Hello Thomasheisig,
I find it very difficult to make these apples and oranges comparisons, although as each of us makes them, we learn a bit more and triangulate better on "ultimate truth", such as it were.
The only high-mass arm I've run my DL-103R on is my 18g Ebony wand Schröder Reference.
I detected no improvement over the Triplanar that I could attribute to mass. Surely, both arms retained their characteristics, and both were very, very good. The Triplanar did not come off as being too light however.
I think the Denon's compatibility range is wider than many would predict. I have no doubts that it will shine with a 3012R or an Ikeda as it did with the Schröder and the Triplanar.
Without trying to sound too self-serving, perhaps my turntables make up for what many are perceiving as being a shortcoming (or incompatibility) in tonearms?
Now, the 'table in question most certainly needs to be considered when any of us report, because many individuals are considering an arm change and not a 'table change.
Whether they should be focusing on an arm change as opposed to a 'table upgrade remains open to debate.
As Dave (Salectric) said (better than I've been ever been able to articulate), the tt hierarchy (tt, then arm, then cartridge) should most certainly be followed.
When I look at the functioning of a turntable, I think of an old Fred Astaire routine where he danced with a hat rack.
You'd swear that the hat rack took dance lessons (and quite a few of them). It seemed alive and responsive to his movements.
In the same way, an outstanding turntable can make otherwise pedestrian arms and cartridges sound much better than they have any right to do.
Please note that I consider the DL-103R to be a very fine cartridge on an absolute basis - not pedestrian in any way.
It's for this reason that I qualify all of my arm and cartridge recommendations. I may well be hearing them having an unfair advantage ... riding shotgun on a Galibier.
Perhaps this is what Flyingred, Salectric, and Palasr are reporting. I can well guess that this doesn't trouble them in the least, however (grin).
Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier
