Step Up Transformer

@fundsgon As a person who really enjoys music, I get the bulk of my musical encounters from the Radio/CD used in my Vehicle.

To extend my enjoyment of music and fit into the usual practices within the home and share time in a room in the Company of loved family, who love to make time for musical encounters, much of the musical encounters is supplied through Alexia.

As an individual with a long term interest in audio and having a decent sized collection of Hard Media, I have across many years, put together a dedicated set of devices to enable a decent level of quality for the periods that are spent replaying the Hard Media music collection. All devices used above are merely Tools to enable a experience of a musical encounter. Each has the capability of creating a stimulation that is enjoyable, otherwise why keep revisiting/exposing oneself to the different experiences.

My advice is enjoy your musical encounters, your first attraction to music, as well as one that set you on the journey of discovering audio, was most likely discovered on what could be called a Low Fi Device. Enjoy the experiences of finding out how there are other methods to be used in your audio interest, for you to experience your Hard Media Music Collection.

@lewm sure, everything is a personal call. And I did say 'in my experience', didn't I? In contrast Raul always presents his opinions as the Gospel, so I figured a contrasting opinion wouldn't hurt.

@edgewear Your Statement, "But in practice things might work out differently. In my system I have the possibility to choose between various SUT’s, voltage gain and current gain devices and some cartridges have a clear preference for the use of an SUT in the signal path. Others definitely do not, it all depends.

I realise this is pretty much a useless answer to the OP, were it not for the fact that in my experience Ortofon MC’s tend to have a liking for SUT’s."

I read this as the Cartridges referred to having a Clear preference for a SUT' as being more akin to my own experience.

I can use a Cart's with a few options on how to send the signal generated.

I don't rest with one option only, I know how I like a sonic that is produced, as well as knowing how the devices work with different genres of music and how the sonic produced can impact on my mood at the time.

On a Weekday evening the Hashimoto, has a sonic that can keep me in the chair quite docile.

On the Weekend during an afternoon, the Cinemag, will get Air Guitar / Drumming kicked off with almost a immediacy.

I also have a Built In MC Stage and it presents quite satisfactory, I am keen to use it when I want to have the other benefits it offers when worked with. 

@pindac I recognize the ’flavour of the day’ argument, which is why I ended up with more cartridges than strictly necessary and various tonearm and amplification options. After reaching saturation point with record collecting and satisfaction point with the audio system, the ’hobby’ aspect is now restricted to cart rolling. From personal (okay lewm?) experience I’ve learned that some combinations stand out, sometimes when you least expect it to. The sound has an intrinsic rightness, as if there’s some kind of electric handshake. In my system(s) the Ortofon cartridges I own behave like this every time I connect them to an SUT.

From personal (okay lewm?) experience I’ve learned that some combinations stand out, sometimes when you least expect it to. The sound has an intrinsic rightness, as if there’s some kind of electric handshake. In my system(s) the Ortofon cartridges I own behave like this every time I connect them to an SUT.

@edgewear 

Several cartridges, phono stages, tonearms here too (LOTS of headshells and arm wands on hand) -- and what you've written really gels and resonates with my experience! Without a SUT I perceive Ortofons as dry, lean, and lacking passion. With a SUT - they're still not a Koetsu but sometimes really surprise me and "hit the spot". The Windfeld Ti is probably my most "hot and cold" cartridge, but for last session at least, it was very hot!

The Blue Lace on FR64S is my unimpeachable Reference. It's always, consistently great -- so it's not knocked about by the ebb & flow of my transient preferences and moods. The various Benzes, Shelters, Ortofons, and other Koetsus are constantly undulating up & down in rankings (relative to each other) with my affections. There's always ONE of these that makes me think "I like this as much as the Blue Lace!", but it never lasts for long lol.