MC versus MM. Which to choose.

Dear Nanbil: Yes, you are right and I made a mistake because Idont read carefully your post.

Btw, Exist some vintage MM/MI cartridges that are superlative but not available for the people but if you have time to " hunt " trhough the internet, here are two of them that I'm sure you could like it ( even more than some top LOMC ones. ) if you can find out: Technics P100CMK4 and AKG P100LE or Acutex M320IIISTR ( flat nose. ).

I enjoy both cartridge designs and IMHO no one is perfect.

Regrads and enjoy the music,
R.

So why do some still prefer MM? They must have certain qualities to go after that MC just cannot have or can but at very high price point.

For one thing, the top MM/MI cartridges when well set up in a good tonearm seem to track piano music better than (my) MC cartridges, to include Koetsu Urushi, van den Hul Colibri, and Ortofon MC7500. The really good MMs capture the overtones and the decay of a piano more realistically, IMO. At least I attribute this to the superior tracking ability of the MM/MI class vs the MC class, and I believe that the hard data from tracking tests does support that. Mind you, there is plenty to like about MC cartridges as well.

If they do this with piano they should also do it with voice and acoustic guitar.
There is an opinion that MMs have more impact and coherence, and MCs are faster and have more resolution. These are general statements.

12-22-11: Inna
So why do some still prefer MM? They must have certain qualities to go after that MC just cannot have or can but at very high price point.

I don't have the quote in front of me just now, but I read the Abso!ute Sound review of the AT150MLX just a few days ago, and the reviewer mentioned that although the AT150MLX doesn't have that last little bit of air and detail up in the highs, it has more musical "body" to the tonal balance, which makes it easy to get lost in the music instead of the details (I'm paraphrasing here).

My own perception is similar. I grew up with live music, have two siblings who made or make a living in music performance and direction, and played and listened to a lot of live music myself. I still play live music in public regularly and get to live orchestral concerts several times a year. The tonal balance, detail balance, and overall timbres I get from my system, sourced from an AT150MLX, never seems to set a foot wrong. The music sounds "right," making it easier to get lost in the art of the music itself rather than being distracted by the artifices that create and play back the recording.