Transfiguration Phoenix vs Ortofon Cadenza

The 3D is a wonderful arm and would benefit from the best cartridge you can install.  I like the Black, but the Winfield is really much better.  If you shop carefully, you can get a great deal on a Winfield because its not a  brand new design.  It simply works.

I haven't compared the two but I do have the Cadenza Bronze mounted on an original 10" VPI arm.  It tracks beautifully.  If it were me I would choose according to whether I wanted the additional warmth of the Bronze or the detail of the Black.  It is worth noting that the Bronze has .4mv output and the Black has .3mv.

Very true, wlutke. Output is a bit of a concern. Ortofon lists the output of the Black at .33mv, but most dealer's sites list it at .3mv. The Winfield seems to be consistently rated at .3mv.

.4-.5mv seems to be optimal for me at the moment, but I have been running a cart at .35mv with good results so I might be ok.

 I am a dealer for all of the above products so take it for what you will. I have the proteus and an Axia currently on the Avenger with 12" 3DR and the proteus is a very neutral yet crazy realistic sounding cartridge. Kinda a pain to mount though without the suggested mirrored finish protractor. The Axia is crazy dynamic and catches some of the realism that the proteus offers. It is also one of the easiest to mount with its different design. I had a Cadenza red and a cadenza bronze on the table last week. The red is a very nice cart for the money, doesn’t keep up with the transfiguration realism but is very pleasing. The bronze I felt was a little dark sounding with the 3D arm. Still sounded very good but just a touch dark. The black I have heard many times on one of my customers HRX’s and while he really liked it he eventually purchase a Proteus. I felt like the black was a better match for the 3D arm than the bronze and offered nice dynamics with a good amount of realism.

Transfiguration Phoenix is more dynamic and more musical. 

Thanks, Guys

I ended up getting a package deal on a Cadenza Black and Bob’s Devices 1131 SUT that I’ll be running into the MM section of my Zesto Andros phono. The VPI will be going head-to-head with a Rega RP10/Apheta 2 combo that I’ve been running for a while. Should be interesting!

I’ve gotten enough good feedback on the Phoenix and Proteus that I may try one down the road.

Ignore the troll, above.  There is no single perfect cartridge, just as there is no best speaker or amp or whatever.  The Cadenza Black is a great cartridge and I'm sure that you will enjoy it.

Similarly, Bob Sattin makes a great SUT.  I'm not acquanted with anyone else who knows more about step-ups than does Bob. But... the Cadenza Black requires different loading than the other Cadenza models (10 Ohm), as does the Windfield, Anna and A90.  I usually recommend pairing the Cadenza Black with the Ortofon St-80 SE SUT.  If you already have the Bob's transformer, call Bob and ask if he can modify it for you.  It will sound good either way but it will sound better with the loading optimized.

Good listening!

Good info on the loading!

I got both the cart and step up from Bob, so if it requires any tweaking I'm sure he could help out.

At the moment, I've got the Cadenza going straight into the MC section of a K&K phono. In this setup the 40 ohm setting seems to work better than 10 or 100.

Just trying to get a baseline on how the Cadenza performs going right into the MC section of the K&K and Zesto before throwing the SUT into the mix.