Technically they would be termed moving iron cartridges, right? I know there are some users around, hard to get work done on them now, only a very few experts around.
Yeah, thats right. I heard really good things about the London Decca Gold and of course the Reference. One reviewer said the London Decca Gold was the best cart he'd ever heard.
I’ve had the Concept MC, and still have both the AT33PTG/2 and OC9XML. The OC9XML is the best of those three, and is my current daily driver. AT33 is second place. I suspect that Concept is made by someone else for Clearaudio. It’s not bad, but lacks the dynamics of the ATs.
I like my Hana SL, but I have not tried any of the others. The folks at the hi-fi shop recommended this one, so I went with it.
I must admit I have only heard a few of these carts. I voted for the AT 33PTG/II. It offers more detail than the DL-103 and the original Blue Point on the same system.
Well, I've talked about the comparisons around here over the last couple years (I bought my first OC9XML in Apr 2020, and have about 250 hours on the second one now), I just find the OC9XML a really good all-round cartridge that balances the various tradeoffs that have to be made in this price range better than the 33PTG/II. Can't say that it is dramatically different from the 33PTG, but just sounds more integrated to me, and I just never think about the cartridge while listening, it doesn't seem to highlight any particular area of the spectrum, and that does give it a more natural sound. Maybe the all-aluminum chassis helps give it a more coherent sound, not sure, most of the other carts in this range like the 33PTG are a combo of plastic and aluminum bits. I did post some samples of both awhile back, but I don't think my 33PTG was in optimum condition at that point, the suspension changed and it was riding a bit lower. In any case, I traded it in on a new cartridge. I still have the samples on dropbox if you want to listen, it's a Melanie De Biasio track from her No Deal album, in this case 24/96k wav files so kinda big ... Dropbox - I'm_Gonna_Leave_You_ATOC9XML.wav - Simplify your life Dropbox - I'm_Gonna_Leave_You_AT33PTGII.wav - Simplify your life
Also, our buddy @snorker has talked some about the differences lately too as he is a fairly new OC9XML (and 33PTG/II) adopter and likes it better than the 33PTG/II, and better than the ART9XI as well, but the latter may have been more from a technical performance perspective. In any case, you may be able to coax some more detail from him on the comparison.
I wish the poll allowed for multiple selections. I own three Denons listed here: 103, 110, and 301, and they're all great, just in different ways. Since I only could choose one, I chose the 110, as it is the best all-around-er, IMO, and I could live with it if forced to have only one cartridge. Also simpler phono stages are suitable for it.
I own four of the carts listed here, but have heard only three - all Denon. The one still in the drawer unopened is Hana EL. There's another cart I own and like, not listed here, as it's discontinued: Ortofon MC3 Turbo - a very good one. And another unheard unopened one: Denon DL-160, supposedly a very good one, yet also long discontinued.
Indeed. I’ve posted before on the comparison between those three. What I initially perceived as brightness on the OC9XML either mellowed with some break-in, or my ears adjusted. I like it a lot, and it punches way above its weight. I measured channel separation at 37dB, which is phenomenal for the price…particularly when it’s only rated at 27dB! The AT33PTG/2 has a smoother, warmer character that some may prefer. It’s also good, but loses a little detail by comparison. The ART9XI was just not my cup of tea, particularly for the price when compared with the OC9XML. I generally prefer the ML stylus, and that may have played a part in what I was hearing. The ART9XI just didn’t handle inner grooves nearly as well.
Purely selfishly. I’d love to hear from someone who has spent some time with both the Quintet Black and the cheaper AT OC9XML/SH/SLC and could compare.
I saw this relatively new line of Chinese MC cartridges from ExcSoni recently, and haven't found much in the way of user comments, but thought I'd pass it on anyway for comments. Prices seem reasonable though only a couple sources, don't see a more direct Chinese source than LTdoremi, the lowest cost EC-1 is around $600 and uses ceramic cantilever, stylus dimensions are listed as 5 x 150 um for all of them, so no idea what the actual dimensions are since 150 um doesn't make sense, maybe medium compliance ... Apparently launched in 2019, with EC-1 = ceramic cantilever + super linear stylus, EC-2 = ruby cantilever + super linear stylus, EC-3 = sapphire cantilever + super linear stylus. Images below from the ebay page, the attention to detail isn't as good as I'd hope (notice fit of cartridge body and bottom cover in last two pics). Still would be fun to try one if I was a bit more of a risk taker
The Charisma Audio ECO uses a ceramic cantilever too, we were talking some about it recently, pretty good price at around $800, another one I'd like to try, and this one does have some good user and reviewer feedback ... Another one you'd probably be interested in is the Leson DL-103 with boron nitride ceramic cantilever ...
I've always found poll threads like this non useful, people just need to tell what they have, the latest post prove otherwise, very interesting, I got wiser today.
Could it be some kind of crazy extreme custom diamond cut? The Fritz Gyger FG S is 5/120 μm, which is I believe the longest cut commercially available.
Could be, I don't know. The FG-S is actually a compound radius, so the front view radius is really from 15 to 120um, but you're right, it should result in the most contact area...
