From Benz to?


I've been on a Benz ride for the last few years, having owned and enjoyed the Wood SL, then the Gullwing SLR and my current Benz LPS, which I love (and has been retipped a couple times).  I find the Benz sound to be superbly balanced, leaning just to the warm side, with no apparent loss of detail.  Prior to Benz I had a Lyra Delos and a Clearudio MC (among a couple other ones.. Shelter 501?).  I even experimented with vintage MMs (Stanton 981 and Grace Ruby F8) on my Tracer tonearm (which is fairly low mass at ~9-10g) but went straight back to the LPS, cause it sounded more satisfying.  For those who have moved on from Benz to another cart and enjoyed the switch, are there any suggestions in the same sonic style of Benz, just perhaps a bit more treble refinement?   FWIW I detest treble tipped up cartridges.   One thing I've noticed is that Benz have a large stereo separation (and measures as such, >35dB), which helps (IMO) lead to a large soundstage.  Benz just hit all the buttons for me, but I'm feeling a desire to change, just to try something different. I've never tried Dynavector. Are they worth a shot, or are they completely different vs the Benz sound signature? 

128x128gakerty

Was seriously considering the LPS last purchase but went with a Charisma Signature One. Never compared them but the Sig One is very fine indeed. By reports maybe a bit less warmth than the LPS but the treble on the Charisma is absolutely perfect in my system. About the same money.

I am running both a Benz variant, the Scheu-MC and a Zyx Universe. The Benz is nice and has a lot of jump factor, in terms of fine detail, spatial resolution and timbre the Zyx is clearly superior.

Third vote for a Winfield Ti.  After a Benz Ruby then a Ruby Z, I simply cannot believe how good the Ortofon is: beautiful tonality, extremely clean sound with  amazing tracking.

Very low output though, high gain phono required.

Good luck!

I still rate the LPS in the top 3 I have heard and would gladly live with one for the rest of my years..

I have a Benz LPS, and a number of other cartridges. I think you should look MY Sonic Lab cartridges (https://mysoniclab.com/)

The soundstage was larger, better retrieval of detail, and not bright, but not as warm as the Benz LPS.