Best MM?

@orpheus10 I never tried a Koetsu, i’ve heard that old Koetsu is terrible cartridge in term of buid quality and Garrott Brothers in Australia fixed many of them back in the days.

I’ve been using Grado for professional needs for decades on Technics turntable and tonearms. In High-End system only Joseph Grado Signature XTZ was close to my favorite carts.

Rock is not my music, but Jazz, Funk and Soul is my choice. However, i don’t believe a cartridge is made for certain genre of music.

My point is that there are many cartridges on the market, much more than current mafunacturers can offer, especially the MM/MI. So it’s not necessary to stick to the modern MM/MI from well known 5 manufacturers, there are many more amazing cartridges from the past (from the golden age of analog media).

After a well regarded Audio Technica cartridge seemed skreechy in my system, a local Audio Salon sales dude I’ve known for years recommended a Sumiko Pearl, which at that time was their premier MM item...125 bucks...I like it enough that I’ve re-tipped it once...a great sounding cartridge for silly small money, doing great work on my Akito festooned Basik table.

Thanks for all the advice! 2M Black is what you are all saying, ridiculously good... even after only 2 hours of listening.

I started this process because my Lyra Delos was either broken or worn out or something. Turned out it was just dirt on the cantilever so the dealer is sending it back to me, good as half-new. It's going to be an interesting comparison because while I expect the Lyra to resolve way better, there's something about both of the MMs that I've listened to so far that's missing from the Lyra. 

2M Black is a masterpiece. It has drive and life and holography. I’ve owned a Delos and it couldn’t hold a candle. 

It's lovely. Without comparing, I'd agree it has drive life and holography but the Delos may have more timbre in voices and acoustic instruments but that's just my memory. I'll know more this weekend. There's nothing more I'd like to do than get out of the high priced mc world!