What is the “World’s Best Cartridge”?
I believe that a cartridge and a speaker, by far, contribute the most to SQ.
The two transducers in a system.
I bit the bulllet and bought a Lyra Atlas SL for $13K for my Woodsong Garrard 301 with Triplanar SE arm. I use a full function Atma-Sphere MP-1 preamp. My $60K front end. It is certainly, by far, the best I have owned. I read so many comments exclaiming that Lyra as among the best. I had to wait 6 months to get it. But the improvement over my excellent $3K Mayijima Shilabi was spectacular-putting it mildly.
I recently heard a demo of much more pricy system using a $25K cartridge. Seemed to be the most expensive cartridge made. Don’t recall the name.
For sure, the amount of detail was something I never heard. To hear a timpani sound like the real thing was incredible. And so much more!
This got me thinking of what could be possible with a different kind of cartridge than a moving coil. That is, a moving iron.
I have heard so much about the late Decca London Reference. A MI and a very different take from a MC. Could it be better? The World’s Best? No longer made.
However Grado has been making MI cartridges for decades. Even though they hold the patent for the MC. Recently, Grado came out with their assault on “The World’s Best”. At least their best effort. At $12K the Epoch 3. I bought one and have been using it now for about two weeks replacing my Lyra. There is no question that the Atlas SL is a fabulous cartridge. But the Epoch is even better. Overall, it’s SQ is the closest to real I have heard. To begin, putting the stylus down on the run in grove there is dead silence. As well as the groves between cuts. This silence is indicative of the purity of the music content. Everything I have read about it is true. IME, the comment of one reviewer, “The World’s Best”, may be true.
@ghdprentice thanks for the breakdown. Based on your stated qualifications it would appear that you are in a position to know. No argument from me. I only wondered when I think of the time factor. Iow every record ever made *could* still be played ( if not physically damaged ) so as much as 100 years of serving music. I guess the digital era has saved us an order of magnitude of money and environmental impact. ;)
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@rauliruegas , I average about two records a week or 8-9 monthly. My guess is 75% new and 25% reissue. What happens in the future is no concern of mine but I agree the era of vinyl records will end eventually, certainly by the end of this century. My wife made me buy a new Garmin watch because it has an SPO2 meter built in and it does home sleep studies. She thinks I have sleep apnea. It will also take you anywhere in the world, manage 8 different sports, the weather, traffic and your health. All this in a watch. Think where we were 100 years ago, the 1920's. Where will we be in 100 years? @ghdprentice , Anyone who thinks vinyl records are a problem needs to go to a dump and look around. Think of mountains of used car batteries that can not be recycled and all the toxic sh-t in them. Be very careful what you wish for. |
i listen to Dizzy Gillespie’s Big 4 lp pressing on the DaVa Reference cartridge. then listen to a digital transfer. with the Lp Dizzy’s trumpet hits 95 watt peaks on my dart 468 monoblocks. at the same SPL’s the digital hits 45 watt peaks. the DaVa also sounds more real and life like....but that is subjective, the peak watts are an objective measurement of signal energy. i can cite many similar occurrences. btw; the DaVa also surpasses other cartridges too, but not nearly by as much. just more energy. i love digital. but it cannot do some things analog can do. it smears peaks. still sounds wonderful. but it is not the same.
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