MP150 or MP200

Apart from the Nagaoka for which I agree went overboard when they changed their pricing I' ve been considering Denon DL 110 , DL 301 2 , Grado Opus 3 new timbre series , Audio Technica New OCL series , Vessel cartridges Ortofon Quintet red .

Peter Lederman, of SoundSmith has stated in his videos, that the suspensions in cartridges have limited lives, whether they are in use, or brand new..sitting in a box for years...decades.. in a warehouse. The suspension gets stiffer over time, degrading the sound quality.
Are these vintage cartridges being recommended immune from that issue?
Yes, obviously his business rebuilds cartridges and manufactures new ones, but Peter KNOWS cartridge technology.
Just asking, since many forum members know way more than I do about cartridges.
Is he referring to moving cross cartridges or does that extend to mm, mc and in the case of Nagaoka.. mp (moving permaloy)?

You know when someone mentioned vintage cartridges I thought of the same thing and up to where I know all cartridges must have some type of suspension as what then supports the cantilever .

Case in point , the mentioned Sony cartridge , when I investigated it goes all the way back to the 70s . I personally would never buy a cartridge that has been sitting on a shelf for 5 decades no less !

The mass of my Project 1 expression 2 carbon fiber tonearm is around 8.6 grams which I understand is on the medium side .

It’s pretty light for a modern world of tonearms

I like the MP110 very much . It’s a very coherent and controlled sound that hardly ever irritates . Its bass is not the most powerful or tight but is in line with the sound spectrum of the cartridge .

Look at the specs, this is entry level cartridge, the diamond is not even "nude", it’s bonded diamond - do you know what does it mean? If you like Nagaoka do yourself a favor and upgrade to the higher model (or find a much better cartridge for the same money). Nagaoka is not even a perfect match for your tonearm I believe, you could check with Hi-Fi Test LP for tonearm/cartridge resonance frequency.

The reason why you like MP110 is probably lack of experience with other MM cartridges.

But do not afraid to buy a better cartridge, each Nagaoka model is step up, for more money you will get "nude" diamond and boron cantilever, for even more you can get a better stylus profile instead of elliptical.

You know when someone mentioned vintage cartridges I thought of the same thing and up to where I know all cartridges must have some type of suspension as what then supports the cantilever .

Case in point , the mentioned Sony cartridge , when I investigated it goes all the way back to the 70s . I personally would never buy a cartridge that has been sitting on a shelf for 5 decades no less !

We have so many members on this forum (including myself) who’re using vintage cartridges (MM or MC) along with very expensive modern cartridges. If you think that buying a new $5000 MC cartridges you are free of suspension problems then you’re wrong and it’s primarily depend on material used by a cartridge designer. If you think that "all modern" is better than could you please explain me why people are using an old drivers in their speakers, a very old nos tubes in their new high-end amps, vintage turntables paired with modern high-end equipment ?

The best MM cartridges designed in the 70s/80s because it was a hey day of MM technology. Nowadays most of the people have no idea what is a phono cartridge, but for some reason you think that modern MM are any better?

Using over 60 reference class vintage MM/MI cartridges from the 70s/80s I have’t seen more than 2-3 samples with dried or softened rubber suspension. When there is a problem with suspension, a cartridge body lay down on the record in 20 seconds with recommended tracking force (this is very easy to check before buying, and every honest seller will do that for you). If you can’t see this problem then suspension is fine. The rest is a fairy tale to scare people and force then to buy modern junk for higher price. A used audio market is pretty strong and always will be strong (Lightly used or NOS is a matter of luck) @mcmvmx

I tried various samples of SONY XL-50 and never seen this model with softened rubber suspension.