There is only one Sonus that never came to my radar:
Sonus Dimension 5 which is the best in that series, all lower models are often available for sale on ebay, except that one.
Another cartridge which does not impressed me at all was that top of the line ADC Astrion with sapphire cantilever.
But seriously there are two absolutely amazing MM cartridges, they are impossible to beat: AT-ML180 OFC (Boron/MiroLine) and Grace LEVEL II LC-OFC (Boron/MicroRidge) or F-14 (Beryllium/MicroRidge). For those of you who’re serious about top vintage MM should look for them as the reference! For more organic presentation the Stanton SC-100 WOS (Sapphire-coated cantilever / Stereohedron tip) and Victor X-1II (Beryllium/Shibata) are agreat too. Save your time and money and simply buy the best cartridges instead of some inferiour models from Sonus, ADC etc. If someone will tell your that some rare ADC is more expensive than the most problematic Technics cartridges, do yourself a favour and ignore it. The greatest MM ever made are all under $1500 today, most of them are under $700-1000 max, even in NOS condition. That Technics is the most expensive and overrated cartridge because of the Mexican thread, but 99% of the NOS sampes are all dead, after you will play one side of the record the cartridge almost lay down to the record surface (this is the best example how BAD is the suspension of Technics 100cmk4 or 205c mk4 cartridges). None of the vintage MM cartridges from many other manufacturers have such problem with suspension! So they are better and does not require crazy investment in refurbishing with VdH (his prices for service are the highest on the planet) who can not stay with original parts and most likely will refurbish the cartridge with different parts/material, most likely will replace the whole cantilever/stylus assemply with something different). No one on this forum can explain what VdH does with several samples of the Technics, so we don’t even know was a cartridge completely refurbished or not, but people just keep paying him rediculous fee for service. I’ve seen and owned various refurbished Technics 100c mk3 and 205c mk4 all of them were refurbished by experiences and respected vendors with completely different cantilevers/styli and that was the only was to keep them alive. Original Technic have unique cantilever (hollow pipe boron) and lowest effective mass stylus, replaceing them will change the sound! Many japanese manufacturers such as Audio-Technica made better cartridges with better styli and better cantilevers, those carts never ever had so many problems as the Technics.
Don’t waste your time and money for retipping/refurbishing top vintage MM cartridges, they will never be as good as the originals, also the main benefit of MM design is a stylus replacement which can be purchased separately (NOS) even for some very rare models. Your MC does not have this option and this is the reason why i prefer an MM/MI/MF/IM instead of MC in many cases.
Sonus Dimension 5 which is the best in that series, all lower models are often available for sale on ebay, except that one.
Another cartridge which does not impressed me at all was that top of the line ADC Astrion with sapphire cantilever.
But seriously there are two absolutely amazing MM cartridges, they are impossible to beat: AT-ML180 OFC (Boron/MiroLine) and Grace LEVEL II LC-OFC (Boron/MicroRidge) or F-14 (Beryllium/MicroRidge). For those of you who’re serious about top vintage MM should look for them as the reference! For more organic presentation the Stanton SC-100 WOS (Sapphire-coated cantilever / Stereohedron tip) and Victor X-1II (Beryllium/Shibata) are agreat too. Save your time and money and simply buy the best cartridges instead of some inferiour models from Sonus, ADC etc. If someone will tell your that some rare ADC is more expensive than the most problematic Technics cartridges, do yourself a favour and ignore it. The greatest MM ever made are all under $1500 today, most of them are under $700-1000 max, even in NOS condition. That Technics is the most expensive and overrated cartridge because of the Mexican thread, but 99% of the NOS sampes are all dead, after you will play one side of the record the cartridge almost lay down to the record surface (this is the best example how BAD is the suspension of Technics 100cmk4 or 205c mk4 cartridges). None of the vintage MM cartridges from many other manufacturers have such problem with suspension! So they are better and does not require crazy investment in refurbishing with VdH (his prices for service are the highest on the planet) who can not stay with original parts and most likely will refurbish the cartridge with different parts/material, most likely will replace the whole cantilever/stylus assemply with something different). No one on this forum can explain what VdH does with several samples of the Technics, so we don’t even know was a cartridge completely refurbished or not, but people just keep paying him rediculous fee for service. I’ve seen and owned various refurbished Technics 100c mk3 and 205c mk4 all of them were refurbished by experiences and respected vendors with completely different cantilevers/styli and that was the only was to keep them alive. Original Technic have unique cantilever (hollow pipe boron) and lowest effective mass stylus, replaceing them will change the sound! Many japanese manufacturers such as Audio-Technica made better cartridges with better styli and better cantilevers, those carts never ever had so many problems as the Technics.
Don’t waste your time and money for retipping/refurbishing top vintage MM cartridges, they will never be as good as the originals, also the main benefit of MM design is a stylus replacement which can be purchased separately (NOS) even for some very rare models. Your MC does not have this option and this is the reason why i prefer an MM/MI/MF/IM instead of MC in many cases.