MC-MM-MI CARTRIDGES . DO YOU KNOW WHICH HAS BETTER QUALITY PERFORMANCE? REALLY?
Dear friends:The main subject of this thread is start a dialogue to find out the way we almost all think or be sure about the thread question : " true " answer.
Many years ago I started the long Agon MM thread where several audiophiles/Agoners and from other audio net forums participated to confirm or to discover the MM/MI/IM/MF/HOMC world and many of us, me including, was and still are" surprised for what we found out in that " new " cartridge world that as today is dominated by the LOMC cartridges.
Through that long thread I posted several times the superiority of the MM/types of cartridges over the LOMC ones even that I owned top LOMC cartridge samples to compare with and I remember very clearly that I posted that the MM and the like cartridges had lower distortion levels and better frequency range quality performance than the LOMC cartridges.
In those times j.carr ( Lyra designer ) was very active in Agon and in that thread I remember that he was truly emphatic posting that my MM conclusion was not true due that things on distortion cartridge levels in reality is the other way around: LOMC has lower distortion levels.
Well, he is not only a LOMC cartridge designer but an expert audiophile/MUSIC lover with a long long and diverse first hand experiences listening cartridges in top TT, top tonearms and top phono stages and listening not only LOMC cartridges but almost any kind of cartridges in his and other top room/systems.
I never touched again that subject in that thread and years or months latter the MM thread I started again to listening LOMC cartridges where my room/system overall was up-graded/dated to way superior quality performance levels than in the past and I posted somewhere that j.carr was just rigth: LOMC design were and are superior to the other MM type cartridges been vintage or today models.
I'm a MUSIC lover and I'm not " married " with any kind of audio items or audio technologies I'm married just with MUSIC and what can gives me the maximum enjoyment of that ( every kind ) MUSIC, even I'm not married with any of my opinions/ideas/specific way of thinking. Yes, I try hard to stay " always " UNBIASED other than MUSIC.
So, till today I followed listening to almost every kind of cartridges ( including field coil design. ) with almost every kind of tonearms and TTs and in the last 2 years my room/system quality performance levels were and is improved by several " stages " that permits me better MUSIC audio items judgements and different enjoyment levels in my system and other audio systems. Yes, I still usemy test audio items full comparison proccess using almost the same LP tracks every time and as always my true sound reference is Live MUSIC not other sound system reproduction.
I know that the main thread subject is way complicated and complex to achieve an unanimous conclusions due that exist a lot of inherent differences/advantages/unadvantages in cartridges even coming from the same manufacturer.
We all know that when we talk of a cartridge we are in reality talking of its cantilever buil material, stylus shape, tonearm used/TT, compliance, phono stage and the like and my " desire " is that we could concentrate in the cartridges as an " isolated " audio item and that any of our opinions when be posible stay in the premise: " everything the same ".
My take here is to learn from all of you and that all of us try to learn in between each to other and not who is the winner but at the " end " every one of us will be a winner.
So, your posts are all truly appreciated and is a thread where any one can participates even if today is not any more his analog alternative or is a newcomer or heavily experienced gentleman. Be my guest and thank's in advance.
Regards and ENJOY THE MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.
What I have learnt from this thread is that a MI Cart' can now be acquired for $12K. Setting the Brand of that Cart's other models aside, what is the price jump from another go to MI Cart' to get to the cost referred to above, $6K, $7K, $8k as there are no in between models?. In the MC Market the outlays to get to $12K, would easily be progressive in 300 - $500 increments, even all the way up to $15K, as a result of the range of models on offer. |
@rauliruegas, thanks for the kind words and memories. Your visit was a wonderful leaning experience and meeting you was a pleasure. However I must make a correction, My Duntech speakers were Princesses. The Sovereigns were much too large for my room, not to mention well beyond my budget. But that was many years ago and many things have changed, including a major move. Unfortunately I no longer have that decent sized group of audio friends nearby. That was important since in San Diego I had opportunities to hear many different audio systems in a variety of home settings. Just like live unamplified music, and the almost embarrassing number of components I've gone through, hearing a multitude of different systems is an education for our ears. |
Looking forward to that. I could raid the retirement savings if I had to do so.
Exactly! My impression is that my LP-S and the Sussurro make two endpoints, and the Decca Reference sits between them. |
@rauliruegas I think you misunderstood me. By groove velocity I meant heavier modulation, miss-tracking. That brightness is because it does not have RIAA correction. It sounds very vivid which some people like, but it is not natural. |
@dogberry I am not so sure about the two different end points. I think that is more a characteristic of the LP-S. It has been my experience that the best cartridges of each group converge. Any sonic differences are mostly due to minor differences in amplitude response. At this moment my gold standard is the Atlas SL. From the listening I did with the Hyperion MR I suspect that once I EQ it it will sound very much like the Atlas. @lewm I suspect I listen at louder levels than you do and are more irritated by phono stage hiss. The hiss is a problem coming from the phono stage not the cartridge. Obviously with higher output cartridges this is not as much of a problem. Phono stages that will gracefully amplify very low output cartridges without audible hiss at say 95 dBSPL are very expensive. My point is that you can get even better signal to noise ratios out of high output cartridges and much less expensive phono stages. That "lean" characteristic you note with LOMC cartridges is not universal. I would never describe the Atlas, MC Diamond or Signature Platinum as lean. However, MI cartridges can easily perform at the same level. As I have mentioned on many occasions, the Soundsmith Voice can give any cartridge a run for the money using much less expensive phono stages. People speak well of the Grado Epoch and I had a Statement at one point for over a decade. It was a very enjoyable cartridge. I also suspect that less expensive MI cartridges can perform very well like your Nagaoka. Now that I also have a MM phono stage I plan on trying one. |
