Price/value analysis can be a tricky thing. I have a friend who enjoys cognac, so I purchased a bottle of Hennesey Prestige for about $40 and it's fine. Later on, I thought I would try a bottle of Hennesey XO at $125 and that it would be worlds better. Tell the truth, for us it wasn't. Head to head, I don't think I could tell the difference or whether the XO was just different but not better. But I think it would be very ignorant of me to post publicly that XO is a scam because I couldn't taste the difference. The only thing I proved is that I couldn't taste the difference. And if I couldn't, I would wager that many people couldn't either. But I'm certainly open to the possibility that there are many who could. Maybe.
Cartridges: Complete Scam?
I’m very new to analog, and researching my options on forums I keep coming across the same sentiment: that past the ultra low-end cartridges, there is very little gains in actual sound quality and that all you’re getting are different styles and colorations to the sound.
So, for example, if I swapped out my $200 cartridge that came with my table for a Soundsmith, Dynavector, Oracle, etc, I may notice a small improvement in detail and dynamics, but I’m mostly just going to get a different flavor. Multiple people told me they perffered thier old vintage cartridges over modern laser-cut boron-necked diamonds.
It’s possible that these people are just desperately defending thier old junk and/or have never heard high end audio. But if what they’re saying is true, than the cartridge industry is a giant SCAM. If I blow 2.5k minimum on an Air Tight I better get a significant improvement over a $200 bundler — and if just all amounts to a different coloration, than that is a straight-up scam ripoff.
So guys — are these forums just BS-ing me here? Is it really a giant scam?
So, for example, if I swapped out my $200 cartridge that came with my table for a Soundsmith, Dynavector, Oracle, etc, I may notice a small improvement in detail and dynamics, but I’m mostly just going to get a different flavor. Multiple people told me they perffered thier old vintage cartridges over modern laser-cut boron-necked diamonds.
It’s possible that these people are just desperately defending thier old junk and/or have never heard high end audio. But if what they’re saying is true, than the cartridge industry is a giant SCAM. If I blow 2.5k minimum on an Air Tight I better get a significant improvement over a $200 bundler — and if just all amounts to a different coloration, than that is a straight-up scam ripoff.
So guys — are these forums just BS-ing me here? Is it really a giant scam?
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- 174 posts total
- 174 posts total