@daveyf , I have developed relationships with several online stores that have handled some issues beautifully. I can highly recommend Elusive Disc, Upscale Audio and The Cable Company. All three have been very accommodating. I could not ask for better treatment.
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.
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The Top Wing Suzaku is clearly a moving magnet. My understanding is that the low output is a consequence of using a very small coil to minimise capacitance and minimise inductance in the overall design - meaning the resonant frequency is very high, making the cartridge less susceptible to phase shifts in the high frequency compared to most MM's. The high frequency response in the audio band relatively unaffected by loading. One might argue that the moving flux design by Glanz is probably more linear. But hey if you buy the Top Wing at only US$16000, you only get a little phase shift, and for another US$17000 you can buy an LFD phono cable voiced to your requirements - I'm sure with LFD's experience in gluing bits of wire they could even put hairs on the chests of Dolly Parton. Having said that I haven't seen a Top Wing owner that does not own other megabuck cartridges with quite different flavours, so it may not be the singular magic bullet that some folk might be hoping for. My concern would be quality control - Fremer got a dud, and then a good one - 50% failure rate. Now if they were an Australian car manufacturer they would have blueprinted the cartridge and juiced it up before delivery for review. Now where did I leave that ELP laser turntable... |
In contrast to the ever spiralling cost of phono cartridges competing for the ‘world’s best’ nomination, I noticed an ad on eBay about a ‘new’ cartridge called Fidelix MC-F1000 direct coupled MC at an ‘introduction price’ of €3,5k. In today’s high end audio universe this is now considered mid price. As the model number and description suggest, this is a redesign of the classic Victor MC-L1000. The biggest technical difference with the Victor is the much lower source impedance of 6 ohms compared to the Victor’s 22 ohms, suggesting fewer coil windings and/or stronger magnets. At this price it could be a real giant killer. I own and cherish a Victor MC-L1000, which can still keep up with current top systems. |
@dover 😂 |
I thought we’d agreed not to judge a cartridge by its individual parts list (aluminum cantilever). Anyway, I never before heard of Suzuka or Top Wing, so thanks, Dover. Stanton and Pickering marketed LOMM cartridges many decades ago. There’s nothing new under the sun. I’m glad I still have a virginal Stanton 981LZS. |
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