Cartridges: Complete Scam?


I’m very new to analog, and researching my options on forums I keep coming across the same sentiment: that past the ultra low-end cartridges, there is very little gains in actual sound quality and that all you’re getting are different styles and colorations to the sound.

So, for example, if I swapped out my $200 cartridge that came with my table for a Soundsmith, Dynavector, Oracle, etc, I may notice a small improvement in detail and dynamics, but I’m mostly just going to get a different flavor. Multiple people told me they perffered thier old vintage cartridges over modern laser-cut boron-necked diamonds.

It’s possible that these people are just desperately defending thier old junk and/or have never heard high end audio. But if what they’re saying is true, than the cartridge industry is a giant SCAM. If I blow 2.5k minimum on an Air Tight I better get a significant improvement over a $200 bundler — and if just all amounts to a different coloration, than that is a straight-up scam ripoff.

So guys — are these forums just BS-ing me here? Is it really a giant scam?
madavid0
Everyone should watch this video to realize that adults can not develop perfect pitch. In Europe only 1 individual in 10 000 has a perfect pitch. You must be a child to develop perfect pitch. Even if you’re an adult musician you can not develop perfect pitch! This is very interesting phenomena. I would strongly recommend to watch Rick Beato’s video linked above, you will be surprised.

The statement that audiophiles are able to hear slightly different in pitch is bulls****it. You must have been trained from 2-3 years old to develop perfect pitch, it’s about the ability of the human brain. People with perfect pitch never makes a mistake when in comes to identify notes, chords etc, they just hear it and identify it like you can identify colors. Most of the professional musicians does not have a perfect pitch!


Dear @frogman : ""  I don’t understand why that should surprise anyone.   """. Again you took my sentences word by word. No, I'm not surprised with, all we know that reproduction of music vs live MUSIC is only a heavy make-up clown " and that's why i posted: " We can't avoid it ".
So what?, well we can't compare it in exactly way.

In home audio neutrality comes from what each one of us are accustom to and what neutrality means for each one of that almost always is different. Of course that there are people that likes more and use words as: warm, brigth, dark, etc, etc. These does not tell us that we are not more sensitive to timing, even some of us don't identify the word " timing " and its meaning but this does not says we are not more sensityive to timing than neutrality. Neutrality depends on the room/audio system items and set up when timing is independent of all that but that TT speed unstability. In the other side brain can accustom to little unstability speed and takes it as part of the music and we can't detect it because of that.

We can detect is that unstability is not only constant in the shor time and in high degree and some times even the kind of music we are listening and the SPL at what we are listening. No rules here.

You said that you don't have limits but what you listening is normally different as what I listening and other people listening and i'm refereing on what my brain is aware to detect and how is detected. In this regards  each one of us is a unique/individual.

Regards and enojoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.
chakster, with respect, what does any of what you wrote have to do with the subject at hand?  You have missed the point.  First, while you are correct that adults cannot “develop” perfect pitch they can develop “relative pitch” which for all intents and purposes accomplishes the same thing.  However, none of that is the issue here.  While not usually identified as a difference in pitch the resulting effect of slightly faster or slower turntable speed is sometimes identified by audiophiles by some turntables being perceived as “livelier” than others.  The bigger issue still is INCONSISTENCY of speed.  This is clearly heard as reduced rhythmic excitement in recordings and worse.  All of this in comparison to the total absence of these timing distortions when the comparison is to live music.  Moreover, I would submit that even when audiophiles cannot identify this problem specifically it is one of the things that causes preference of one turntable over the other depending on individual sensitivity to these problems.  
@frogman well, i do not exactly following your full conversation with Raul , i can lost in all those posts. You're right about pitch instable, same with off-centered record pressing, we can hear it, yes. But  i believe we cannot hear when 33.333 rpm spins at 33.332 rpm. And for those of us who're not a musicians even pitched up or pitched down records sounds just fine, i want to pitch up some of my records, remember those Technics turntables with +/- 8% pitch control? At the same time what about those recordings when you clearly hear that instruments are not tuned right to each other, or slightly off beat and it's all about the quality of the musicians, you can't help it with the turntable. It's hard to be a musician when you can hear all that imperfections. Probably studio time was too expensive for some of the independent bands and they're decided to leave it like that on the record. And finally, i think quality direct drive turntables are stable. 
**** But i believe we cannot hear when 33.333 rpm spins at 33.332 rpm ****

I believe you are correct and I said as much in my response to Raul.  

I said in my first post on this subject that I think this is the most misunderstood topic in audio.  Another example why this is so:

Yes, bad intonation (pitch) from the musicians is a bad thing, but, again, has nothing to do with the subject being discussed.  Many musicians play with less than good intonation, but this has no relevance to the issue of rhythm and how that rhythm is reproduced by the playback equipment.  And of course as you say you “cant help it with the turntable”.  What is the point here?  The issue is simply whether the turntable will reproduce the rhythm of the performance accurately or not, musical performance problems and all.  No?