I am with Audiofeil to make the story short.
Design done right counts and not everything we can buy today will do a real
good job.
Differences in Arm Design, Material, Bearing, Energy Transfer and a proper
Geometry will show you very different listening results, carts are not so critical
overall, some diamond cuts can do a better job than others and this is probably
the reason why you can hear that some sound better with older vinyl.
The older records have sometimes a very high dynamics, mainly from the
middle to the last tracks, some Arms can't track them well, they produce
distortions, not in a way that you can hear it clearly, but the musical flow is
different. VTF is also a chapter, 1.6gr and a soft cantilever will give you total
different results than a Cartridge which was designed for 2.5gr...
Reissues have normally a lower, pale high frequency area, needles which
compensate that can sound very different with Originals( 1960+) ... there are
indeed differences, but there are technical reasons for it.
Btw. I tried a few mono carts and my choice was Lyra Helikon with a modified
Diamond, good tracking, super silent, no hum...there is worse out there... :-)
