BEST cartridge money can buy?

best is a bad word to use.....it belongs on magazine covers where no one will take it seriously.

for years i enjoyed the vdH Colibri.....i owned 6 different Colibri's. i felt it was more detailed and energetic than any other cartridge i had heard. i still feel that way. when everything is ideal it has that magical connection. but my tastes evolved and i have found that the Colibri seems too extreme......it is transcendant on the perfect Lp; but has too much high end energy for many Lps (and many listeners). it requires perfect set-up.

for a small group of Lps it might be hard to beat.

so to find the ideal cartridge involves finding the best compromise. or it involves multiple tt's, arms, and cartridges (which is my current direction).

currently i like the Lyra Olympos as an ideal all around performer among cartridges i have listened to in my system. but it cannot equal the Colibri on certain Lps.

so which is better? who can say? even in my own limited experience i cannot pick out a 'best'.

there are many cartridges out there which i have not heard so i would not have any idea of which would be my favorite.

I can't answer that, because the priority from everyone is different.
I want (not prefer) a true reproduction of the real thing, the Living presence in front of the Listener. I few carts can do it, most have other strengths. I don't listen to records from 2000+ which were mainly digitally mastered nor to current reissues. I use for example Classic Records 1. batch, 180gr LSC, Originals or old Deccas for my rating. With the right cartridge, in the right System I can count the rows in an Orchestra, the musicians have a physical body and the Listener has a view into the presentation like the microphones have.
Well, one of those which impressed me, is the last fidelity Research Cartridge from their famous FR-7f series, the fz.
It does not work with modern Arms but I am working to find something similar which can do it with a Phantom II Arm...a tough task .-)

I recently heard the Koetsu Coralstone cart that I thought was fantastic, but from shootouts that were done with a few of the the top carts (posted in Vinyl Asylum) well over a year ago, the Strain Gauge came out on top in listener preferences, and 1 listener thought it was a close second place.

I chose to go with that system and then even represent them as a dealer, so take it for what it's worth.

The Strain Gauge supposedly has the lightest moving mass of any cart, and therefore can more accurately trace the LP grooves. And the fact that you can replace the styli in a few seconds, and have backups on hand and multiple stylus profiles for your best and somewhat beat up LP's makes it the "best choice" for me.

Some people don't want to give up their beloved phono stages, and that 's understandable, since the Strain Gauge comes with it's own phono stage that can act as a line stage as well.