Denon 103R or 304?

The medium mass Linn Basik tonearm on my Linn Axis is a surprisingly good match for the 103R. I go with the 103R assuming your tonearm is similar mass.

I'd go for the 304. I've owned both in a modified RB250 and the 304 is CLEARLY far superior in every aspect, BUT the real consideration is this...

DL -103R = 0.25mV
DL -304 = 0.18mV

Unless you have a REALLY quiet phonostage with bags of gain forget the 304...seriously

I use my 304 with the whestTWO and it is great, ultra quiet with PLENTY of gain with a great soundstage and great musical resolution.

Interesting. I would not sneeze at that .18mV spec unless I knew I had a good solution in place. I found getting the 103R running smooth and quiet again when I changed pre-amps to be more of a challenge than I ever anticipated.

I must agree with Ed - the 100 and 300 series have a very different sound. Having lived with a 103D for over 10 years, I was devastated when I couldn't replace it. Unfortunately, the suspension also ages in these cartridges, so a retip/retube frequently wont fix the aging problem. I listened to the 103 and, while the family resemblance in sound was definitely there, I couldn't live with the limitations of the spherical stylus. So I defected to Linn/Lyra cartridges and have gotten used to them!

I started using Denon cartridges since the seventies, of which include the 110, 103, 103D, 103R, 301, 303 and 304. My favorite cartridges among them are the 103R and 304, though they sound very different to each other. The 304 also sounds different to the older 303 as well.