In my own world objectivity leads to the best subjective results. The problem with strict analog paths is that every step degrades the end result. But, once the music is in numbers no further degradation occurs until the last analog step. Computers do not hear distortion, they only hear ones and zeros and at a speed the human brain can not comprehend. This does not take into account the difficulties and limitations imposed by such processes as dragging a rock through a trench.
It takes extreme objectivity to set up speakers in a room with appropriate acoustic adjustments to make a system perform near it's best. But to get all the way there requires digital signal processing or extreme luck. In my own experience that would be twice in hundreds of systems.
You can not get to the absolute sound by throwing a lot of money at a system.
@rauliruegas , of course it is about the music. I listen to vinyl and continue to improve my vinyl playback because at least 1/2 of the music I love is planted there. Sometimes the digital transcriptions do not fair well because of poor mastering. As I think you were trying to suggest, predetermined bias contaminates the issue, the result of intentional misdirection by marketing and the unintentional misdirection by biased reviewers.
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@noromance , totally different ballgame. The pop removal is done before the RIAA filter is applied. The filter slurs the pop waveform making it twice as long in time. Taking it out after RIAA is applied leaves a bigger hole. The Channel D pop filter also fills in the gap with a duplicate of the preceding millisecond of waveform. All this is done in the digital world and is not noticeable. It also is removing just the big pops not the little stuff. It's sensitivity is adjustable. It can also be turned on and off on the fly. I seriously doubt any of us could reliably identify when the filter is on, I can't. Remember, this is not a stand alone piece of equipment. It is only a software program. It only requires a phono stage with a flat output. Granted, there are not many of them. I can not imagine a phono stage of higher quality than the Channel D Seta L Plus. I bought one for a reason and it was not cheap either, $10K. There are certainly more expensive units but excepting Channel D's Seta L20 at $60K there are no other more expensive units that interest me at all and this is after a decade of research. The CH Precision is a large overly complicated unit that requires an outboard power supply to function at at it's best. That is nuts to me. There is no better power supply than batteries. The unit disconnects itself from the wall in operation. Less is also more. When it comes to phono stages a lot more.
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Does anyone here remember analog cell phones? Terrible is an understatement.
There are things you can do in the digital world that are impossible to do in the analog world. Incomplete? Are you kidding me? Human brains are not near that fast. A computer can entirely remove the "pop" from a scratch and fill it in with a small section of the previous several milliseconds and you can not hear where the defect was. If I record a record digitally, scratches and all and synchronized the two, the copy and the real thing. Nobody will be able to reliably identify which version they are listening too. Nobody.
@rsf507 , Darn, forgot to mention this one. The Seta L20 is a very rare bird. It costs $60,000. It certainly is by a long distance the quietest phono stage in existence. Otherwise, it is the very same circuit used in the Seta L Plus and should sound very much the same. It is also a very large heavy unit. I would love to hear one. But, it is probably safer that I don't:-) I would have a hard time explaining that one to the wife. A $10,000 cartridge was hard enough. I was lucky to get the motorcycle buy her.
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@rsf507 , Sure. You have the BMC MCCI which @lewm owns, the Sutherland Loco and Little Loco, The CH Precision that Michael Fremer uses and the Channel D Seta L Plus and Lino C 3.0. I have the Seta L Plus. I chose it because it can operate in either current or voltage mode, it has a battery power supply and it has both flat and RIAA corrected outputs. It's design aesthetic is also pleasing to me. It is a very simple, straight forward unit without a lot of unnecessary options and switches. Less is More! It is also beautifully made. The electronics are all first class and it uses surface mount technology. All the script and logos are laser engraved into the metal. Digital RIAA correction has theoretical benefits aside from the utmost accuracy. It can also correct any curve you can think of. There must be 20 or more options.
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@rauliruegas , thank you for saying that first. If I have to use a standard to AB against it will be a 24/192 digital file. Nothing at this date is more accurate than a 24/192 file in a home system. Why not DSD? None of the modern four channel digital processors I know of operate in DSD, always PCM. The digital program I use to play files converts DSD to PCM for playback and storage.
No analog tape machine can compete for accuracy with a 24/192 file. This says nothing about perceived sound quality. I intentionally juggle the frequency response curve to suit my own taste, intentionally inaccurate.
What Mike's Studers are, are very cool machines, mechanical artwork. They are antiques and have no place in a modern system. They are now much more cost effective better performing ways to have the highest quality sources.
Today I had the experience of using the Platinum Signature played through a current mode phono stage without RIAA correction, digitized, pops removed and RIAA correction applied digitally. I would call the results majestic. With this cartridge the current mode is noticeably better than the voltage mode. I can switch back and forth. The current mode is slightly cleaner with sharper transients which increase detail. Higher volumes are even more comfortable. The two places the improvement is most noticeable is with pianos and bass definition. Very happy with the results. Now I have to learn how to "render" files. The system records them flat like raw photography files. If you want to play the files from and store them in a normal library they have to be "rendered" by adding RIAA correction, adjusting gain and using other added features like pop and tic removal.
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@mikelavigne , I'm sorry Mike but your Studers are a poor reference. The right reference is live music. Granted, it is hard to AB with live music but, live music where you are listening to the actual instruments and not a PA system is the reference. I have noted that you like the DaVa cartridge. Based on what I can determine it is not a cartridge I would care to even listen too. Maybe it is my loss. So be it. Frankly I doubt it. Not knowing you personally, I have no reason to trust your ears. I have noted your opinion and will combine that with the opinion of others.
