Kiseki Purpleheart

I owned a Kiseki Purpleheart, it's a great cartridge.  I agree with Big_greg that is tracks well has solid bass and not bright in highs.
You ask about alternatives, two others are MuTech Hayabusa and Air Tight PC7.  The MuTech is $4500.00 retail but I recently sold one for less than $3K.
The Air Tight PC7 is only $2500.00 retail and excellent.  

I have the VPI Prime and have used both a regular Soundsmith Zephyr And SS Zephyr MIMC Star, both track and sound great in my system. For a while you could get great deals on both before the latest models came out. Not sure if still the case. I think the regular Zephyr was made for unipivot arms. The SS website worth reading if considering these. I had both retipped by SS before the warranty ran out. Had no problems at all before or after retip. Just wanted to extend life and have one as a backup without buying completely new carts. Hope this helps. 

"Disturbing to hear about those quality issues."

big_greg-

I typically have good luck with gear. Likely, no real concern in your case.
The KB does have subtle refinement compared the the ART9 overall-particularly the mids/highs.  It should, being 2X the cost!

I've heard the KPH in a few systems. Very nice.

Dear @krelldog: Ortofon is very good cartridge design/manufacturer and this one of its great top cartridges and is new at good price:

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9j28h-ortofon-mc-a95-moving-coil-cartridge-never-used-cartridges

and the one you ask for:

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9j105-kiseki-purple-heart-n-s-brand-new-cartridges


and this is very good offer too and very good quaklity performer too:

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9fa15-zyx-universe-ii-cartridges


Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

I owned a Purple Heart for about two years and thought it was very nice.
I switched it out for a Lyra Kleos and am much happier with the Lyra.  Granted, the Kleos is a jump in price but not by leaps and bounds.