Hear my Cartridges....🎶

@halcro 
Victor - it appears smoother here than my sample. On my system the Victor seems technicolored, as in false sharpness - oversatuated you might say if you were a photographer. On your demo it is easier to listen to. What I mean by coloured is it appears to sound warm and comfy, but lacks openness and upper frequency extension. Remember the old Quad filters where you could tip the top down and bottom up. I dont know the record, so I dont know if this is correct.

Sony XL88D sounds very grainy compared to your earlier demos. Maybe your VTA is out. I think we hear the same thing though - you describe it as "extended detail" to me sounds more open ( irrespective of actual detail ). Please check your tracking weight and VTA, somethings not right. I assume nothing else has changed in your system. Have you had other cartridges on the arm since we last heard the Sony ??

At least we can agree on the Decca, so all is not lost.

As an aside I have been rolling through a few cartridges on my FR64S lately, primarily to see whats worth keeping, and one learning was that it is so much easier to clean cartridges when you can take the headshell off. Honestly I dont think it is possible to properly clean a cartridge without removing it.

As an aside I have been rolling through a few cartridges on my FR64S lately, primarily to see whats worth keeping, and one learning was that it is so much easier to clean cartridges when you can take the headshell off. Honestly I dont think it is possible to properly clean a cartridge without removing it.

I hear ya brother......
And you're not wrong 👍
Not only is it difficult to properly clean a cartridge whilst it's mounted in a tonearm....
It's impossible to INSPECT the condition of the stylus.
It's one thing to CLEAN your stylus....it's quite another to ENSURE the stylus has been properly cleaned 🧐
To do this....a minimum 60x LUPE is required.
With it's own LED LIGHTS you can see whether the 'crud' has been fully removed and whether the diamond is shiny.
Note: It won't be able to show whether the stylus is 'worn'. A professional microscope and experience is needed for that.

For years I have been using a soft-bristle brush to firstly wipe the stylus from front to back (as recommended) followed by a dip in MAGIC ERASER followed by a dip in ONZO ZERODUST.
It was only after the arrival of my 60xLupe that I saw the 'hairs' and 'dirt' often left on the stylus by the BRUSH 😱
This detritus was often difficult to remove even with the Magic Eraser and Zerodust so that a wet clean with Isopropyl Alcohol was the only successful remedy.
I now NEVER use a brush......
Only the Magic Eraser and Zerodust followed by the 60x Lupe inspection.
And this is done after EVERY listening session.....🤗

@halcro OP
Just as an aside really, as I'd endeavoured to listen to your various presentations - they sound rather 'unfavourable' when I compare them to those YouTube offerings of e.g. @whitecamaro. 

Yet people even on this amp thread had their own mentioning as regards to room and microphone used, and the resulting effects. 
I'm using the same listening tool(s) so... 

In short, could it be, your mic/setup could be improved to achieve some better over-all sound quality? 🤔 
M. 🇿🇦 

Hope everyone is well and staying healthy. Thanks for another interesting comparison, Halcro.

The mighty Decca!

In short, as concerns sonic observations and conclusions I am in complete agreement with Dover. The most enjoyable and as I believe is in keeping with all my prior comments about this great cartridge:

**** musical enjoyment, and least distruction of musical timbre, timing etc. ****

In order of preference (per above standard)::

Decca

Palladian
Sony
Victor

(notice the double spacing after Decca 😉)

Both Victor and Sony exhibit way too much sibilance on the vocals and, the Victor in particular, an unnatural dryness in high percussion sounds. The Victor sounds downright harsh in that frequency range. I am tempted to say that the Sony would place second were it not for the harshness in the highs, but the slightly higher volume level (mismatch) of the Sony track compared to the others surely contributes unfairly to its perceived opulent quality (“bucketloads of detail”?). Where I disagree with Dover is that I don’t find the Victor enjoyable at all due to the unpleasant dryness in the highs and sibilance. While the prominence of these qualities crosses the line into harshness territory with the Victor, I wonder if the Sony’s somewhat softer way with these same qualities are what Dover hears as “graininess”?

The Decca is a killer cartridge, IMO. It handles the highs in a beautifully controlled way. Little or no unnatural dryness or harshness. With the Victor and the Sony there is a perception of so much activity in that range that the sibilance in the lead and background vocals, combined with the dryness and harshness in high percussion (high hat) create a kind of unpleasant sonic confusion. The Decca keeps things in order for better word intelligibility and overall musical ease. At the opposite end of the frequency spectrum, the Decca is more articulate and reveals more of the bass player’s wonderfully bouncy and propulsive musical contribution. The Decca simply sounds more like the real thing than the others.

For me, and as always, this “reality” is ultimately the deciding factor for preference of one over the other; and I am baffled by the reference to this “reality” as an “artifact”. Truth is that it takes (should take) much more destruction of musical information to keep one from enjoying a good music performance as deciphered by any one of these cartridges. We have our fun picking apart their different sonic presentations when they are all to a high standard. However, if the comparison must made, the Decca kills once again!

Best to all.

@justmetoo
Thanks for the feedback......
I appreciate it 🤗
Yes....I understand and agree with you that professionally recorded YouTube Videos make mine sound feeble 🥴
HERE is one of many videos by Kenrick Sound which sounds even better than those of @whitecamaross 🤩
I contacted Kenji to ask him what equipment he used....?

Schoeps discrete mic pre and latest capsule-US$5000
Nagra Seven digital recorder - US$6200

And that's just for the sound.....🤯
You must understand that the sound recording for these videos, is done separately to the filming (as you can see in the Kenrick Sound Video where the camera is moving around the equipment whilst the 'sound' stays central) and the two are matched up in the computer afterwards.
There are probably 'Sound Manipulation' Programs available once you're doing it this way.....just as there is PhotoShop and others available for video 🤔

I am merely using my iPad with its inbuilt microphone and zero balancing or manipulation.....
If I was interested in 'monetising' my Videos or if it was  integral to my Business or Livelihood......I might have considered investing the considerable funds for all the equipment required.

You have now managed to 'shame' my efforts and I am depressed 😥
Just kidding....😝

I can only proffer the excuse that the aim of MY videos was to see if the differences in 'phono cartridges' could be heard via the YouTube medium, and to the extent that Posters have been able to hear these and comment on them.....I've achieved my aim.
As I was attempting to demonstrate the differences only between 'cartridges'.....I could have used a direct feed to a High-Res Recorder/Dac and digitise the sound like Michael Fremer does.
The differences in cartridges would have been far more pronounced and 'legitimate' this way and there are in fact, many videos on YouTube doing cartridge comparisons this way.
However this method to me, loses the 'reality' of hearing the sound as it is played on a system within a real Listening Room....
Somehow I think I'm missing some of that realism in Kenji's wonderful recordings.....🤔

Thanks again for the valuable feedback.