Showdown: Your Favorite Cart for Classical?

decca maroon or gold.

Tracking ability and relaxed, transparent presentation without noise are things that are important for a cartridge used for classical music, although really those requirements are important for lots of other music too so I am of the opinion that what is good for classical is good for everything.

Two standouts for me are the ZYX Universe and the Transfiguration Orpheus. Of course, to winnow the best out of any cartridge the tone arm is paramount, and the weight of the cartridge and the resulting effective mass of the arm interact: you need a mechnical resonance between 7 and 12 Hz for best result. The Triplanar works exceptionally well with these two cartridges.

Keotsu Onyx Platinum produces wonderful music across all possible classical selections from vocals to the biggest classical orchestra/choir compositions Opera or Symphonic.

My Second choice would be the Audio Note Io in an Audio Note System.

I'm just wondering why there should be a "classical" music preference for a cartridge. It seems to me that all the same issues are in play to reproduce any kind of music...wide dynamic range, full frequency response, clarity, etc., etc. A cartridge that colors "rock" music will color all music. I want a cartridge that does it all - and is faithful to the recording. If highs are smoothed over so that one might find violins less wirey, I would look elsewhere in the system to find out where that wirey-ness is coming from and correct/replace that component.

Stringreen asked what I was hesitant to ask! I totally agree with his assessment.