Which Mono Cartridge at around $1,300.00?

I made my statement in terms of generalities, but your response serves to remind me that I am speaking from my very limited personal experience of comparing my MP1 (pre- and post-modification) to various other phono stages that I have actually had in my home. And perhaps there are some aural memories of the sound of other phono stages I have owned prior to the MP1 that also contribute to the formulation of my statement (which, being subjective, was not really a question, but I am glad you treated it as such). I dislike analogies because of their inevitable flaws, but one that rings reasonably true for me is how it feels to drive a Yugo at 30 mph vs how it feels to drive a Ferrari at 30 mph. The two are equally adequate for driving 30 mph, but with the Ferrari, if you need to change speed in a hurry, the reserves are there for you to hit 100 mph with no sense of effort. The Yugo will protest mightily if you try to take it up to 50 mph. The stressed low-gain phono stage will tend to sound thin and a bit more distorted when pushed to its limits, and noise inherent to its circuitry will be closer to the surface. That's the way I hear it. That's why I put a lot of thought into attenuators; the attenuator quality will become very critical in my way of thinking.

On second thought(s), I don't much care for my analogy. There are problems with it.

There is a book called 'Audio Reality' by Bruce Rozenbilt which was recommended. I just wanted to put that out there. Personally, I find that one of the biggest obstacles, at least now, is that a number of vinyl pressings, especially the older RCA Red Seal Records and those on London didn't transfer very well. I'm guessing that this is more of a challenge for some cartridges than it is for others?