If you love the Ortofon 2M Black, you'll really love...... (help me upgrade)

The Vessel blurb is a turn off:

The creative brief for The Vessel™ cartridge series is simple: "Allow the artist to express his music with its amalgam of contradiction as it is elevates and transcends with the natural and artificial interpretation of the human art."

Vessel is a rebranded Excel cartridge from Japan. Same guys who make the Hana. 

Clearaudio MM cartridges are cheap Audio-Technica’s encapsulated in wood coverings. 

Ortofon 2M Black obliterates the above in every possible way.

Go for “ Benz”

For an introductory cartridge the 2M is good, but far far from the best. The Cadenza line is much better than the 2M. I sold my last Ortofon MC cart and bought a Soundsmith. Very nice and he will take care of you in the future.

With a $2500 budget one should,at the very least,give Soundsmith a chance. IMO they are near the pinnacle of reference performance with customer service second to none.

Cheers,
Jay