What is the “World’s Best Cartridge”?
I believe that a cartridge and a speaker, by far, contribute the most to SQ.
The two transducers in a system.
I bit the bulllet and bought a Lyra Atlas SL for $13K for my Woodsong Garrard 301 with Triplanar SE arm. I use a full function Atma-Sphere MP-1 preamp. My $60K front end. It is certainly, by far, the best I have owned. I read so many comments exclaiming that Lyra as among the best. I had to wait 6 months to get it. But the improvement over my excellent $3K Mayijima Shilabi was spectacular-putting it mildly.
I recently heard a demo of much more pricy system using a $25K cartridge. Seemed to be the most expensive cartridge made. Don’t recall the name.
For sure, the amount of detail was something I never heard. To hear a timpani sound like the real thing was incredible. And so much more!
This got me thinking of what could be possible with a different kind of cartridge than a moving coil. That is, a moving iron.
I have heard so much about the late Decca London Reference. A MI and a very different take from a MC. Could it be better? The World’s Best? No longer made.
However Grado has been making MI cartridges for decades. Even though they hold the patent for the MC. Recently, Grado came out with their assault on “The World’s Best”. At least their best effort. At $12K the Epoch 3. I bought one and have been using it now for about two weeks replacing my Lyra. There is no question that the Atlas SL is a fabulous cartridge. But the Epoch is even better. Overall, it’s SQ is the closest to real I have heard. To begin, putting the stylus down on the run in grove there is dead silence. As well as the groves between cuts. This silence is indicative of the purity of the music content. Everything I have read about it is true. IME, the comment of one reviewer, “The World’s Best”, may be true.
@atmasphere , For every one person who buys an LP 10,000 people buy a digital file. LPs are certainly making a comeback but I have a feeling that will extinguish with the Zoomer generation. But, who knows. @rauliruegas , you forget what my profession is. Your brain has absolutely no idea what to do with a succession of ones and zeros. We only hear digital after it is converted to analog. I know you Mexicans hate us Americans but we make some darn good wine now. |
Dear @mijostyn : In reality it’s not a LP come back. What exist is a LP recording manufacturers making huge money mainly with re-issues and yes exist people that for curiosity go inside the whole LP " mess ". Not really a come back with 100% analog recording proccess and that is their way of living, nothing wrong with that. Take advantage of those audiophiles that like to own every single kind of " new " re-issue of the MUSIC they like and that’s all. Maybe never will disappears due that exist millions of gentlemans around the world with huge LP collections, I don’t know what could be happens when all those kind of generation ( where some of us belongs. ) die. Today LP alternative for new people is really expensive to achieve a quality near digital today CDP that any one can buys for 400 bucks and the CD’s does not set you back 120 dollars . As I said: a " mess ". You are wrong, as a country we don’t hate any one. In all countries exist every kind of people but no we hate not any foreigner people only because is foreigner or from USA. Btw, remember that America is all our Continent that is a set of different countries and USA as México are part of them, you as me are Americans becaus ewe belongs to the American Continent even that I don't born in USA but México or other different country in this Continent. Btw, till today USA/México/Aregentina or Chile red wines can’t compete with the best French wines or Spain ones ( in all those named countries are very good wines but away from the untouchable French/Spain top ones. ). Of course that the best European red wines has a really high price tag but to really enjoy it we have to have an experienced " taste " about. It’s not only about money but knowledge level, just as audio home system reproduction: true knowledge level is the name of the game. R. |
Dear @mijostyn : The sound that goes inside our ears is an analog signal that we can't listen because is analog and that's why is in the internal ears an ADC. Read again here:
With the hair cells, we come to the end of the audio path inside the ear. Hair cells are neurons, and the purpose of the outer hair cells is to convert the mechanical vibrations that come from their cilia into nerve signals. Such signals are binary (all or nothing), and seem to be completely decorrelated from the analogue signals to which they correspond. In other words, they’re digital signals, and the inner hair cells are analogue‑to‑digital converters. "" Those hair cells are the transducers, binary transducer and not zeros and ones. As you said our brain has no idea of those numbers but only the binary transduced information.
No one ( even scientific. ) knows for sure and in deep how our organism function. Medical specialist have an idea about founded in all the years in the University and day by day experiences. The in deep brain whole operation step by step till today is almost unknowed. The scientific say that the human been brain is knowed at no more of the 20% of its whole real operation. Any kind of live life in our planet but specialy the human been is almost " miraculous ". Think for a moment of a small muscle/pump named heart that is running ( as all other organs. ) and can do it for even over 100 years with out stopped not even by 2-3 minutes to rest and is a muscle. Which machine or item made it by the human beens could do it and with out maintenance services? it function by electricity and we don't have a cable but its wroks in wireless status.
R. |
