Thank you all for your recommendations.
@nickpish I'm usually slow moving with pulling the trigger on upgrades etc., so it may be a while. But I do always try to come back to threads to give an update for due diligence. Great to see someone else trying to figure out their next move past the M44.
@atmasphere Wow. Thanks for that info. It's funny - while my ears have gotten quite used to M44, I always assumed that some of the distortion I hear (probably around 8 - 12Khz range) was due to other factors in my system. This makes a lot of sense.
I don't have a lot of experience with different cartridges, but I've had a hard time fully buying into the 'musical' descriptor for a lot of components, including carts. I feel like it's often used to justify muffled, dull characteristics. If I know for fact that Stuart Staples' singing on Tindersticks albums include a subtle but always recognizably breathy, throat-y texture (years of smoking + whiskey?), and I'm used to hearing that clearly while a cartridge like Nagaoka completely fails to extract that from the vinyl, it's hard for me to buy into the idea of it being more 'musical'. I'd say the opposite. Thanks for the recommendations and knowledge, really appreciate it!
@nickpish I'm usually slow moving with pulling the trigger on upgrades etc., so it may be a while. But I do always try to come back to threads to give an update for due diligence. Great to see someone else trying to figure out their next move past the M44.
@atmasphere Wow. Thanks for that info. It's funny - while my ears have gotten quite used to M44, I always assumed that some of the distortion I hear (probably around 8 - 12Khz range) was due to other factors in my system. This makes a lot of sense.
I don't have a lot of experience with different cartridges, but I've had a hard time fully buying into the 'musical' descriptor for a lot of components, including carts. I feel like it's often used to justify muffled, dull characteristics. If I know for fact that Stuart Staples' singing on Tindersticks albums include a subtle but always recognizably breathy, throat-y texture (years of smoking + whiskey?), and I'm used to hearing that clearly while a cartridge like Nagaoka completely fails to extract that from the vinyl, it's hard for me to buy into the idea of it being more 'musical'. I'd say the opposite. Thanks for the recommendations and knowledge, really appreciate it!