Phono Stage - The great analog tragedy

A Cheaper Cartridge from a Range of Cartridges, with a time put into getting the Stylus on the money Zenith, Azimuth and the SRA to ones own preference, even used on a well used Vinyl, but quite clean is a difficult set up to better.

A TOTR Cartridge with failing in the Stylus alignment, especially the Zenith, will struggle to impress with Parity to the above, when used on the Same Analogue Source, Same Tonearm and Headshell, Same Support Structure and Mounting for the Analogue Source, Same Audio System Amplifying / Adding Gain to the produced signal, Same Speakers to produce the End Sound, Same Listening Environment.  

Keeping all things even for the Comparison the better aligned Stylus wins hand down any time as the most attractive end sound and the wanting of the End Sound to be kept.

I once heard a Cart' bought for a few hundred GBP as a Donor Model to be refurbished. The Cart' was purchased with a guestimate of over 1000 hours of usage when bought and approx' 1500 hours when demo'd.

The Cart' had extensive investigation to the Stylus set up, when compared to very well aligned much more expensive Cart' from the same Brand, the Donor Model Cart' was so much more attractive to listen to.

I informed my friend their new modifications to the Tonearm they produce, and the time spent on the Cart' Alignment, may have just shown that a Spent Cart' is actually a Cart' that is something quite special. Said Cart' remained in use once reintroduced for the rest of the session.

No Doubt Swapping Out a Phonostage will have created a difference to a End Sound produced. Would the Swap have evened up the differences discerned between Cart's? I think not, but as the Phon' Swap did not occur, I can't say for sure.

for once I don’t feel the need for a live music uncompressed recording to tell which equipment sounds more correct.

all this comparison with live music is ultimately a fantasy.

@pani I don't see these two statements squaring with each other. I'm not saying someone else might see them saying the same thing. But for me I want the system to sound as real as possible. 

@atmasphere who wouldn’t want a real (I call it natural) sounding system? But it doesn’t require a live uncompressed unfiltered direct to disc recording to figure if the system sounds natural or not

@pani Just for the record (if you see what I did there) I was not making that claim. Just my means of reference, so as to avoid the 'fantasy' (as you put it) of live vs recorded. 

There are way too many factors to be included to be able to accept that an individual who has a experience of a Live Performance, be it Acoustic Produced Sound or a Sound from Amplifier and Speaker is able to accurately recollect and compare the experience, when the same Music is to be encountered as a result of it being reproduced as a End Sound from a Medium that has recorded music data embedded.

The Timeline between experiencing both types of End Sound, really does bring to the forefront the unique mental condition of the listener. It is impossible to believe they have maintained the same mindset during the period of delay.

It is impossible to suggest they are responding to each End Sound Produced with the same interest.

Mood is a very strong influencer on how sound is perceived as a stimulation and how Value is awarded to the Sound being encountered. 

Encounter a Live Event, along with the excitement and anticipation that is usually present, and experience this during the early hours of the evening and stay with the encounter to the later part of the night.

If the opportunity was realised to revisit the same Music as a recorded material a few hours later. Conjecture strongly suggests that fatigue and other influences like sobering up or tiredness or any other, will certainly make the extended period of being in ear shot of the Sound a more enduring / challenging experience.

In most cases if a Live Recording was to appear of a Event that has been experienced live, it can be months before the Live Recording becomes available to be producing and End Sound in a listening space. Is it fair to suggest the individual now listening to the recorded version of the event, is able to accurately compare the End Sound from both experiences had.