@rauliruegas , We shall see how the DS holds up in the long run. It is a large investment and not one I am ready to make...yet.
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From Mono and Stereo 2022 talking about the DaVa, "a unique sound with startling realism."
There is only one realistic sound. Everything else including "unique" is not. I have not listened to the DaVa Reference and probably never will. I find it's design clashes with my own perception of physics. I have listened to DS cartridges and did not find them exceptional, exceptional enough to get invested in the electronics. However this was not in my own system but in systems that were significantly inferior. I have listened to the Soundsmith Strain Gauge and it was very enticing, a little too enticing which I think was due to it's inherent brightness. In the end I decided not to buy one. It also has trouble contending with higher groove. velocities.
Another point that I would like to make is that you have to be very suspicious of any component that stands out sonically in dramatic fashion. It is likely to be very colored, not realistic but surrealistic. I have gone down that road in the past and in every case tired of the sound with more experience.
There is a huge amount of science behind the very best cartridges, materials science in particular. It takes a lot of horsepower in a company to develop these tiny parts and put them together with perfect precision. It should be no surprise that companies like Ortofon, Lyra and MSL (and all it's offshoots) make wonderful cartridges in a very reliable fashion. IMHE exotic designs wind up disappointing in the end. High resolution digital files of modern digitally recorded music do not lie. The very best cartridges should sound just like them. Any variation signifies coloration be it euphonic or not. The MSL Platinum Signature is certainly very close.
@rauliruegas , trust me on this one my friend. If you think the FM Acoustics equalizers are something else wait till you get a load of the new DEQX digital preamps. Their capability far exceeds the FM acoustics even if the build quality is not quite up there with FM. It is still very impressive and being able to adjust the frequency response and time align individual channels on Hz at a time is powerful in a way that in a way that defies description.
I am working on setting up the system for digital RIAA EQ. All the parts are in place I just have to learn how to program the Lynx Hilo to send everything where it supposed to go and there is so much in that little box that my old brain is having difficulty avoiding confusion.
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It all depends on how you look at it.
There are many fine sounding cartridges out there but there are certain criteria that to my way of thinking have to be met before considering the sonic characteristics of a cartridge. The first and most important is tracking ability. If a cartridge can not track everything I throw at it it is worthless to me. A cartridge has to track better than 80um or I am not interested. Thus, the Etsuro Gold is not a cartridge I would ever look at and I have just spent $35,000 on cartridges meaning it is not a financial issue. From a technical perspective the new MC Diamond is going to be a more accurate performer and it can handle 80 um. Technology trumps artisanship when it comes to phonograph cartridges but, you have to understand the Japanese mentality when it comes to issues like cutting blades and phonograph cartridges which are endowed with the unique spirit of their creator. It is spiritual.
The next important issue is the stylus. It has to be a fine line design of the highest quality. Each type of stylus has significant variations in quality even within the same manufacturer. I am beginning to think from what I have seen so far is that the styluses of the more expensive cartridges are hand selected. The better styluses with a larger contact patch are the ones that are really quiet because they glide over small imperfections other styluses with smaller contact patches fall into.
What I find more interesting is how much these cartridges actually sound alike than different.
You would have to be out of your mind to buy a Decca cartridge. They are not very popular for a good reason.
There is only one accurate. Everything else is not, euphonic or not.
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@reimarc ,Great! I was getting worried. The Decca London Reference is an awful cartridge. It is a terrible tracker and very unreliable. With those issues what it sounds like is irrelevant. You have several wonderful cartridges in your price range. The Ortofon Winfeld Ti and the Verismo. The MSL Hyper Eminent EX and the Lyra Kleos. Judging by what you have said so far I think the MSL would suit you best it being the warmest of the group. The Ortofons and the Lyra are very neutral, nothing hangs out at first. For me this is the hallmark of a great cartridge.
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@atmasphere , I agree! I by current music on LP all the time. There is plenty of money to be made on LPs but it is no where what it use to be in the 70's.
My children love music. They turn me on to new music all the time like Black Midi. They have absolutely no interest in LPs. They represent the vast majority of young people. If I were a betting man I would bet LPs will be dead within 50 years. I won't be here to see it. I spin records because I have been doing it all my life from the age of 4 and like most humans I hate change. If I look at my own purchases it is about 50/50 LPs to digital files. What does that say?
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I shall now answer the OP's question. The best cartridge in the world is always the one I have mounted at the moment.
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@rauliruegas , I hope you did not take my Mexican comment seriously. But, to get a French Cab better than Say a Duckhorn or Rombauer you would have to spend a fortune. For most people the above wines are a fortune. The problem for us is much of the best French wines stay in France. We shall see as the wife and I are going to cycle through Provence next Summer. And, buy the way, everything the French know they were taught by the Italians and my absolute favorite wine is the Antenori Tignanello. I do not think you can touch a bottle for less than $125 now.
Digital rules, but analog is fun (if you have the money.)
As for our ears I disagree with that analogy. Yes, the individual hair cells are an on or off proposition. Each one contributes to a voltage. The Voltages are added up to make an analog wave form. They do not trigger a one or a two. If anything it is more similar to pulse width modulation.
@dover , Speak for yourself. I can listen to a fax tone for hours:-)
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@atmasphere , For every one person who buys an LP 10,000 people buy a digital file. LPs are certainly making a comeback but I have a feeling that will extinguish with the Zoomer generation. But, who knows.
@rauliruegas , you forget what my profession is. Your brain has absolutely no idea what to do with a succession of ones and zeros. We only hear digital after it is converted to analog. I know you Mexicans hate us Americans but we make some darn good wine now.
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