Fremer's review of the Anna cartridge

I would like to hear it in a very controlled setting with familiar music. I'm sure it is one of a handful of top cartridges that is reaching for new levels of performance. The technology is kind of cool and I'm sure we will see more audio items like the VPI arm made using this laser melt process.

I agree with Syntax.

Regarding the Anna, it is very interesting that Ortofon did not address this in the Manufacturer's Comments in the same Stereophile issue. I wonder why.

I do wish more members owned it so we could hear from them about the quality and sonics. The $7-10K cartridge market is getting crowded so I think it would be interesting if we could read direct comparisons between say the Atlas, the Anna, the Dynavector, Koetsu, AirTight, MSL.

Thanks for you post Mike. This is the first I have read that that initial run of 8-10 cartridges were "pre-release" samples. Fremer makes no mention of this in the review. The episode had been described to me by a friend overseas as a "recall" of the fist production batch for the US market. Ortofon did take a high road not to discuss this in the Manufacturer's Comments section, but by not doing so, perhaps they became more vulnerable to more questions.

I think the thread has taken the course set out by the original title. I do think that the merits of the MC Anna should be discussed, but perhaps it will take the initiation of a new thread to do so.

I'm interested in hearing this cartridge, but did not go to CES and am not aware of a dealer around the Boston area that has one on demo, so this thread or some other about the cartridge would be most interesting. I would love to read from owners, about how the Anna compares to other cartridges like the Atlas, MSL Gold, AirTight Supreme or XV-1t. Valin does compare it to the Clearaudio.

I don't expect much mention of the Valin review in this thread because of the title of this thread. Both reviews do describe the Anna in pretty high terms and it would be interesting to compare those opinions to others held by owners or those who have heard it in their own systems. It is a relatively heavy cartridge at 16g, and as such would not be as ideal a match for my SME V-12 arm which is ideally suited for a cartridge that weighs 12.5g enabling the counterweight to be as close to the pivot as possible. But I am intrigued by the technology of this and the A90 and think that perhaps Ortofon is leading the way toward a whole new way to construct cartridges. And we all benefit from their pursuit of the next level of performance.

Finally, I don't read this thread as a bashing of the Anna. There have been some pretty critical comments towards Ortofon, but the real focus it seems to me is on Fremer and the choices that he made in writing the review. You comment on precisely this and I think this is what this thread is mostly about. Some have commented on QC in general and in this industry in particular, and that too is a legitimate issue that many of us have experienced.

Doug, from the quote you used, I did not mean to imply that Mike and Fremer were beta testing these cartridges. Is there any mention of that anywhere? I'm not sure I'd assume that Ortofon was beta testing this batch of 8-10 with US customers. I would think that a company as large as Ortofon and with its resources would use different methods to test cartridges, but I may be mistaken.

Fremer's review reads like any other current production component review. There is no mention of beta testing or pre release in the review itself. I think Fremer got his three review samples from Ortofon directly. Also, it seems that Mike bought his Anna as a show-demo and that Fremer's review sample was not from this initial 8-10 US batch. It would be interesting to know how many of the 8-10 had problems and if this batch was produced before or after Fremer's three samples.

I agree that Ortofon should have just addressed this openly, honestly and early. Assuming the Anna sounds as wonderful as Mike describes, there will surely be many more sold with positive user reviews in the future.