You have to study the basics about cartridge design first.
-Cantilever (conventional like aluminum or exotic like beryllium... etc)
-Stylus tip (nude or bonded, the most important is the stylus profile, you’d better ignore cartridges with conical or even elliptical tip)
-Cartridge compliance to match your tonearm (you can’t use low compliance on your arm, mid compliance is what you have to look for)
And with $600 stick to mid compliance MM or MI cartridges. Some of the best carts designed in the 80’s could be found with the best possible options, because new models at the same price does not have advanced cantilevers or best diamond profiles, in my opinion they are inferior (with some exceptions).
*If you need exact recommendation on some particular model send me PM
Do not buy MC cartridges, because you can not change the stylus yourself, you will pay crazy money for re-tipping process and some re-tippers will make your cartridge even worse than original using none original parts. A typical life span of the stylus is 600 hrs.
Some decent MM cartridges can be used for 1200 hrs if the stylus profile is MicroLine or MicroRidge and you can swap styli by yourself in a 10 seconds (this option is ONLY for MM/MI cartridges, not for MC).
-Cantilever (conventional like aluminum or exotic like beryllium... etc)
-Stylus tip (nude or bonded, the most important is the stylus profile, you’d better ignore cartridges with conical or even elliptical tip)
-Cartridge compliance to match your tonearm (you can’t use low compliance on your arm, mid compliance is what you have to look for)
And with $600 stick to mid compliance MM or MI cartridges. Some of the best carts designed in the 80’s could be found with the best possible options, because new models at the same price does not have advanced cantilevers or best diamond profiles, in my opinion they are inferior (with some exceptions).
*If you need exact recommendation on some particular model send me PM
Do not buy MC cartridges, because you can not change the stylus yourself, you will pay crazy money for re-tipping process and some re-tippers will make your cartridge even worse than original using none original parts. A typical life span of the stylus is 600 hrs.
Some decent MM cartridges can be used for 1200 hrs if the stylus profile is MicroLine or MicroRidge and you can swap styli by yourself in a 10 seconds (this option is ONLY for MM/MI cartridges, not for MC).