If you are looking at TCO, Van den hul's have 2 advantages:
1) They have a special shaped tip that supposedly lasts between 25-3500 hours, 25% or more longer than ellipticals and the like because of the way they sit in the record groove. Mine just completely wore out after 9+ years (definitely over 2500). There was no degradation of sound until the very end when it sounded terrible for one song and then wouldn't track at all. This benefit is for all VDHs, not just the most expensive ones.
2) Van den hul services them and brings them back to original condition and only charges for what is needed supposedly for a very reasonable fee. Since the ugly virus, shipping in and out of the Netherlands is an unreliable venture so they bent over backwards and replaced it with a brand new one for not much more than a complete service that assumes replacement of all wearable parts. I think this is due to their new US distributor, VPI, really emphasizing customer service and satisfaction. A pleasure to deal with - even with a person coming in with a table from their competitor, Rega (luckily, I live within an hour of their offices - a really cool place). If I ever look to make a tt change, they will have a new client, assuming they can get their gimbal arms to be competitive with Rega.
A non-economic advantage - VDH cartridges simply present the music as intended IMHO - accurate, fast, and tight. Not warm, lush, dry, humid?, crisp, or whatever coloring terms you like to use or may like. If you want it to sound like live music in a studio or real live music from a live album, they are a great choice. And a dealer told me that in a system that they won best in show in the last year - cost no object, the cartridge and phono stage were higher end VDHs, part of a $400K system that supposedly beat multiple $1 systems.
1) They have a special shaped tip that supposedly lasts between 25-3500 hours, 25% or more longer than ellipticals and the like because of the way they sit in the record groove. Mine just completely wore out after 9+ years (definitely over 2500). There was no degradation of sound until the very end when it sounded terrible for one song and then wouldn't track at all. This benefit is for all VDHs, not just the most expensive ones.
2) Van den hul services them and brings them back to original condition and only charges for what is needed supposedly for a very reasonable fee. Since the ugly virus, shipping in and out of the Netherlands is an unreliable venture so they bent over backwards and replaced it with a brand new one for not much more than a complete service that assumes replacement of all wearable parts. I think this is due to their new US distributor, VPI, really emphasizing customer service and satisfaction. A pleasure to deal with - even with a person coming in with a table from their competitor, Rega (luckily, I live within an hour of their offices - a really cool place). If I ever look to make a tt change, they will have a new client, assuming they can get their gimbal arms to be competitive with Rega.
A non-economic advantage - VDH cartridges simply present the music as intended IMHO - accurate, fast, and tight. Not warm, lush, dry, humid?, crisp, or whatever coloring terms you like to use or may like. If you want it to sound like live music in a studio or real live music from a live album, they are a great choice. And a dealer told me that in a system that they won best in show in the last year - cost no object, the cartridge and phono stage were higher end VDHs, part of a $400K system that supposedly beat multiple $1 systems.