Is There An "Absolute" Best Cartridge?

Hi Travbrow, other great cartridges?
Well - in no particular order and with different individual virtues:
- Shinon Red -2nd series
- Miyabi original
- Kiseki Purpleheart Shappire
- Sony XL-88 -2nd series
- Ikeda EMPL
and 3 others which I won't go public with.
2 of them were never available outside Japan.
1 never went to the custom market.
But you have the EPC-P100c/4 - no need to worry.....

Pickin' isn't the right way, when someone is a Graham/Lyra/Shelter Dealer and writes that this is a good one, where is the problem? DerTonearm also sells you some nonsense when you want that. Based on selling some FR stuff doesn't make him a Dealer. When I am right, that company is out of business more than 20 years ago. When someone wants a FR Arm/Cartridge all you have to do is to be faster at Ebay than he is. Big deal. Let's be honest, before he wrote about that, most didn't know that this company made something serious. Or Audio Technika for you, or Supex for the next one.
It is only a discussion.
Like I wrote before, for most the dice rolls only in 1 direction...

Hi Dertonarm,I don't own one of those 100MKIV cartridges.I just found it curious that two of the most experienced audiophiles with excellent top quality systems and both have heard some of the best cartridges available(which alot of us could never afford)disagree so much with the Technics performance.You say it loses out to a number of different cartridges and Raul thinks it is the best ever.Do you think for the $900.00 or so the last samples sold for where a bargain compared to whats available today?

I guess it will always be the same in this hobby,just opinions and people will never agree on what is the "absolute" best.

If only we could follow this curious money trail...

Can I propose a shootout?
How about a shootout at some agreed upon location with an entrance fee to cover expenses of setup and rental etc.
Since we are on the topic of best cartridge I bet there would be a large audience.
I certainly would be interested.
I bet NYC would be an excellent place since there are so many audiophiles in the tri-state area.