^^^ I can't speak for head shells, sorry. I can speak for the ART-9 though. It replaced my OC-9 MK III almost exactly a year ago. Over the past year, I've made some real significant improvements to the system. Just multiply everything I've previously said about the ART-9 by a factor of ten. Its WAY better than I thought ... and I was amazed by it before. Its a real sleeper and a great value. You're making a good choice, unless you want to get into the $5.000 range.