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The Zephyr Mk III IS, "something else", than a MM cart(and, yes- better than many): https://www.sound-smith.com/cartridges Watch out for tonearm mismatches, before you pick a cart. |
The problem is that MM is out of fashion in the modern High-End world. You have to go back to the late 70s or mid 80s for the best MM which you can buy even NOS (unused) if you’re afraid of the used samples. Some vintage MM cartridges, especially NOS (New Old Stock), are better than any new MM/MI, and still cheaper. The advantages of the vintage MM from the 80s is unique cantilevers like hollow pipe Boron, Beryllium. Those cantilevers are not available anymore for any cartridge manufacturer today. Also some killer styli such as Stereohedron invented by Stanton is not available today. Some vintage MMs are high compliance cartridges, like the Grace F14 LC-OFC for example. Great tracker, but must be mated with light tonearms. You can’t go wrong with Grace LEVEL II (Boron/MicroRidge), Stanton 881/981 or CS100 top of the line vintage MM high compliance cartridges, they are superb! More universal mid compliance vintage MM are Victor and Audio-Technica for example. You can’t go wrong with Victor X-1II (Beryllium/Shibata) or AT-ML170 and 180 (Gold-plated Hollow Pipe Boron / MicroLine). All these cartridges made when MM was a KING! In the golden age of analog. Most of the modern MM are not even close, but normally twice the price compared to vintage MM carts. Up to you. What is your tonearm btw ? |
Dear @dhcod : Please read carefully this thread: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/adc-26-best-pritchard-cartridge-ever-or-best-cartridge-ever Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS, R. |
Dhcod, cartridges are very competitive; therefore, you are always speaking of the cartridges in a specific price range. Would you ask someone who is the best girlfriend for you? Of course not, but that's what you are doing in a sense when you ask, "What is the best cartridge"? While cartridges in the 1K range are very good, there are many trade offs for each brand. You will have to decide which "house sound" is most conducive to the aspects of the music that floats your boat the most. I mentioned the 1K range because that's as high as I am currently going, you might go higher. For a music lover, nothing is more important than the cartridge; it can put your favorite female vocalist in the room with you, but maybe that's not what you want. Another cartridge can rock your world, but nix the female vocalist. you see, unless you are in the vicinity of 10K, your cartridge will not do everything. I have found happiness in the 1K range with a Grado Master; jazz is my thing and I love female vocalists. Just like you will have to (or you had to) discover which girl was best for you by trial and error, you will have to do the same thing with cartridges. Suggestions from others on this forum is a good starting point, but inevitably you will have to make discoveries for yourself by trial and error; that's less expensive than living with the wrong cartridge for the rest of your life. |
I found this comprehensive cartridge review by Michael Fremer very useful: https://www.stereophile.com/taxonomy/term-a/172 Based on the above, and budget, I chose the Clearaudio Maestro V2 Ebony MM cartridge, sound is excellent IMHO. I have no plans to change out this cartridge. |
Music is subjective while cartridge specifications and price are objective. It’s needless to compare a $200 cartridge with a 1K cartridge, but cartridges should be compared in the same price range to get anything meaningful out of the comparison. Anytime someone comes up with a cheap cartridge that’s better than an expensive one, that conversation gets deleted. In regard to cartridges, I have several points to make; each cartridge, in each price range, in each brand is unique, and there is one that will take you to "Shangri La". Forums like this are a good starting point, but you will have to experiment for yourself; anyone’s claims that a cartridge is best, means that it is the best for him, or her. |
Vortrex, thank you. No, I am not going to replace my Goldring 1042 right now. $1000 is a lot of money in my book, besides I like some edginess in the sound, Audio Note might be too refined for my taste. No way to know, though, unless you try. Nagaoka MP500 and the Audio Note cost about the same. I never really think German when it comes to analog. |
Budget, FYI, is up to $1500. That's enough for some amazing and very rare MM cartridges from the 80s in NOS condition, why do you want modern production of MM in MC era ? The problem is that you will lose money on it (if you don't like them), while the NOS or even used vintage MM heritage is only raise up in value in time, never lose. |
Dhcod, this is no game; if you are a music lover it is essential that you get as much as possible out of each and every time you play a record. Since this is for the long haul, go to the max on your budget. The Clearaudio Maestro V2 Ebony sounds like a good start. Cartridges are not an investment, they are for your supreme audio pleasure; bonds and stocks are for investment. |
Inna, $1000 is a lot of money to me to, but trading in my Sonata for the Grado Master 2 turned out to be the right way to go for me, and I have never been so delighted. I would try a new cartridge every other day if I had the dough, but that's not the case. My line of reasoning was quite simple; if I liked the Sonata, I would like the Grado Master 2 even better. |
