At what price point do I run into diminishing returns on an MC Cartridge?

@normantaylor. Price and cartridge desirability are not necessarily connected, IMO. What has been mentioned above is certainly very true. A lot of the results will be highly dependent on the ancillary gear and room. Another variable is set up expertise. For example, with Lyra cartridges, any number of differing opinions can be had... because the set up was not as exact as this line demands.. resulting in naysayers who attribute what they hear to the cartridge and NOT the real issue... a faulty, or less than exact set up!
Is there a “sweet spot” in cartridge design and price point... probably depends on your musical expectations and other biases. Personally, I think your Kandid and it’s sister... the Kleos,are probably about there.IMHO.

Halcro certainly doesn't need me in his defense, but this was not the point of his investigation if I understand him correctly. Of course comparing cartridges through such limited digital playback method is not representative of their sound under ideal circumstances, but it does make very clear that there is no generic quality difference between vintage and modern systems.

This has also been my experience and I believe it is something chakster agrees with as well. But of course the caveat will always be system synergy, without which even the best and most ludicrously priced cartridges will likely disappoint.

So to add to your study here are some more suggestions: Dynavector Karat Nova 13D, Victor MC-L1000, Ikeda 9 Rex, Sony XL-88D, Audiocraft AC-03 (currently MY Sonic Lab), Ortofon MC-5000/7500 and Miyabi Standard (or Mark Levinson MLC-1 and Krell KC-100/200 equivalents). These are all top level systems from the 20th century that can still be found - with a little perserverence and/or luck - for $2000 or less.

I have compared these carts in my own system against my long time reference, Van den Hul Colibri XPW African Blackwood Grenadille. This is one of those Uber cartridges, being the former top model with platinum coils that retailed for $8k, years before the introduction of the current Stradivarius Signature model.

They all sound terrific and on the same high level, just with different flavours. Finding the right one(s) and making some discoveries along the way has been a fascinating journey for me. If this sounds interesting to you, you're in for quite a ride. Have fun!

Audiocraft AC-03 (currently MY Sonic Lab)

@edgewear
 Interesting, i did not know they are from the same designer. 

 Ortofon MC-5000/7500

Did you compare those to MC2000 ? 

Normantaylor-creating a thread like this will get you a mix of people that don’t want to spend any amount of money on audio pieces like cables and cartridges or people that think their $100 piece is a giant killer.
Money isn’t necessarily the critical factor in determining which cartridge will be best for you. If you have a Music Hall turntable, you will be using a few hundred $$ cartridge. If you have a nice tt with a $8k tonearm, you won’t be using a $500 cartridge.
If I was searching for a high budget cartridge, I would make sure that you have a tonearm and phono preamp that can support such cartridge and then go listen if possible to cartridges that will work in your system. With analog, system synergy is very important, probably more so than 1 piece by itself

@chakster,

Yes, this was also designed by Matsudeira San. The specs are very similar, although the latest MY Sonic Lab models have somewhat higher output and even lower impedance. Before his tenure with Audiocraft he was responsible for the Entre EC-3, another great sounding cart. More recently he also designed the Air Tight PC-1 series.

No, I only have first hand experience with the MC-5000. But I do understand that this whole series was quite outstanding, so I should have mentioned the MC-2000 and 3000 as well. The main difference between models was the choice of stylus/cantilever (Replicant100 stylus and sapphire cantilever in the case of the MC-5000). The MC-7500 is still on my wantlist....