Rob, I know what you mean about the endless quest for the last tweak that will give you that last bit of something you feel you're lacking. I think it's part of the audiophile disease complex :-)
In my experience, one can read all the reviews available on a cartridge but that only goes so far in telling you whether one is right for you and your setup (unfortunately.) Taste in cartridges is as unique to the individual listener as taste in music, wine, or significant others. It's been my experience from being an analog fan for forty years or so that one has to resign themselves to learning to install cartridges themselves and be prepared to try a few before hitting on the right one.
That said, you've got a list that is all over the place as far as characteristics. You list a mix of high and low output cartridges. Do you already have a phono preamp and is it as capable a performer for a cartridge with .4mv as 5 mv.? As you no doubt know, the capabilities of the phono preamp are a huge part of the total performance of an analog rig.
In my experience, one can read all the reviews available on a cartridge but that only goes so far in telling you whether one is right for you and your setup (unfortunately.) Taste in cartridges is as unique to the individual listener as taste in music, wine, or significant others. It's been my experience from being an analog fan for forty years or so that one has to resign themselves to learning to install cartridges themselves and be prepared to try a few before hitting on the right one.
That said, you've got a list that is all over the place as far as characteristics. You list a mix of high and low output cartridges. Do you already have a phono preamp and is it as capable a performer for a cartridge with .4mv as 5 mv.? As you no doubt know, the capabilities of the phono preamp are a huge part of the total performance of an analog rig.