. The focus and precision is greater from the Maya while clarity and midrange insight is also superior from the Maya. The Cadenza isn’t bad at all in these areas but the Maya excels and wins out.

CONCLUSION

I didn’t know what to expect from the Segno Maya but I wasn’t prepared for that terrific, meticulous presentation combined with an airy, open midrange and crisp bass. The fact that it fights its corner well and scores points on my £2k reference cartridge just shows the Maya’s high value for money too.

Guy Sergeant is to be congratulated. Not just for the resultant sound quality from this bold and adventurous design but by offering consumers a real choice in sound direction. It makes a refreshing change from the often, rather safe and bland designs we are used to seeing at this price point.

Highly recommended and definitely worth a listen, if you’re looking to upgrade from a moving magnet or a low-cost moving coil, grab this little blue box.

SEGNO MAYA MOVING COIL CARTRIDGE

Price: £999

Website: www.puresound.info

GOOD: clarity, midrange accuracy, crisp bass, overall focus

BAD: nothing