Unfortunately I don't have the playback tools and/or the golden ears of dover and frogman to make a valid judgment call on these audio files. But it's nice that others acknowledge the merits of the FR-3 headshell. For some reason it has a bad rep with several members of this community. It's clunky and looks decidedly old school, but I like the way it sounds, especially with FR64S. Robust and meaty are indeed words that come to mind. Same with the slightly less bulbous FR-S/5. But perhaps I'm biased as I really dislike carbon fiber headshells like Yamamoto or Oyaide, both of which I tried.
For threaded cartridges the later FR RS-121 and RS-141 are also recommended, while for unthreaded cartridges I've always had great results with the Audiocraft AS-4PL and AS-12K headshells.
@dover I have several versions of the Ikeda IS-2T headshell (2TB, 2TW and 2TCR) and they are better than the regular IS-2 as well as the earlier IS-1R series. The T's are the most neutral headshells I have tried so far. They're a perfect match for the 'high precision' school of cartridges, like Transfiguration and MSL. But for my Ikeda 9 Rex I kept the IS-1G in place, simply because it looks so pretty.
For threaded cartridges the later FR RS-121 and RS-141 are also recommended, while for unthreaded cartridges I've always had great results with the Audiocraft AS-4PL and AS-12K headshells.
@dover I have several versions of the Ikeda IS-2T headshell (2TB, 2TW and 2TCR) and they are better than the regular IS-2 as well as the earlier IS-1R series. The T's are the most neutral headshells I have tried so far. They're a perfect match for the 'high precision' school of cartridges, like Transfiguration and MSL. But for my Ikeda 9 Rex I kept the IS-1G in place, simply because it looks so pretty.