MY SONIC LAB Cartridges

Right, MSL cartridges are a slightly better value because there is one less middleman. 

The mythology surrounding cartridges is rather stunning. Cartridges are extremely simple devices. It is all in the details. Anyone with a good assembly microscope can make one. I did not say make a good one. That takes a lot of practice. Labor is the most significant and largest expense. The parts do not cost all that much. Prices are inflated to suit the market. Less so for MM cartridges.

I think people like lewm and myself are better at filtering out the psychological aspects of listening so our appraisal of sonic differences is less dramatic and I would like to think more realistic. Both of us use ESLs so it is not that our systems have limited resolution.  

@tablejockey , great record. Class Act. I am going to audition the strain gauge next time I visit my daughter in NYC. 

@daveyf , you are probably right but until somebody makes the same cartridge with various cantilevers and no other change we won't know for sure. A tapered aluminum cantilever might be better than boron rod, or ruby or cactus spine. It is never safe to assume anything but that is what we are expected to do based on the honesty of marketing? 

@tablejockey, it sure seems to be that way. Some people even use cactus spines:-)

fjn04, a lot depends on the phono stage. The MSL cartridges have very low internal impedances. Used with a transimpedance or current mode phono stages there are significant advantages. I personally like the MSL cartridges much better than Koetsu's which I do not think deserve the mythical status they have.
With a standard phono stage I personally think you are better off with a high output moving iron design such as a Grado or Soundsmith. They have much better signal to noise ratios and should track better due to their very low moving masses. This will also give them better high frequency performance. They should also be more durable in the long run. Since the coils are fixed the coil wires are not being continuously flexed and work hardened.

@jperry , I think the right answer to Lewm's question is, "I do not know for sure."  What you hear depends more on you than the cartridge. I think what lewm is getting at is that good cartridges sound very much alike. The differences can be so minor that they are not discernable by casual methods. While speakers as an example can be vastly different and the variance can be drastic with such variables as room acoustics.

I prefer using the term "balanced" rather than "neutral." The best systems do not call attention to themselves. Nothing should stand out. Individual instruments should float in space and have size and depth. Turn the treble up just a few dB and the illusion of individual cymbals disappears. Disturbing that balance in any way corrupts the illusion that you are listening to individual sound sources and not a sound system.