MC or MM setting on EAR 834p for high-output MC?

Hello. I have one too. My experience is just try and see, and have found for high output mc the mc setting is better. Some phono stages have much more flexability,allowing one to find the perfect gain for any cartridge. finding the right gain for a particular cartidge is trial and error. The 834p can be extensively modded,as its said to be a great design with poor resistors and caps etc. to find mods search ear 834p mods on audiogon, audiocircle and audioasylum. its said to have not such a good step up to mc. Having said that, using my unmodded one on mc with a denon103/304 on an ol silver arm and fully modded lenco deck is awsome.

I think the idea behind the high-output MC cartridge is that you can use an MM phono stage. This is desirable because the price difference between a really good MM stage and a really good MC stage is big.
My advice would be to switch back and forth. You'll find that you eventually leave it set on one.
Another piece of advice would be to see if you can demo the EAR step-up transformer and a low-output MC cartridge. I would guess that perhaps Music Direct, who carries the step-up tranny, would also have some cartridges that were traded in for upgrades that they would consider sending out for demo purposes, because I'm guessing that not many folk let people demo new cartridges.