Ortofon Cadenza vs. old Ortofon MC30 Super2 ?

Ramon70,  
Do you feel that you like your Quintet Black better than your old MC30?

My retip experience of an old cart was not good.  I had an old MC20 retipped by Soundsmith with a RUBY cantilever.   When I got it back, it was amazing for about 6 months, and then the internal suspension broke.  It was a 15yr old cartridge that just didn't survive the trauma of being worked on, I guess.  Soundsmith was not at fault, but they gave me $100 for my broken MC20, and that's when I got the MC30 SuperII from a dealer in Germany (around 2007).  MC30 was not in the Ortofon catalog anymore, so I think it may have been NOS.       

Mulveling,

Thanks for that perspective.  I'm sort of feeling that way about it.   My pre is no slouch (Parasound JC3) but when I run the MC30 direct, the noise floor IS an issue.  When I use my stepup transformers, the noise goes away completely, but it's not quite as transparent.   The SUT does make the mid-bass a bit thicker and punchy (nice).... but ultimately... slightly less transparent in the HFs.  It's nice to have the choice.  

The VAS service recommended above can put a new needle on it, and I might consider that.  And maybe I'll just add a decent MM cart to have something of a different flavor.  I haven't had an MM since the 80's, but I know that old 70's rock LPs can sound better with MMs.

@theflattire Yes.... certainly if you're happy.. then leave it alone.  

The MC stage in the Parasound is active.  I had the JC3 for ~8 years, and happy with the sound, but the noise bugged me.  I liked my SUT sound too, but there was that resolution trade-off.  I recently upgraded to the JC3+ which has lower noise floor, and that cost me $1000 to do.  While I'm happy with the upgrade, I think MAYBE that money would have been better spent on a better SUT.  Hard to say. 

Looking at the Modwright description, your MC input is an internal SUT.  So your noise spec should be great either way.  Just comparing the sound of 2 different SUTs. 

The long awaited follow up (for nobody listening)... I’ve answered my own question. I finally got a Cadenza Blue, and it is everything I want out of a cartridge! Tonal balance is perfect (for me). Dynamics are tremendous. Distortion is low. No issues at the inner groove like with my old MC30super2. And the real surprise is how much quieter it runs. Dust & surface noise are reduced compared to all other cars I’ve owned. I simply love it.

As for comparing it directly with my old MC30 SuperII, the Cadenza Blue does have the same tonal balance and character, which is exactly what I was looking for. The Blue is, of course, better in every way.

I’ve also since, upgraded my Parasound JC3 to a JC3+. I went for it due to the greatly increased S/N ratio specs for the MC stage. While the JC3+ is quieter, it’s not the 8 dB quieter that the specs would imply. Rather the noise spectra is different and it sounds like they’ve reduced it in the upper mids the most. This is is a good thing, but it really only sounds about 2-3 dB quieter than the JC3. The + is also a bit more dynamic.

Trading up to the JC3+ ended up costing me about $1000, after selling my old one on Ebay. It’s hard to say if the improvement is really worth that much, but it’s done and I’m very happy with the JC3+. With the Cadenza Blue’s output of 0.5mV, the electronic noise floor is hardly an issue for me anymore.

@theflattire Cool that you are still running that old cart! There were some interim steps not mentioned. I first tried to replace it with a Soundsmith Zephyr mkII or mk3. ($1200) Very very nice cart.... but so nice that it was boring. I used it for a year and got used to it, but found I wasn’t listening so much. Then I put my old MC30 SuperII back on, and whoa! there it was. The excitement was back!! Even with its faults, I liked the MC30 better than the Zephyr.

I sold the Zephyr for ~600, and bought a used Quintet Black for $580. I liked it very much. Smooth and dynamic. Maybe just a tad warmer than what I was really looking for, but satisfactory. Probably the combination of Shibata + Boron put it on the warmer side. The fact that I liked it tho, meant to me that I’d probably like a Cadenza even better.

Then it happened! Ortofon had a 20% off any Cadenza with trade of an MC cart of ANY BRAND! Well... I had an old Blue Point Special maybe worth about $200 (if I was lucky) and I used that to get $400 off my Cadenza Blue.

I’ve still yet to try it with my Step-Up transformer (from the ’80’s). It’s a pretty good one i’m told, and it makes an MC totally noiseless, but with the slightest loss of some detail. Gives a bit more girth to the mid bass too, which is nice. I need to hook it up!

@theflattire I just looked at the HM-7's and HM-5's.  Do you also use that switch box that they're currently being sold with?  Have you ever vigorously compared using the SUT vs. just the MC gain stage?  (if u have one)  

I'm wondering if you get the same slight loss of detail that I observe.  All these years I been chasing higher output MC and lower noise preamp, but wonder if a better SUT would have been the better solution??  My preamp is the Parasound JC-3+.  The MC stage is quiet 'enough', but not dead silent like when using the SUT.

Right now, looks like a pair of HM5's and the interface box can be had for $750, if I wire it up myself.  I do see the HM7's are wider bandwidth.