Best cartridge

Given the turntable and phono preamp a MM Ortofon would be fine

Ahhh...another seeker of the Holy Grail!  Sorry for the sarcasm, but based on your investment in digital music I am going to gently advise caution.  This is coming from someone who has a vinyl preference.  Take stock of your goals first because to reach sound parity or even approach it will require quite a bit of time and money.  A good first order approximation might be a ratio of 10:1.  That is it will cost about 10x as much to reach sound parity for a good analog front end as it does for your digital one and to get there is not all about $ because unlike digital, which is plug and play, analog requires a lot of effort based on expertise which does not grow on trees.  So, before you embark on this adventure be sure of what you want and why you want it.  If you already owned a lot of vinyl it would be one thing, but you don't.  If there is music that you wish to acquire that is only available on vinyl, then your quest makes perfect sense.  If you have convinced yourself that the sound of vinyl is sublime to the point that nothing else will do, you are lost to logic.  Welcome to the club.  My point is, first and foremost know thyself.
Understanding that advice is more than you wanted to know, the simple answer to your question is to go to Amazon or LP Gear and buy an Audio Technica moving magnet cartridge that costs somewhere around $100 to $200 (at the most) dollars.  Ortofon has been suggested and that is a good alternative.  I am suggesting AT instead because of your stated preference of high frequency extension.  Ortofons are more neutral, AT will be a bit brighter.  Both are excellent quality.

While my digital music collection numbers in the tens of thousands of tracks, my vinyl collection is quite modest (50 or so albums). As a result, I’ve never invested much in my TT setup.

You have to invest in analog and you need a better turntable, it’s pretty esy to solve the problem and purchase Technics SL1200GR (at least).

... if a cartridge can emphasize HF extension, that’s something I’d be interested in.

If you want a phono cartridge that can reproduce 10Hz - 50 000 Hz then you have to look ONLY for the cartridges with the most advanced stylus profile and high compliance! So the stylus must be something like MicroLine, MicroRidge, VdH, F.Gyger, Replicant-100, Line Contacct, Shibata, FineLine, Stereohedron ... just to give you some names. Cartridge compliance must be over 25cu @10Hz. Taking in count all these i believe you need an MM or MI cartridge with super lightweight cantilever like Titanium, Beryllium, Boron ... Those MM cartridges are not cheap! For more airy presentation you have to load them at 100k Ohm (instead of 47k Ohm which is ok too) and i’m pretty sure on Technics SL1200GR or SL1200G your analog rig will be better than digital.

Just like DACS, they all sound the same.

DAC’s don’t all sound the same, and I’m fully aware that analog sources and equipment in general are more sensitive to small changes. 

Appreciate the advice so far, including the recommendation of getting a “wheel of steel”, that’s in my eventual purchases list. 


In the meantime, I’ve bid on a Pro-Ject RPM 1 with Sumiko Pearl cartridge that’s listed here on AudioGon, which I believe would be a very meaningful upgrade from the vintage Marantz. 

As for the “why”, for me it’s more of a “why not?”. I enjoy music in general, my goals don’t include outperforming my digital front end, vinyl to me is a more tactile and involved medium that requires additional interaction with your system, which I enjoy. 

I decided recently to invest a modest amount in analogue going with a Pioneer PLX-1000 and Nagaoka MP-150. I am pleased with the sound,  and enjoy the novelty of playing a record. Music has become more of an event rather than sometimes being just background noise. I'm digging it so much that I might pull the trigger on the 1200G. 

Sumiko Pearl is nothing special, it seems like you don’t want to learn a bit about stylus profiles and cantilevers. You will not hear anything close to digital in terms of resolution if you will use donded elliptical stylus, it will be a muddy sound with rolled off bass and treble.

THIS IS THE WORST YOU CAN GET AND IT’S SUMIKO:

• bonded elliptical diamond stylus.
• alloy tube cantilever.

As stated in my earlier post here:

If you want a phono cartridge that can reproduce 10Hz - 50 000 Hz then you have to look ONLY for the cartridges with the most advanced stylus profile and high compliance! So the stylus must be something like MicroLine, MicroRidge, VdH, F.Gyger, Replicant-100, Line Contacct, Shibata, FineLine, Stereohedron ... just to give you some names. Cartridge compliance must be over 25cu @10Hz. Taking in count all these i believe you need an MM or MI cartridge with super lightweight cantilever like Titanium, Beryllium, Boron ... Those MM cartridges are not cheap (most likely over $500) !

