@mijostyn That's fine by me. But do you really think I'm going to sit there and listen to 4 mistracking cartridges for 35 years? I will admit that I had one in a LP12/Ittok back in the 80s and it did mistrack. Perhaps your impression comes from that sort of mismatch. It's easy to carry a misconception based on legacy intel. However, I do not have that issue now and the speed, realism, and clarity of these cartridges can be breath-taking.
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.
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@mikelavigne Don't go! 🙂 One cannot allow blowhards to force capitulation. |
Dear @mijostyn : " channel balance as a gauge a 0.3 dB change will make a noticeable shift in the center image easily noticed by anyone. "
You are totally rigth and it does not need to be 0.3db but even 0.1db is noted.
My room/system image is dead centered and sometimes ( for several different reasons. ) that " dead centered " shift an almost imperceptible to one side and that tell me that something is wrong down my system other that the LP recording that sometimes image is tiny shifted . Then that " shift " help me to make a check up to fix it and always with success due that I know very well my system links and nok where looking for.
@noromance , tracking issues not only happens at macroscopic level where you listen to it but at microscopic levels too and cantilever-less cartridge designs have that microscopic issue at higher levels even that you are not aware of it and that higher tracking micro issue modulates/colored what we are listening. You can read here about:
http://pspatialaudio.com/analogy.htm
Now, I owned at least two cantilever-less Ikeda cartridges and yes some characteristics of the reproduction sound is just unique like its alivness and immediacy of the MUSIC due that transients are faster than in a normal cartridge designs but as any audio subjects all has its trade-offs and each one of us choose the personal best trade-offs to achieve our targets. I sold the Ikeda's that just can't fulfill my targets and that's it.
R. |
Dear @frogman : As Mike, you know that respect you and appreciate you.
" reaction to the heavy handed style of some and have to wonder if the rigidity in their approach to this hobby kills the fun ............................................................................... Listening to music is not a technical exercise. "
I think that in this thread and almost all threads where I posted and post exist a sever misunderstood that I want to clarify even that I did it and posted in the past.
As other gentlemans @mikelavigne took my posts as a PERSONAL ATTACK even that I told him 4 times in the thread that the main subject was not what he likes ( that’s not under questioning and I did not with any other gentleman. ) but WHAT IS WRONG OR RIGTH but not only Mike but other audiophiles took and take my posts as a PERSONAL issue when IT’S NOT that way. I have not with any of you that kind of ATTITUDE no MATER WHAT and does not matters that looks like that because it’s not.
What I did and do is to share experiences and " facts " not to questioning you of what you like but more like a WARNING that at the end is up to you. I think that almost nothing I shared to Mike is false, you can read here again and in wbf too. I always make a " research " to have first hand knowledge of what I will post. I don’t post if I have not a good founded facts. In the other side, you posted:
" Listening to music is not a technical exercise. "
I agree with that statement but thing are that that experience normally is full of technical issue before you can listening. You can have your targets to enjoy your listening sessions, are your PERSONAL targets: full of subjectivity, objectivity or hybrid, it does not matters.
My common sense and for many years told me and tells me that to reproduce and enjoy the MORE the system reproduced MUSIC the only and main TARGET ( my target, not yours. ) is try to stay TRUER TO THE RECORDING or at least the nearest you can and to fulfill my target I need to put at MINIMUM all developed/added room/system: COLORATIONS/MODULATIONS/DISTORTIONS at each single link in room/system chain. To achieve that you not only need some $$$ but more critical an important that that is to have the " rigth " KNOWLEDE and SKILLS LEVELS: this is the true name of the game and what we like is only a consequence/result of those levels. Doing that is the way I really can not only be truer to the recording but the best way to ENJOY MUSIC sessions in my system. Specs and technical knowledge and skills are all down there and in your system too.
Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS, R. |
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