Want to upgrade my cartridge from 2m blue to black

 I’m definitely an analog lover but am budget constrained. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

It seems like other folks ignoring your statement about " budget constrained", cartridge is the most important in your situation, change the stylus profile first, this is the most cost effective solution to upgrade the quality. You can always use your upgraded cartridge on another turntable. 

I have a local friend with similar cheap belt drive, he changed M2 Red to Stanton 881s mkII and it was huge improvement in sound quality without changing anything else, later he has bought a better phono stage, but still using the same turntable (Pro-Ject). 

Chakster, Where is the OP gonna get a used 881s with a good stylus? There's a couple on eBay of unknown quality. While I acknowledge the quality of the cartridge, it's not really viable advice.

I would not put a 2M Black on that turntable; that's a 750$ cartridge with a Shibata tip, not interchangeable with the Blue stylus. I  agree that you should get a better table first instead of just a different cartridge. Or maybe just get the 2M Bronze which is the next one up the line and only a little more than half the cost of the Black.

@naromance

Chakster, Where is the OP gonna get a used 881s with a good stylus?

It was not an advice to buy Stanton 881s, but just an illustration of how this particular turntable (or any turntable) benefit with a better cartridge. Turntable just rotate the record, but cartridge extract the music from the groove. Yes, this is a cheap turntable, but the cartridge is far more inportant of the owner does not have money for a new turntable which is probably $1700-2000 minimum.

@bsmg

I would not put a 2M Black on that turntable; that’s a 750$ cartridge with a Shibata tip, not interchangeable with the Blue stylus.

Are you sure ? This is Blue and this is Black stylus.

Why do you think they are not interchangeable ?

Here is a comparison chart of all models in 2M line. The difference is cartridge inductance (700mH for Blue and 630mH for Black), 1db higher channel separation for Black and 0.5mV higher output for Blue.

Why do you think the Black Shibata can not be used on 2M Blue cartridge body instead of Elliptical?

What’s the reason to say that ?

We’re talking about stylus replacement, not a cartridge replacement. The stylus cost is not as high as the new cartridge cost. If you are comparing a price of a new turntable with a price just for a new stylus the difference is huge!

You should be able to find a used Music Hall 5.1 for less than the cost of the cartridge you're considering and that will be a more significant upgrade than adding a better cartridge to that table. 

That table is decent, but it has inexpensive feet, a cheap tonearm, and not much (if any) isolation or mass in the plinth.  It does not handle bass very well, it tends to sound a bit "tubby". 

The 5.1 has much better isolation and a better tonearm and will sound much "tighter" and overall better than the 2.2.  No matter how good of a cartridge you put on the 2.2 you won't change the inherent problems the platform has.