'Diamond' cantilevers: a man's best friend?


An increasing number of cartridge manufacturers is offering models with 'diamond' cantilevers at the top of their range, generally priced at the wrong side of $10k. The price hike compared to - otherwise identical - models with boron (or other) cantilevers runs in the multiple thousands.

Can anyone explain why? Is this just an artificial price point to emphasize exclusivity or does it have to do with material or manufacturing cost, even if there's not much material to begin with? And speaking of artificial, are these cantilevers made from 'real' diamond, or some industrial type? Are all diamond cantilevers created equal or do we see a variety of diamond-like materials sold as 'real' diamond? And what about the rare 'one piece' diamond stylus/cantilevers used in a few vintage cartridges (Sony XL-88D, Dynavector, Kiseki Lapis Lazuli); are these new top dollar diamond cantilever cartridges (like some Koetsu's, Ortofon MC Century, Transfiguration Orpheus Diamond, etc.) of the 'one piece' type? And if not, what is the presumed advantage compared to ruby, sapphire, boron or any other cantilever materials? In short: does anyone know what the 'diamond' cantilever landscape really looks like?

And finally the really important question: do 'diamond' cantilevers - all else being equal - offer superior performance that would begin to justify the price difference? Has anyone done the required comparative listening?

PS: a have a nice collection of MC's with a variety of cantilever materials: sapphire, ruby, boron, aluminium, beryllium, or some combination of materials. But not 'diamond' (real or otherwise), so I'm curious to find out if I'm missing out on something.



edgewear
The diamond at the end of the cantilever is man made and shouldn't be that expensive.......a case of marketing.

As J. Carr explained the advantage of aluminum is that the stylus

can be pressure fitted in. By all other materials the stylus must be

glued in. The glue between the stylus and cantilever means lesser

rigidity of the combination. From this follows that ''one piece''

diamond /stylus combo like by Sony 88 D is superior to glued in

styli. To correct bdp 24 there is a whole series Ikeda's 9 with

cantileverless construction. Those are ''better Decca's'' (grin).

I just got the REX the latest Ikeda's version.  

Try Dynavector KARAT 17DS from the 80s, this is the most affordable MC with Gemstone cantilever, very nice cartridge!