Skeptics believe:cartridge makes a HUGE difference

Elegal, any information lost or distorted the instant that little piece of rock
hits the vinyl (amazing in this age of uber-tech; isn't it?) cannot be retrieved
or restored further down the chain. That is the most important stage of the
whole process. Congrats on your new arm/cart.

Mapman, Zd and others: of course there will be differences heard. Any
change whatsoever to the playback chain will result in a difference in
sound; that is the nature of music and it's complexity and fragility. Wether
that change is judged to be significant by a particular listener or wether it is
even audible to a particular listener is a different matter altogether. We
don't all have the same hearing acuity, nor are we all subject to the
inevitable biases, influences and expectations to the same degree. We
keep coming back to the issue of what is verifiable by use of existing
technical testing means or by subjective listening when there will always be
disagreement between the adherents to one of the two differing
philosophical approaches to the question. The only answer, for anyone
who really wants the true answer, lies in the obvious: get to know the sound
of live music on a more intimate level; and not by just one concert
attendance a year or two. The more we listen to the sound of live the
easier it becomes, when judging electronic gear, to determine wether that
piece of gear gets you closer to that sound or not. The detractors will say:
too many variables, too much this or that, yada yada. Nonsense! It's really
the only way; otherwise we are just spinning our wheels with the argument.

Thanks for the info. I'm in the same bowl having currently Technoarm which is also another version of RB250. Thinking about HUGE upgrade to Dynavector DV505, but still have to come up with budget. I believe that regardless of turntable and I think that mine is completely worthy (Michel Gyro SE) of such upgrade.

You may wish to go back and mount your old cartridge in the Graham arm. I was shocked by the improvement with NOT changing to a new cartridge. Most people will have a hard time believing an arm could make so much difference. BTW I was using a Cardas rewired Alphason which I still believe to be a good arm. Much of this improvement can only be achieved by optimization of all the adjustments that are available with this arm.

The next cartridge is always better and when it is even more expensive, then it is automatically MUCH better ....

I think most believe the cartridge makes a significant difference. Although what Pops said, "I got the same quantum leap when I upgraded my tonearm on my Basis table to the Vector 4. I was shocked." would involve more skepticism from others.

I also changed tonearms from a Rega to A Basis Vector and the difference was shocking in that I did not believe a tonearm could make such a significant difference.