Dear @neonknight : I owned 2 Frog models, one was new and the other second hand and were good performers but nothing close to the " original " Colibri with low output: 0.22mv and I owned 3 samples of those Colibri with a black light body ( not plastic but similar to. ) and owned one with wood body, all the sample low output and I still own one sample. I remember that 2 of those samples I had to return to VDH at least 2 times in a row because the bas eof the cantilever was hitting the LP surface.
I'm in agreement with what @mikelavigne posted and if you have a high resolution room/system and a lot of patience nothing can touch the unique qualities of the low output Colibri.
I repeat the words " low output " because the today Stradivarious like are medium almost in the range of HO cartridges : 0.7mv and certainly this kind of sudden VDH design change I think was not made it by Dr. AJ VdH him self because he knows that more coil wire always means higher signal degradation, so maybe the " culprit " of that was his son. Yes, I listened the Stradivarius in my system and performs good but nothing like the " old " Colibri.
Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.