'Diamond' cantilevers: a man's best friend?

@rodman99999 Yup, that’s one way to do it. Ortofon MC Century also has a rather truncated diamond cantilever and it’s my favorite sounding MC cartridge of all time. However, I would still take a 2M Black over it. Just cannot accept the MC sound character. It’s significantly distorted from source tape. 

In today’s world, aluminum pipe, or aluminum alloy pipe is the way to go.

But if it was cost no object and it was still manufactured, I would take boron pipe as the ultimate cantilever. 

"Just cannot accept the MC sound character. It’s significantly distorted from source tape. " Way too many MCs/arms/alignments/loadings, for me to make a blanket statement(though you may have been referring only to the Ortofon). I do also enjoy my Soundsmith SMMC1-M, MI, with it’s ruby cantilever(an Aida, in a different shell). An exemplary match, for my Magnepan arm.

I have been in love with the Koetsu sound since 1976, but my first one was a gift from wife a few years ago: Rosewood Signature Platinum with diamond cantilever.

The cantilever and stylus are ground from one piece of clear white diamond. So it is promoted, and so it appears.

Sound is the most refined I have ever heard in my system. The only sound close is the Miyajima Zero mono. My system has changed too much (air bearing tonearm and TT) for previous comparisons to be meaningful, so there are only a few cartridges which can be compared: London Decca, Dynavector, Nottingham T4 (MM), AN Io, Zero and KRSP. In increasing order of preference.

But there is a very strong caveat here: set-up. My set-up skills, patience, and instrumentation have improved considerably in the last years, and so, for all I know, the Decca would be king of the heap if set up as carefully as the Zero and KRSP.

That's what my system needs: a wife with money and good taste.....oh,wait....

Dear @edgewear: "  have reinforced my opinion that not much real 'progress' has been made in the sonic capabilities of MC cartridges,..."

Well, till today the transducer/cartridge foundations are still the same and nothing can change about due to the rudimentary analog medium. The transducer is a mechanical/electrical rudimentary/arcaic device.

I think that we can't say exactly that " no progress " with because exist some kind of progress that made it some kind of improvements in the quality level performance of this kind of rudimentary trasducer, over the years we have some changes ( not on its foundation. ):
improved the material wire in the cartridge coils as its wiring coils shapes, improved the stylus tip shapes, improved the stylus tip polish pproccess and in top cartridges that treatment make it twice time, improved cartridge material body and shapes, improved the cantilever materials and building shapes, cartridge " motors " improved too like the Lyra line from the Kleos to the Atlas that is way different for the better than the Titan i or the Dynavector XV-is against the 17D3 or the old Koetsu that really were " terrible " against today ones, improved the magnets in the cartridges from samarium cobalt to neodynium- allnic-platinum, etc etc.

So, several kind of progress but the essential in a cartridge is exactly the same, can't change because that rudimentary analog medium that we all are enjoying.

Yes, DIAMOND is a man's best friend but not at the ridiculous prices that manufacturers puts on in their top line model. They take advantage of the diamond word that when any human beed read it or heard it all we know that is the higher touted jewell: " if it's diamond it will be the best ". This is the kind of expressions about.

The industrial diamond used in cartridges with out doubt is the best material for cantilevers where we need that the cantilever pass all the stylus tip movements picked up ridding the LP grooves with out adding any single /tiny vibration/resonance developed by the cantilever it self. 
So we need the best material in the Young's Modulus scale where nothing used in cartridge cantilevers come close: 1,200 Gpa.
Against that the worst material is aluminum with 69, titanium only 110, beryllium 287 and Boron with 400 Gpa. Btw, the Boron yuield strength is a very high value over 3,100 by comparison the aluminum is under 200.

Now, diamond per se makes that the cartridge be " the best "?, certainly not if it's true that the cantilever build material is important the main subject is that are the sum of the parts in the cartridge design and the qulity level execution of that design what it matters and what makes the differences for the better or not.

Those cartridges as the 88D or the Audio Technica MC-1000 ( I owned both. ) where the cantilever and stylus comes in a single piece are not better performers than today top LOMC models.

The today top cartridge manufacturers makes its election and voted for Boron for very good reasons ( diamond on top models is to market top models at non justified prices and that's all. ).
Btw, solid Boron ( rod ) is way less resonant than hollow/pipe boron type.

Name of the game: the sum of the parts and the very old ( 60's . ) ADC 26/27 non-MC cartridge confirm that statement because I tested with everything the same against the Etna SL, Goldfinger, XV-1s, top My Sonic Lab/Air Tigth and Colibri and no one of them outperformed overall and the 26/27 came with aluminum cantilever and a humble elliptical stylus in a plastic body:


https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/adc-26-best-pritchard-cartridge-ever-or-best-cartridge-ever

Regards and enjoyb the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.