First impressions of the Nagaoka MP-110 phono cartridge

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by dividebytube, Mar 11, 2014.

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  1. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    The 440 cartridges were discontinued and replaced by the VM540ML, which is fundamentally the same cart with a few minor tweaks.
     
    Vinyl Fan 1973 likes this.
  2. Thom01

    Thom01 Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    ...and a few bucks more.
     
  3. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Yep, AT raised prices. Their prices are still lower than most other brands for what you get - economies of scale at work.
     
  4. allied333

    allied333 Audiophile

    Location:
    nowhere
    Back to the MP-110. I owned a AT-95e MP-110, Grado Green and VM540ML all at the same time for testing. The AT-95e is bottom of the group. The MP-110 was kind of ordinary sounding but did produce accurate sound. The Grado Geeen was more lively vs the MP-110 and had some 'wow' moments. The VM-540ML easily outperformed the others and is the cartridge I kept. For a low cost cartridge, the Grado Green is the best.
     
    HiFi Guy and bever70 like this.
  5. Eno_Fan

    Eno_Fan Staring into the abyss: Brockman BIF, Pilbara WA

    Location:
    Izieu, France
    No, just properly pressed UK (C-o-O) records -- if the pressing to vinyl of the copy-masters sent to Sweden makes these records "demading" for you then that's your problem not mine. As for the Canadian Member who echoed your view, I think that we can all probably agree that there is no cartridge that will reliably play the joke that is Canadian vinyl...
     
  6. AnalogVinyl

    AnalogVinyl Active Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Denon dl-110 is just 0.4x0.8 nude square shank elliptical. Nothing more nothing less :agree:
     
  7. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    The pressing quality itself doesnt factor in too much, I have barely any Swedish pressings either. Simply put, the stylus on the MP-110 will produce sibilance, IGD and other issues on demanding music. If you hear it or not is another matter.
     
  8. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    I thought it was .2x.7
     
  9. Vinyl Fan 1973

    Vinyl Fan 1973 "They're like soup, they're like....nothing bad"

    Some of the best LP's I have were pressed in Canada.....
     
  10. Vinyl Fan 1973

    Vinyl Fan 1973 "They're like soup, they're like....nothing bad"

    The MP-110 doesn't hold a candle to the 2M Blue, and his comment about it handling demanding records is absurd.
     
  11. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    Depends on what sound signature you like, but the blue is a better tracker in some regards. I somewhat prefer it too.
     
  12. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    Not sure if hes again referring to actual pressing or sound quality here. Bands from Canada often sound best on Canadian pressings though, as do most country of origin pressings.
     
  13. AnalogVinyl

    AnalogVinyl Active Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Spec says
    Stylus tip: 0.1 x 0.2mm special elliptical diamond
    0.1x0.2mm is 10x20 micron which is 0.4x0.8 mil inches :D
     
    Leonthepro likes this.
  14. Danilo

    Danilo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milano Italy
    So, I just received the Nagaoka mp 110, and installed it on a Thorens 320 mkii with tp 90 tonearm.
    My impressions are of a cartridge that is able to reproduce transients and harmonics in a way that my other carts cannot, I am speaking of Grado gold and red, at 120e ortofon ff15 xe mkii, and even the pricey Clearaudio Virtuoso.
    I find the Nag has a very extended dynamic and ryhtmic, I mean, stop and go, in the music sound very defined and not blurred.
    The only cons I have to point out is that it is unforgiving towards records that have issues, it tends to skip easily.
    All that said, I can say I like it a lot.
    Please forgive me for my poor and rusty English
     
  15. marcfeld69

    marcfeld69 Forum Resident

    Is the Denon DL-110 as good as these at eliminating IGD?
     
  16. skriefal

    skriefal Senior Member

    Location:
    SLC, Utah
    That's the shank size not the tip size. Denon doesn't state the tip size but most seem to believe it to be a high-quality 0.2 x 0.7 elliptical.
     
  17. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    Nope. Although slightly thinner than average, its still an Elliptical. If you have IGD problems and worry about record wear then Audio Technica has the cheapest Fine Profiled styli on the market. AT95ML is 150$ roughly and some with very expensive tables use it still.
     
    marcfeld69 likes this.
  18. marcfeld69

    marcfeld69 Forum Resident

    Cheers. After I posted I noticed that I had sort of ask this before but it's great to get another opinion.
     
  19. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    What was the other?
     
  20. marcfeld69

    marcfeld69 Forum Resident

    There's a lot of discussion on the DL-110 on pages 5-6, including your own, especially as regard IGD.
     
  21. marcfeld69

    marcfeld69 Forum Resident

    Do you mean that the Nag is not much good for fighting IGD? (as opposed to the AT95e or the DL-110?). I thought the prevailing sense here was the opposite (though I may have to run over the thread again).
     
  22. marcfeld69

    marcfeld69 Forum Resident

    Phew! What an assassination!
     
  23. marcfeld69

    marcfeld69 Forum Resident

    How do you do that?
     
  24. Dr. J.

    Dr. J. Music is in my soul

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    I never had a problem with IGD with the Nagaoka MP-110 myself, but others have reported different things. I think compared to the new ML styli of the V95 or 500 series of carts, the Nagaoka will be outperformed, but I've seen videos of the Nag going against a host of budget carts and it out-tracked them all.
     
    CCrider92 and marcfeld69 like this.
  25. marcfeld69

    marcfeld69 Forum Resident

    Tx. When you say 'track', you don't just mean that it didn't skip? I really don't understand the use of 'track' on the forum.
     
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