MC-MM-MI CARTRIDGES . DO YOU KNOW WHICH HAS BETTER QUALITY PERFORMANCE? REALLY?

Dear @tomic601 : It’s weird that you mentioned the Audioquest HO AQ 404 because as you can read in my Agon virtual system that’s one of the HOMC cartridges that I own and for a good reason. Good.

Btw, Audioquest had the same model but LOMC design too.

R.

@mke246 It seems none of the cartridge manufacturers think 78s are worth the effort. I use an Ortofon 2M series for 78s. It has a huge bonded spherical stylus. To describe the 78s I have a scratchy would be an understatement. I would love to know what a new unused 78 sounded like. I do have digital examples of Caruso singing that were taken from 78s and cleaned up with DSP. He sounds like he is in a phone booth holding his nose singing into a plastic bag, but you do get the idea.

Some recent examples from my channel. Both made with the much-maligned Strain Gauge. With 78s, it’s really mostly about the engineer. The climax in the last minute of that Armstrong record sounded brutally harsh with the Shure and perfect with the SG. All the past engineers have rolled it off hard to avoid distortion. Most engineers favor truncated elliptical stylii, and that's what I use, too. Sadly there aren’t many good 78 engineers, so a few of us audiophile collectors have taken it upon oursleves to do it. The work never ends!

@tomic601  : Audioquest cartridges weremade by Scan-Tech same builder ( OEM ) of all Lyra cartridges. 

So it's not at random that AQ came with very high quality performance levels.

R.

In my experience I would rank LOMC 1st, then HOMC, followed by MI, and then MM. I've had Ortofons (MM and MC), Grados, B&O, Hana, Grace, Shure, Pickering, ADC, Sonus, and even AKG. My intro to LOMC was an Ortofon MC-20 whose peaky high end was a great match for my soft Double Advents. I loved all 3 B&Os, I always admired the overall sound and presentation of Grados (when compatible and didn't hum). The tracking abilities of the Shure were offset by its ho-hum dynamics. ADC and Sonus were very high compliance and sounded very smooth, but often failed when the cantilever suspension collapsed. The Pickering XSV-3000 was a sleeper, detailed and romantic, would track anything. The AKGs never had much market share, but I would liken them to the Ortofon 2M. Grace F9 never did much for me, neither did the lower end A-T. The higher end A-T (AKA Signet) were excellent, but still lacked the explosive dynamics and transparency of MC. Currently,  I am very happy with a Hana MH running into my modified Holman Apt 1. It is quieter than the LOMC, with great dynamics and transparency, and in my VPI JMW 10.5 3D Printed arm, tracks as well as I have any need for, and I save the not insubstantial cost and hassle of another preamp and cable. So while I have no doubt a higher end LOMC with suitable preamp and cabling may yield an incremental improvement, the 5X to 10X cost differential isn't justifiable for me.

@rauliruegas 

I had previously owned a Clearaudio Concept turntable with a Clearaudio Concept mm cart.  I was then offered the opportunity to upgrade to the brand's moving coil and as my Musical Surroundings Phono stage had appropriate settings paid for the upgrade.  I couldn’t do A/B comparisons but I regretted the change; I had gained a little low level detail at the expense of a dryness.  Eventually became so unhappy that I sold it off .  
  Eventually I acquired a Technics Direct Drive-I had listed after these in my youth-and this time spent a fair amount of time auditioning perhaps six cartridges, including a few moving coils.  The results were all over the place- some would emphasize different aspects of music that others didn’t quite prioritize-so I went for a relatively inexpensive mm that pleased me since vinyl is a secondary play back media for me.

  I only offer my observations as my personal observations, not a dogma, and every one is entitled to their opinions .  In general they all reproduced music at a high level, and then it becomes a question of what each listener prioritizes