@orpheus10 I would try a new cartridge every other day if I had the dough, but that's not the case. Why not? But only if you really like to discover some amazing cartridges. Grado MI cartridges are good until you will find something better, it's always like that. At the moment the best Grado i've tried was Joseph Grado Signature TXZ, flagship model from the 80s. Here is a good documentary about Grado Lab |
$1500 will buy one a London Super Gold. It's a Moving Iron, not Moving Magnet, producing an output voltage of 5mV! The Herron phono amp has enough headroom to handle the London's unusually high output; not all do. The cartridge is not for everyone, but offers an extremely dynamic, visceral, exciting sound. |
Here's my take. Koetsu Rosewood..... Gone Various Denon DL 103R variants. Stock. Nuded. Midas aluminum body. All gone. Soundsmith top of the line ruby cantilever and diamond stylus replacements, ALL GONE !! Grado Statement. GONE !! What's left. My Audio Technical's AT150MLX. Incredibly good. But even better ( and the best I've heard ) Shure V15III ( not a type V, the III was better), with a Jico SAS stylus. Just unbelievably natural and realistic music. I can't imagine it getting better than this. Nuff said, Crazy Bill |
$1500 will buy one a London Super Gold. It's a Moving Iron, not Moving Magnet, producing an output voltage of 5mV! The Herron phono amp has enough headroom to handle the London's unusually high output; not all do. The cartridge is not for everyone, but offers an extremely dynamic, visceral, exciting sound. I wish! My SME M2-12R and the London don't play well together. I was really bummed when I found that out. |
Chakster, thanks for the documentary on Grado Labs; their philosophy of quality, and consistently delivering a product their customers appreciate is one of the reasons I buy their cartridges. Grado is called "the poor man's Koetsu" for a reason; it's as close as a poor man can get to a Koetsu. I heard a middle of the line Koetsu, and when my budget allows, I'll get one; however, in the meantime, I'm quite satisfied with the Grado Master 2. Although I moved up from the Platinum, to the Sonata, and now I have the Master, I don't recommend Grado on this forum because it's not a Rock cartridge, and that's what most here seem to prefer. In the beginning, I relied on this forum, and I was never satisfied; that's why I say each person has to make his own discovery in regard to the best cartridge for him. Enjoy the music. |
@orpheus10 I never tried a Koetsu, i’ve heard that old Koetsu is terrible cartridge in term of buid quality and Garrott Brothers in Australia fixed many of them back in the days. I’ve been using Grado for professional needs for decades on Technics turntable and tonearms. In High-End system only Joseph Grado Signature XTZ was close to my favorite carts. Rock is not my music, but Jazz, Funk and Soul is my choice. However, i don’t believe a cartridge is made for certain genre of music. My point is that there are many cartridges on the market, much more than current mafunacturers can offer, especially the MM/MI. So it’s not necessary to stick to the modern MM/MI from well known 5 manufacturers, there are many more amazing cartridges from the past (from the golden age of analog media). |
After a well regarded Audio Technica cartridge seemed skreechy in my system, a local Audio Salon sales dude I’ve known for years recommended a Sumiko Pearl, which at that time was their premier MM item...125 bucks...I like it enough that I’ve re-tipped it once...a great sounding cartridge for silly small money, doing great work on my Akito festooned Basik table. |
Thanks for all the advice! 2M Black is what you are all saying, ridiculously good... even after only 2 hours of listening. I started this process because my Lyra Delos was either broken or worn out or something. Turned out it was just dirt on the cantilever so the dealer is sending it back to me, good as half-new. It's going to be an interesting comparison because while I expect the Lyra to resolve way better, there's something about both of the MMs that I've listened to so far that's missing from the Lyra. |
SME Model 10A turntable. It comes stock with an SME 309 variation tonearm. All of the best mastering engineers from the golden era of music (60s-80s) preferred MM to MC. I’ve also personally compared MC and MM to many real actual master tapes. MC is severely EQed and distorted. MM is practically indistinguishable from tape. |
I use a JA Michell Gyro SE with the latest Gen Techno Arm and so far the Two cartridges I really love in the $1K range are the Dynavector 20X2L and the CA Maestro Ebony V2. Now these are both completely different in great ways....The Maestro is beautiful and detailed, rich with a heavenly sound that excels with acoustic and vocals...just a gorgeous sound. The Dynavector is much lower output and requires a proper phono stage. The sound is ALIVE and very dynamic in that leading edges and attacks seem to be more there, you can hear the snappy snare drum and feel it too, the 20X2 is very detailed and everything I play sounds different bad or good. So while both of these are great choices it comes down to musical taste and what sound your trying to get from your system. Also, I use a Manley Chinook phono stage so I was able to dial in both these cartridges very well. Matt M |
