Excellent choice on the ZP3. I would recommend the Soundsmith Otello high output MI as one that will bring you the magic with all your music and avoid the expense and hassle (and sound quality sacrifices) of swapping carts. https://sound-smith.com/cartridges/fixed-coil/otello
Upgrade Turntable or Cart
I am at a pivotal point with my vinyl listening, where I need to make a decision to upgrade the cart or turntable. My current table is an Audio Technica AT-LP120XUSB, which is known to be a great entry level TT. I have a Decware ZP3 coming in December and want to be sure everything plays well together, whichever direction I go. My understand is there can be an issue with a carts output voltage if not matched correctly. I want to stay with MM and would consider MI. I don’t want to mess with a SUT for MC at this time. Music wise, I am all over the place, so would need a new TT to have a removable head shell to have an optional cart later on for different genre of music like jazz, 80’s alternative, and 1970’s rock and Krautrock. If there is a single cart that would play most all music genre well, that would be great!
The cart I am thinking of is a VM750SH or something similar, Shure, Ortofon, Grado, etc. The VM540ML might be too bright for me. This TT is my first, so I have no experience with anything else out there—purely reading forums at this point and no specialty store nearby.
If I go the new turntable route, I want to be sure it is a noticeable change. New, used, or vintage are all considerations and I would like to not go too far over $1,200’ish if possible. I do have some room though. The TT would need to have a removable head shell. I have seen Thorens mentioned several times on forums. Certain models seem better with better bearings it seems.
Would love to get great feedback from the huge knowledge base out there.