Skeptics believe:cartridge makes a HUGE difference

The next cartridge is always better and when it is even more expensive, then it is automatically MUCH better ....

I think most believe the cartridge makes a significant difference. Although what Pops said, "I got the same quantum leap when I upgraded my tonearm on my Basis table to the Vector 4. I was shocked." would involve more skepticism from others.

I also changed tonearms from a Rega to A Basis Vector and the difference was shocking in that I did not believe a tonearm could make such a significant difference.

Syntax
"The next cartridge is always better and when it is even more expensive, then it is automatically MUCH better ...."
Obviously , every Audiophool knows that...
Cheers

I follow this chain of difference higherarchy:
Turntable -- 50%
Arm -- 35%
Cartridge -- 15%

I had a Transfiguration Orpheus that sounded wonderful in my Triplanar. One day one channel was dead for no reason so I had to send it back. In the meantime I had no tunes.

Jonesing, I realized that I had a brand-new Grado Green (a $35.00 cartridge) sitting in a box. 'Why not try it?' I thought... the Triplanar is very adjustable and I knew that effective mass is a big deal with Grados (which is why they don't work in the Graham 2.2 which I had for quite a while...). So I went through the setup procedure and to my surprise the cartridge tracked everything I threw at it effortlessly.

The only issue I ran into was that it needed loading, after some experimentation I loaded it at about 10K ohms, after which the only way I could tell it from the Transfiguration was due to the fact that the Grado had higher output.

The lesson was that getting the cartridge to track correctly is far more important than what cartridge it actually is. If your amp has any marginalities in accomplishing that task with your cartridge you are going to hear differences (and the results will be all over the map). So I place the tone arm as number 1 in the hierarchy, the turntable number 2 and the cartridge last.