What is the “World’s Best Cartridge”?

@rsf507 , Sure. You have the BMC MCCI which @lewm owns, the Sutherland Loco and Little Loco, The CH Precision that Michael Fremer uses and the Channel D Seta L Plus and Lino C 3.0. I have the Seta L Plus. I chose it because it can operate in either current or voltage mode, it has a battery power supply and it has both flat and RIAA corrected outputs. It's design aesthetic is also pleasing to me. It is a very simple, straight forward unit without a lot of unnecessary options and switches. Less is More!  It is also beautifully made. The electronics are all first class and it uses surface mount technology. All the script and logos are laser engraved into the metal. Digital RIAA correction has theoretical benefits aside from the utmost accuracy. It can also correct any curve you can think of. There must be 20 or more options.

why do i even come to Audiogon? sillyness. i am talking about 30 years of analog based Lps and what is the reference for those? they were all tape sourced.

and any digital transfer involved, started with tape. i have no interest in this discussion.

i’m a big believer in digital and have a huge commitment to it. love it. i’m sure i’m more invested than anyone on this forum in digital, by far. but.....my Studers kill it if we are talking making music. digital is accurate at particular points, analog is complete. complete wins hands down. every time.

i listen to digital for access to new music and for ease of use. listen to digital 60-70% of the time. but ultimate performance does not involve digital.....in any step.

@mikelavigne I appreciate all your responses think they are spot on. Your integrity is above reproach. Please keep us informed of your listening regarding your cartridges.

Thanks @mijostyn for the list of current mode phono stages. A quick search showed the Seta L20 mk2. Anyone hear this unit?

Dear @mikelavigne : " why do i even come to Audiogon? sillyness. "

Even that maybe the issue is that Agon forums are a little different specially vs the other where you are happy with and that issue is that here not all is about " applauses and praises " as there, even that in this thread twice I applause the DaVa new item because any new product ( no matters what. ) always is welcomed in the audio community.

What you posted tell me that is way dissapointed for you posting in Agon but in reality there is the other side of that bad experiences in this thread. Which could be that good side? that some of us like to go a little deeper not only in subjective terms but with objectivity too.

Everything in the life has that side or exist its duality: woman-men, good-bad, nigth-day, fast-lower, up-down and so on and on.

Here some us showed you and other gentlemans the other side the side that no audio item owner likes to " hear " but that’s part of that audio item always.

So you don’t have to to have that kind of feelings and ask Darius for the cartridge specs. All in these forum and in all internet forums want to know about. So and as always your help and advise is welcomed for the audio community every where.

Btw, Through the good recorded D2D LPs any one ( including you. ) can listen all the damage any R2R recorder makes with its quality sound degradation.

""" i am talking about 30 years of analog based Lps and what is the reference for those? they were all tape sourced. """

That statement says what all we experienced and through those years experienced that analog alternative almost all of we are havy biased 100% in favor of it .

You said, digital is " incomplete " but with no objective/facts that could confirm it and I know you can’t do it but not only you but no one can do it and if there is a gentleman that thinks it can do it then is Welcomed because each single day is a learning day.

In the other side you neither say the facts that makes analog complete but I invite you to think in two proccess from where all LPs came: Recording and Playback.

In both proccess the MUSIC signal that microphones pick-up pass through " thousands " of degradations steps till we can listen the sound through our speakers and what in reality are we all listening? a Complete experience as you said? certainly NOT but a huge degradaded signal. Where Digital is almost a direct signal sound due that both proccess are almost with out degradations, it’s a Complete experience at least against analog LPs that are " incomplete ". Don't you think?

R.

Does anyone here remember analog cell phones? Terrible is an understatement.

There are things you can do in the digital world that are impossible to do in the analog world. Incomplete? Are you kidding me? Human brains are not near that fast. A computer can entirely remove the "pop" from a scratch and fill it in with a small section of the previous several milliseconds and you can not hear where the defect was. If I record a record digitally, scratches and all and synchronized the two, the copy and the real thing. Nobody will be able to reliably identify which version they are listening too. Nobody. 

@rsf507  , Darn, forgot to mention this one. The Seta L20 is a very rare bird. It costs $60,000. It certainly is by a long distance the quietest phono stage in existence. Otherwise, it is the very same circuit used in the Seta L Plus and should sound very much the same. It is also a very large heavy unit. I would love to hear one. But, it is probably safer that I don't:-) I would have a hard time explaining that one to the wife. A $10,000 cartridge was hard enough. I was lucky to get the motorcycle buy her.