Cartridge upgrade

$3,400 will buy you more sonic benefits if spent on a cartridge than on a turntable.  You have a fine phono preamp and the turntable/tonearm is good enough, at least for now.  Think about your end game system and plot a path.  The Manley was a great first step.

Thanks everyone for your input. @mijostyn  I have a friend that has a Soundsmith Paua Mk II on his table. In my opinion it’s one of the best sounding cartridges I have heard. However, I think that costs more new than a Purple Heart. I would like to hear some of Soundsmth’s other offerings as I find their price to performance motivating. Has anybody had any experience with the Kiseki Blue Gold Spot. I wonder how their sonically different to a Purple Heart. 

I wonder why you are especially interested in Kiseki cartridges. Decades ago, the Kiseki brand was a significant player in high end audio and associated maybe with Sugano, who went on to Koetsu fame. I think in recent years the name has been co-opted by a different company and I’ve not seen such glowing reviews of the modern lineup, although they also resurrected some of the names, like Purple Heart, from days of yore. I would stick with more main stream brands, like AT, Ortofon, Dynavector, Soundsmith, Grado, etc, where I think you also will get more for your money. For example, the AT 9Xa and 9Xi cartridges that cost less than $1500 or even the Nagaoka MP500 for a shade under $1K. Or Soundsmith "The Voice" for similar money. Just my two cents. (If you're planning to use a SUT, do some reading before you pair a low output MI cartridge (e.g., SS or Grado) with a SUT.)

@lewm I kind of wanted to grab a Purple Heart as a fellow commentor mentioned Kiseki is pulling out of the US market. I guess I could grab one used somewhere down the line. However, I’m not against buying from Soundsmith or some of the makers that you mentioned. Over Christmas there was a sale on Hana Unami Blue’s. In hindsight I should have grabbed one. I kind of want to shy away from a cartridge that requires a step-up transformer.  My Chinook is the Upscale Audio Ed. that has up to 65 db of gain.  Is that enough?

@rfauto The Voice is $3000 and a great buy. I have heard it up against $10,000 MC cartridges and it more than held its own. Turn the volume all the way up with your preamp on Phono without any music playing. What do you hear? Now turn the volume one third of the way down. That is as loud as you will need to go with the Voice before blowing up your speakers. Hear any hiss? 

@lewm you are not kidding. I tried the Hyperion on my SUT and it was AWFUL. However, rf has a Manley Chinook, so not a problem. Are you still listening to the Nagaoka? I almost went for one, but on a nostalgic lark I picked up two Shure V15 V MR bodies in excellent condition. I'll try a few Jico styluses and sell one.