Recommend an MC cartridge

Reimac, until reading your post, I had never heard of this new Miyajima cartridge that you purchased in Tokyo. I am a little disappointed in myself, because I just returned from almost 3 weeks staying with my son in Tokyo, and I would have loved that experience that you had. so can you please say more about the cartridge? The question that arises is that you can’t just forget about RIAA correction, because all LPs are encoded with the RIAA filter in the first place. So I am wondering if this is what others have called a strain gauge cartridge , and how well it informs to RIAA in the playback. Other companies that market strain gauge cartridges also market, a special gain stage that is said mysteriously to help the output to conform to the RIAA correction algorithm.

I ordered an Etsuro Blue Cobalt & AnalogMagik software package with smartTractor. 

I’ve been using an ZYX “Ultimate Airy X” for a couple years now and absolutely love it. Detailed, big soundstage and 3-dimensional. If you have a bright system, it’s probably not the best, as it leans on the brighter side. It’s great with my system, which is very neutral or maybe slightly warm.

@dwcda  Where did you buy the Etsuro Blue from?  It looks like buying direct from Japan would be the best price but I can't figure out how to do that.

If a supplier in the Link can be contacted, they may be able to advise on how to purchase the Urushi Etsuro Blue.

https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/japan/en/item/search/My+Sonic+Labs/Al_11_Yh_RaSuBpRmMrMv_N_N_0A00ja00_N/