Hear my Cartridges....🎶


Many Forums have a 'Show your Turntables' Thread or 'Show your Cartridges' Thread but that's just 'eye-candy'.... These days, it's possible to see and HEAR your turntables/arms and cartridges via YouTube videos.
Peter Breuninger does it on his AV Showrooms Site and Michael Fremer does it with high-res digital files made from his analogue front ends.
Now Fremer claims that the 'sound' on his high-res digital files captures the complex, ephemeral nuances and differences that he hears directly from the analogue equipment in his room.
That may well be....when he plays it through the rest of his high-end setup 😎
But when I play his files through my humble iMac speakers or even worse.....my iPad speakers.....they sound no more convincing than the YouTube videos produced by Breuninger.
Of course YouTube videos struggle to capture 'soundstage' (side to side and front to back) and obviously can't reproduce the effects of the lowest octaves out of subwoofers.....but.....they can sometimes give a reasonably accurate IMPRESSION of the overall sound of a system.

With that in mind.....see if any of you can distinguish the differences between some of my vintage (and modern) cartridges.
VICTOR X1
This cartridge is the pinnacle of the Victor MM designs and has a Shibata stylus on a beryllium cantilever. Almost impossible to find these days with its original Victor stylus assembly but if you are lucky enough to do so.....be prepared to pay over US$1000.....🤪
VICTOR 4MD-X1
This cartridge is down the ladder from the X1 but still has a Shibata stylus (don't know if the cantilever is beryllium?)
This cartridge was designed for 4-Channel reproduction and so has a wide frequency response 10Hz-60KHz.
Easier to find than the X1 but a lot cheaper (I got this one for US$130).
AUDIO TECHNICA AT ML180 OCC
Top of the line MM cartridge from Audio Technica with Microline Stylus on Gold-Plated Boron Tube cantilever.
Expensive if you can find one....think US$1000.

I will be interested if people can hear any differences in these three vintage MM cartridges....
Then I might post some vintage MMs against vintage and MODERN LOMC cartridges.....🤗
128x128halcro
Wonderful Harmonia Mundi record. The MM sounds great. On first listen, it sounded more fun to listen to. Bowed cello sounded purposeful and driven. It took three listens to appreciate the essential additional detail, sustain and decay of the (glass) bells and the snappier, spacious, colorful, playful percussion of sticks on rims by the Palladian to have the MC win it for me. I'm noticing a trend. The magnets are lively and free and make you wanna dance whilst the coils are detailed and precise.
Nice descriptions by no romance and I agree completely; with the possible exception of the “makes you wanna dance” part. I say possible because, while I don’t hear any outright advantage with the Grace in the “dance” department, it is true that sometimes if one reduces one type of detail it can serve to highlight another aspect of the sound. The Grace reduces some high frequency detail. This results in the sound of the plucks of the strings of the guitar and the harpsichord sounding slightly round compared to the more realistic incisive quality one hears with the Palladian.

This recording is wonderful with many different and unique instrumental timbres. With the Grace they all sound slightly homogenized compared to the Palladian which allows one to hear more individuality in the color of the various instrumental sounds. I think the very cute pooch agrees; he(?) left the room while the Grace played ☺️

As halcro pointed out the differences are slight and make one wonder whether the price difference is justified. The Grace sounds excellent but I think the Glanz does a somewhat better job of challenging the Palladian.
Noromance is becoming more confident in his analyses and I think he's spot-on....
Frogman and "the very cute pooch" (Princi-a male Principessa) are also correct as usual...at least in Frogman's case....Princi is generally a sideline critic 🤣....
I agree with Frogman that the Glanz gives the Palladian more of a contest....
Whether that changes as the Grace 'runs-in'....I'll let you know 🤗