Is there usually a dramatic difference between $5k and $10k cartridges ?

dwette, excellent plan. Boulder is top level of SS amplification.

This is an "Oh Good Lord" type question.

I can't imagine spending close to that much on a cartridge for vinyl. But this is a hobby and some just like what they like and believe what they want to believe.

I would hope there was a meaningful difference in quality for twice the money, and at that level, particularly. But I am cynical.

"Better equipment makes everything sound better, regardless of the quality of the recordings"

-only if you know what “better” is! LOL

I am so glad I never went down this rabbit hole 🕳️ 🥕.

This doesn't mean that your audiophile cables don't make them sound better than similar $5 per mile cables. They do.

@inna In the recording studio they don't. That is because the equipment in the studio is balanced and supports AES48, the balanced line standard, and all the connections are low impedance. That practice swamps noise and sonic artifacts of the cable caused by materials and the geometry of the cable.

Vinyl records produced/tested with “professional” grade carts, with focus on sound accuracy. 

@westcoastaudiophile Any LP mastering operation uses a cartridge for playback, but usually its nothing expensive. We used a Grado Gold in our operation. The reason isn't to winnow out the last detail, rather is so the engineer can test to see if the cut he made is track-able by a 'normal' pickup. Things like out-of-phase bass can knock the stylus out of the groove, grooves can be 'overcut', interfering with the groove next to it and so on.  That's all about making the cut playable. Sound quality otherwise has nothing to do with that and everything to do with how carefully the cutting stylus is set up, how much care is put into the cut (whether short cuts like compression are used) and the quality of the recording itself.