What is the “World’s Best Cartridge”?

@rauliruegas , My thinking on the price is that with MSL cartridges there is one less middleman. Humans being the way they are would typically make their own product better than one made for another company. But regardless of motivation they are both great cartridges. I have studied the Platinum Signature under high magnification and there can be no argument that it's construction quality is of the highest order. It is easy to see why Air Tight would use MSL to build their cartridges. I have never seen a diamond so beautifully shaped, polished and mounted. All angles are perfect. Placed on a spinning180 gm record the VTA is 92 degrees within a few minutes with the head shell perfectly parallel to the record. Impressive!  With my modified Wallyscope set up so  it is focused at a point around 1/2" from the rim of the record you wait until the stylus travels into focus, take a picture then snap lines along the right landmarks and the program will automatically calculate the angle for you. It will be very interesting to see how other cartridges measure up. When I have the other two I will publish pictures on Imgur.

The first thing that stood up for me was the bass. I think that is most likely the combination of a very low impedance cartridge and a current mode phono stage. I actually prefer the build quality of the Seta vs the CH. I do not like the complexity of the CH and I think the utilization of a massive batter power supply in the Seta is brilliant. I would be willing to bet that one would have a very difficult time telling one cartridge from the other.

@dover , I am not a huge Koetsu fan either. I got a Rosewood back in 1979 and I did not like it at all. Construction quality was iffy, the Denon DL 103 was better, and it did not track well at all. I had a Rosewood Signature Platinum for a short while more recently and again I was not impressed. The MSL is decidedly better.

The best cartridge is the one you think sounds most accurate in your system and that is the problem. In order to know for sure you have to buy the cartridge and use it in your system. You research the subject as best you can but there is no substitute for playing a few records on your own system and by then you own it for better or for worse. You will never know if there wasn't a cartridge that would have suited you better.

@mijostyn  A while back I had started a thread about how to go about acquiring an expensive cartridge given the lack of ability to demo the cartridge before committing to a purchase. There seemed to be little consensus as to how this could be accomplished, and a number of issues were brought to light.

Chief among them was the fact that no dealer would be happy to have you demo a mega $$ cartridge, put use on the stylus, possibly damage the cartridge while doing the set up and then request a return. This made good sense. 

Now here's the thing, I was lucky enough to have a dealer local to me ( and of course whom I had supported in the past), let me do a demo before committing to purchase of the cartridge under consideration. This did lead me to a purchase, but it also gave me a very nice comfort level with my selection. Nonetheless, the number of dealers who will allow such a thing must be extremely limited, you will pay the dealer price and not some significant discount..and you will have had to have supported the dealer in the past. I think buying a mega $$ cartridge is a risk that is difficult to off-set. 

One thing that was suggested on my thread was for dealers to have demo cartridges on hand to mount on customers arms for a demo period, a small fee to be paid for this service and in the event of purchase, a credit towards said purchase. This is the best suggestion that I think was given...to off-set the risk, BUT it also means higher dealer margins and higher middle man margins to off-set the cost of the demo cartridge. Could be worth it...

@newtoncr  Thank you !  Mike has already said this, but the extra detail is welcome.

@daveyf ,  I have discovered , having purchased 3 top cartridges recently, that online stores will give distant buyers a 10% discount by adding a trade in if they are comfortable with you. You still have to buy the cartridge.

What would be fun would be to start a new online store that just rents cartridges. The customer would have to deposit the full price of the cartridge which would be refunded minus the rental fee when the cartridge is returned in satisfactory condition. You could serially rent all the cartridges you felt were candidates. Having all those cartridges in hand one could also publish photos of build quality and customer reviews of the cartridges. Might be a fun retirement gig. The site could get all it's cartridges at dealer cost by linking those stores that supply cartridges to the site for free.  

Cartridge rental. 100% cash deposit. I can’t think of many things more delicate and expensive. I will not touch one (and I shouldn’t, I am a cluttered). My dealer installs them.