Skeptics believe:cartridge makes a HUGE difference


I was hesitant to upgrade my tonearm and cartridge. I thought, my system (verity parsifol, MC275, and c2300 with sota tt) already sounded great. Could a new tonearm and cartridge really make a difference? Yesterday, I upgraded to a Graham 2.2 with Transfiguration Orpheous L cart. WOW! What a difference. The records I have heard 100 times are new (and better) all over again. I love this equipment that allows fans of music to unpack more of the music's beauty.
elegal
Everything in the audio chain makes a difference. But not everything makes the same difference.

Over the years I have developed the following mantra, in order of importance in the audio chain (analog): speakers, cartridge, tonearm, phono stage, turntable, preamp and then everything else.

Bill
Congrats Elegal. The Orpheus L is a superb cart. Did you get a new cart ? I had one for many years and this is no simple tweak but a huge upgrade. Am now plying a Proteus and this maybe a better cart than the Orpheus L.
Cheers
Elegal, any information lost or distorted the instant that little piece of rock
hits the vinyl (amazing in this age of uber-tech; isn't it?) cannot be retrieved
or restored further down the chain. That is the most important stage of the
whole process. Congrats on your new arm/cart.

Mapman, Zd and others: of course there will be differences heard. Any
change whatsoever to the playback chain will result in a difference in
sound; that is the nature of music and it's complexity and fragility. Wether
that change is judged to be significant by a particular listener or wether it is
even audible to a particular listener is a different matter altogether. We
don't all have the same hearing acuity, nor are we all subject to the
inevitable biases, influences and expectations to the same degree. We
keep coming back to the issue of what is verifiable by use of existing
technical testing means or by subjective listening when there will always be
disagreement between the adherents to one of the two differing
philosophical approaches to the question. The only answer, for anyone
who really wants the true answer, lies in the obvious: get to know the sound
of live music on a more intimate level; and not by just one concert
attendance a year or two. The more we listen to the sound of live the
easier it becomes, when judging electronic gear, to determine wether that
piece of gear gets you closer to that sound or not. The detractors will say:
too many variables, too much this or that, yada yada. Nonsense! It's really
the only way; otherwise we are just spinning our wheels with the argument.
Thanks for the info. I'm in the same bowl having currently Technoarm which is also another version of RB250. Thinking about HUGE upgrade to Dynavector DV505, but still have to come up with budget. I believe that regardless of turntable and I think that mine is completely worthy (Michel Gyro SE) of such upgrade.