@rauliruegas Trying to determine which cartridge sounds better than the other is really a fools errand in many cases. The ML and the AT are very good sounding cartridges, but the set up, the arm, the table, the downstream gear and numerous other variables are in play here. To state unequivocally that one is better than the other is, at least imho..and having heard both, impossible. The synergy of the match up of the cartridge to the other components is crucial…and is where I believe a lot of folks fall into the trap of making an incorrect finding.
For example, there are folk who believe that all Lyra’s have a certain sound that they find unacceptable..these very same folk are placing the blame at the cartridge, when in fact, the blame should be placed elsewhere. Set up errors, tonearm incompatibility, phono stage incompatibility, etc.,
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.
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@rauliruegas , My thinking on the price is that with MSL cartridges there is one less middleman. Humans being the way they are would typically make their own product better than one made for another company. But regardless of motivation they are both great cartridges. I have studied the Platinum Signature under high magnification and there can be no argument that it's construction quality is of the highest order. It is easy to see why Air Tight would use MSL to build their cartridges. I have never seen a diamond so beautifully shaped, polished and mounted. All angles are perfect. Placed on a spinning180 gm record the VTA is 92 degrees within a few minutes with the head shell perfectly parallel to the record. Impressive! With my modified Wallyscope set up so it is focused at a point around 1/2" from the rim of the record you wait until the stylus travels into focus, take a picture then snap lines along the right landmarks and the program will automatically calculate the angle for you. It will be very interesting to see how other cartridges measure up. When I have the other two I will publish pictures on Imgur. The first thing that stood up for me was the bass. I think that is most likely the combination of a very low impedance cartridge and a current mode phono stage. I actually prefer the build quality of the Seta vs the CH. I do not like the complexity of the CH and I think the utilization of a massive batter power supply in the Seta is brilliant. I would be willing to bet that one would have a very difficult time telling one cartridge from the other. @dover , I am not a huge Koetsu fan either. I got a Rosewood back in 1979 and I did not like it at all. Construction quality was iffy, the Denon DL 103 was better, and it did not track well at all. I had a Rosewood Signature Platinum for a short while more recently and again I was not impressed. The MSL is decidedly better. The best cartridge is the one you think sounds most accurate in your system and that is the problem. In order to know for sure you have to buy the cartridge and use it in your system. You research the subject as best you can but there is no substitute for playing a few records on your own system and by then you own it for better or for worse. You will never know if there wasn't a cartridge that would have suited you better.
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@mijostyn A while back I had started a thread about how to go about acquiring an expensive cartridge given the lack of ability to demo the cartridge before committing to a purchase. There seemed to be little consensus as to how this could be accomplished, and a number of issues were brought to light. Chief among them was the fact that no dealer would be happy to have you demo a mega $$ cartridge, put use on the stylus, possibly damage the cartridge while doing the set up and then request a return. This made good sense. Now here's the thing, I was lucky enough to have a dealer local to me ( and of course whom I had supported in the past), let me do a demo before committing to purchase of the cartridge under consideration. This did lead me to a purchase, but it also gave me a very nice comfort level with my selection. Nonetheless, the number of dealers who will allow such a thing must be extremely limited, you will pay the dealer price and not some significant discount..and you will have had to have supported the dealer in the past. I think buying a mega $$ cartridge is a risk that is difficult to off-set. One thing that was suggested on my thread was for dealers to have demo cartridges on hand to mount on customers arms for a demo period, a small fee to be paid for this service and in the event of purchase, a credit towards said purchase. This is the best suggestion that I think was given...to off-set the risk, BUT it also means higher dealer margins and higher middle man margins to off-set the cost of the demo cartridge. Could be worth it... |
@newtoncr Thank you ! Mike has already said this, but the extra detail is welcome. |
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