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What is the “World’s Best Cartridge”?

I believe that a cartridge and a speaker, by far, contribute the most to SQ.

The two transducers in a system.

I bit the bulllet and bought a Lyra Atlas SL for $13K for my Woodsong Garrard 301 with Triplanar SE arm. I use a full function Atma-Sphere MP-1 preamp. My $60K front end. It is certainly, by far, the best I have owned. I read so many comments exclaiming that Lyra as among the best. I had to wait 6 months to get it. But the improvement over my excellent $3K Mayijima Shilabi was spectacular-putting it mildly.

I recently heard a demo of much more pricy system using a $25K cartridge. Seemed to be the most expensive cartridge made. Don’t recall the name.

For sure, the amount of detail was something I never heard. To hear a timpani sound like the real thing was incredible. And so much more! 
This got me thinking of what could be possible with a different kind of cartridge than a moving coil. That is, a moving iron.

I have heard so much about the late Decca London Reference. A MI and a very different take from a MC. Could it be better? The World’s Best? No longer made.

However Grado has been making MI cartridges for decades. Even though they hold the patent for the MC. Recently, Grado came out with their assault on “The World’s Best”. At least their best effort. At $12K the Epoch 3. I bought one and have been using it now for about two weeks replacing my Lyra. There is no question that the Atlas SL is a fabulous cartridge. But the Epoch is even better. Overall, it’s SQ is the closest to real I have heard. To begin, putting the stylus down on the run in grove there is dead silence. As well as the groves between cuts. This silence is indicative of the purity of the music content. Everything I have read about it is true. IME, the comment of one reviewer, “The World’s Best”, may be true.
 

 

mglik
dogberry
580 posts
 

I've lusted a bit after the Hyperion from SS, and have a Sussurro MkII which is the cartridge just below the Hyperion in that product line. I find it like the Grado Statement 3 - honest, thorough but unexciting. I won't bore everyone again by recounting my purchases of all the MI carts I could find when looking for a replacement for my Deccas. I'm coming to the conclusion that the involvement/excitement that comes from the Deccas is either a very discreet but addictive distortion they impose on the music, or maybe some subtle improvement in timing and responsiveness that makes them seem so real. I doubt if such can be measured, but my ear discerns it.

The cantileverless technology of the Deccas is about to become extinct as John Wright retires with no successor, and the company that made the armatures is no more. I'm hopeful the reduced moving mass designs relying on a strain gauge or an optical detector will simulate the agility, responsiveness and liveliness of the Deccas.

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,640 posts
 

the real deal breaker for me was the strain gauge's tracking ability. Peter thinks he has got it as good as he can and feels it is acceptable. Generally I will only look at cartridges that can do 80um or better at 315Hz. Miss-tracking is very annoying. Miss-track a record once and it is permanently damaged.

@mijostyn LPs can survive mistracking and I agree mistracking is very annoying. I'm torn over the Soundsmith thing, since on the one hand I've heard it track extremely well (IOW not a concern at all); its clearly tonearm dependent as are all cartridges.

So I suspect he didn't have it set up on the ideal arm when you heard it, which strikes me as a bit odd. I'm not going to speculate further...

dogberry
580 posts
 

mulveling wrote:

"Even much lower line cartridges like Kontrapunkts..."

Careful, lad, I'm listening to a 500 hour Kontrapunkt C and thinking it is uncomfortably close to what I like about the London Decca Reference. That alone makes me think Ortofon have some idea of what they are about. Unlike some cartridge manufacturers. The Kontrapunkt C is akin to the Cadenza Black in modern speak.

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,774 posts
 

"Even much lower line cartridges like Kontrapunkts..."

Careful, lad, I’m listening to a 500 hour Kontrapunkt C and thinking it is uncomfortably close to what I like about the London Decca Reference. That alone makes me think Ortofon have some idea of what they are about. Unlike some cartridge manufacturers. The Kontrapunkt C is akin to the Cadenza Black in modern speak.

I actually owned a Kontrapunkt c, and am sorry I sold it. Loved that cartridge. It’s analogous to Cadenza Bronze in the modern line - which I also have - and in many ways I think the Kontra c was more fun (though they’re a lot alike). Even preferred the "c" over its big brother Jubilee, which was predecessor to the Cadenza Black. The Jubilee was a bit sterile. The Kontra c and Bronze have a warmth and body that seems to be missing to various degrees from the upper line (Jubilee, Windfeld, Windfeld Ti). A90 is my favorite Ortofon so far, though.

dover
2,188 posts
 

The Verismo is robably a better value. 

As Freud would say

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