Best MM?

Dear friends: I always talk only with cartridges that I listened/lisent in my own system and some of them in other system too and all my cartridges mounted in different tonearms.

I bougth over 150+ vintage cartridges ( with some of them 2-3 samples because the sellers said the cartridge was in good condition ( NOS or not. ) and just performed really bad. )

That Stanton 981 is very good performer and different than the 881 model. Question is : performs at specs?
I own it and the 981 performs better with the same stylus but coming from its brother Pickering . 1K is not a very high price.

The really best MM/MI cartridge ever is no one of the cartridges named here that are good but far away from it. I’m talking of the vintage ADC 26/27 that was tested/compared with everything the same systems against Etna SL, Goldfinger, XV-1s, Colibri, A-95, My SonicLab/Air Tight ( and this week end vs the Anna. ) and no one of these LOMC carrtridges outperformed it Was listened not only for me but for the cartridge owners in my system and their great systems. That is the one to own.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Raul, it's all relative.

What kind of arm is the ADC compatible with?  Is the abnormally high compliance figure correct? 

Dear @orpheus10 : Well, in life all is relative and from that point of view what for you is " heaven " for other gentleman can be BS.

I think that everything depends on the overall context/scenario where " things " happens, how are surrounded and that context involve objectivity/subjectivity that's relative to: knowledge levels, ignorance levels, experiences and everithing that has relationship with live MUSIC and audio reproduction in home systems.

R.

Dear @dgarretson : IMHO the Etna  needs a better tonearm and preferable no-knife bearing and certainly not an all metal headshell that's not a good " friend " for any cartridge. You own the Kuzma that's very well damped tonearm. In the other side tubes are not the best " friend " for any cartridge either. I know: all is relative as orpheus pointed out.

R.