You’d better mention the budget you are willing to spend on a phono cartridge.
If the budget is limited to $400 max then the best you can get is Stanton 881s (equal to Pickering XSV/3000) read this article.

But with double budget you can get much better MM with wider frequency response to compete with your digital.

@chakster
You are correct regarding the need to use advanced stylii, however your statement regarding compliance is an over-simplification.
I find your frequent reminders about the high level of technology and materials in best-of-class late 70s early 80s mm and mi carts useful btw.

Dear @dougeyjones : Yes, it's an up-grade to the Marantz. In the other side you own 50 LPs and starting the analog " trip " and you need to learn about and you can do it with that Pro-ject combo you bid it.

Latter on and according your self analog experiences you can know what you couild need as a second up-grade. Btw, Project and Sumiko are two very well regarded audio analog item names/manufacturers.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

@chakster
You are correct regarding the need to use advanced stylii, however your statement regarding compliance is an over-simplification.

But most MM are mid or high compliance by default. And most of the vintage MM are high compliance. However, modern MM are mid compliance or even low-ish like Nagaoka. A high compliance cartridge can stay in the groove even on seriously warped records.

I find your frequent reminders about the high level of technology and materials in best-of-class late 70s early 80s mm and mi carts useful btw.

thanks, I am more than happy with those carts.

It makes intuitive sense to me that cartridges from vinyls heyday would’ve been manufactured with higher QA standards than now, since Vinyl was the prevailing technology of the day. Even if modern manufacturing processes exceed those of yesteryear. 

Cool info. 

Yeah, before the CDs the market for phono cartridges was huge, vinyl was main format in this world. Now digital is main format. 

I was thinking about Tube analogy, obviously even NOS tubes are better than new (most of them). Tube is very simple device, but they can't make even tubes as good as the old ones. And If they can the price will be insane. I am still using pair of 45 tubes from the 1940's (paid about $150 for NOS), brand new replacement from EML in Europe will cost me $600+ for a pair. 

Dear @dougeyjones : "  It makes intuitive sense to me that cartridges from vinyls heyday would’ve been manufactured with higher QA standards than now,.... "

Intuitive sense?, maybe to you. In the old times the cartridge main alternative was MM designs and latter on changed to MC alternative.

You can ask Ortofon or Audio Technica or other cartridge manufacturers if in the past they had higher quality control with the overall cartridge building. I own old and today cartridges from the same manufacturer and I can't confirm your " intuitive sense ".
Several things already changed over so many years. If the quality been degraded through the years the LP analog experience just already disappeared and it's not that way. After the LP the cartridge is the main analog audio item, it's the one that rides those LP groove modulations: quality is a must down there.

R.

You have to invest in analog and you need a better turntable, it’spretty esy to solve the problem and purchase Technics SL1200GR (at least).

Alt .... the opener may have collected a TT1000 vintage; in this case it is not necessary to change the turntable. LOL

"You can ask Ortofon or Audio Technica or other cartridge manufacturers if in the past they had higher quality control with the overall cartridge building. I own old and today cartridges from the same manufacturer and I can't confirm your " intuitive sense ".
Several things already changed over so many years. If the quality been degraded through the years the LP analog experience just already disappeared and it's not that way. After the LP the cartridge is the main analog audio item, it's the one that rides those LP groove modulations: quality is a must down there."
I completely agree with Raul here. 

Let me add too, quality is actually defined in part as repeatability from unit to unit, and if anything the products today seem to be more consistent at least from the big companies.  Ortofon and Audio Technica have always been excellent in this regard, so maybe they have just maintained their always excellent consistency, but they may be the exception that proves the rule. 

Regards,
Bill

Up to a thousand bucks Nagoka . Hands down .

Update: Bought a Technics SL1300 MkII for a song with no cartridge from someone who didn’t know what they were selling. Have a friend repairing/replacing any broken bits and installing an Ortofon 2M Red as part of the updates. 

So SL1300 MkII —> Ortofon 2M Red —> NAD PP-3 —> Classe CAP151 


Should carry me for a good long while I think.

Benz Micro and EMT