Cartridges

+1 @dover 

I have witnessed this owning many VPI unipivot arms from the basic aluminum JMW 10.5, the 10” 3D with Valhalla wire, and two 12” 3DR. They are actually decent tonearms, but in hindsight I would never recommend putting a $5K+ cartridge on it because the arms will not get the most out of what the cartridge can provide. It doesn’t mean that the cartridges wont sound good on the arm, but anyone who does so is wasting their investment a bit.

Case in point - I at first put a $9K My Sonic Lab Signature Gold cartridge on the 12” 3DR which was mounted on a Clearaudio Innovation Wood. It sounded good and was a notable upgrade to a slightly cheaper Air Tight PC-1s. But after the cartridge broke in, I upgraded the arm to a Tri-Planar U12. It was a night and day difference. The improvement in clarity and imaging, and the reduction in groove noise ans resonance made the sonics elevate multiple levels over any other cartridge upgrade I had before it.

The moral of the story is that VPI tables and tonearms are very good, especially doe what you might be able to get them for, but there are other worthwhile areas of investment beyond an incredible cartridge, that can reap even larger gains. 

I can appreciate the importance of an arm and it has been very well explained by a few here. But thing is, if I had not fallen so much in love with streaming, I would probably consider it. But that ship has sailed. Even with over 2,000 vinyl, my analog rig listening time is now no more than 10%. Also10% on CD rig, meanin80% streaming. Point is, anyone on the fence between streaming and vinyl needs to take a real long look at it before investing.

The question makes it seem like this is a binary choice. I want the best cartridge I can afford that mates with my arm and voices in my system gracefully. I've achieved that at no small cost. As to buying premium "audiophile" records to compensate for gear shortcomings, I just don't think that way. 

My focus is on making the average record sound good. Or as good as it can. Most of the material that's sold as premium audiophile has been recycled countless times. Yes, I have multiple pressings of some records. But my aim isn't just sonic "spectacularity," another Wowzer example to show off the system. 

This means I've plunged deeply into older records, older-sometimes still living performers- lately, been on a post-bop kick, and many of the OGs were issued during the mid-'70s which was not a high point for vinyl quality. 

I have the capability to effectively clean the records (I'm not buying molested copies) and flatten them if necessary. 

But to me, the notion that some fancy "audiophile" reissue is going to compensate for shortcomings in your playback system isn't an approach I would take. 

Even for evaluation purposes, I'd use a wider range of recordings than so-called "premium audiophile."  The turntable, tone arm, cartridge, set up, phono stage and cables all make a difference in vinyl playback. Which is part of the reason it is a PITA. Tracking down records- quite fun. 

Arrogant, “it might meet your standards but not mine”.  That sounds rather cork sniffery to me.

By the way, @hotei , one inspects the cork to (1) know that the wine you are being served is the wine you are paying for, (2) to get a slight whiff of an unpleasant smell instead of a snoot-full (if it’s off), and (3) to anticipate the experience of drinking a fine wine.

In any case, it was a reasonable response to provocation. IMO

Hysteve, I once bought a cartridge that was too good for the tonearm and too good for the table, against expert advice. It was a mistake. Table matters most, because every bit of bearing noise and motor noise gets transmitted into the cartridge. The tonearm is next; it's what holds the cartridge rigidly at the correct angles, and if anything is off, the cartridge will not sound its best. And then the cartridge wore out, probably prematurely.

Next time around I did it right. My Koetsu responds to small adjustments - rarely requiring more than 7 minutes of arc. If your tonearm won’t do that, it doesn’t deserve a first class cartridge. IMO