Which MM, MI, or Hi output...Nagaoka 300/500, Clearaudio Maestro, Soundsmith Carmen

Dear @fjn04  : " do not portray it as being on the warmer side. "

Neither the live MUSIC. If you like warmer then you don't like real MUSIC to much but each one of us have our specific priorities. I'm not against what you like it and I respect it.

@mijostyn  , I think that you never " touched " de Nagaoka MP-500 that's my best advise for the OP . The issue is not about $$$$ but knowledge levels of each one of us in this subject.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

Peter Ledermann (Soundsmith) is a really good dude.  
Everything I’ve seen/heard/read from him tells me he really knows what he’s talking about and is just a good human.  
This is an opinion to take or leave, YMMV.  
The Clearaudio Maestro MM V2 absolutely paled in comparison to my LOMC (CA Concerto V2 - which retails for $3,000, so, again, take that with a grain of salt) Can’t say I’d recommend it for what it costs (in terms of accuracy, tonal balance, the degree to which it plumbed the full breadth of information in the grooves and rendered a rich sonic picture, it really didn’t get enough out of those grooves, IMO, for what it costs).  
Wish I could speak to your other options, but I ain’t heard ‘em.

@rauliruegas , I never said I did. 

Knotscot, you certainly CAN replace the stylus on an LOMC cartridge. The problem is only cost. You even usually have a choice between replacing the cantilever and stylus in one go or only retipping. However I also am a big fan of the best MM and MI cartridges. Not a big fan of HOMCs. Among HO cartridges you can buy new, I’d go with Nagaoka or SoundSmith. I can’t include Goldring or Clearaudio only because I’ve not heard any of them.

@mijostyn  : and I do not said that you " said " it.

R.