Cartridges that get strings right?

I love listening to strings and I love what my Dynavector XV-1s does to reproduce them. Never sibilant, always smooth as silk with excellent ability to resolve details. I had a Clearaudio Concerto before that and it wasn't nearly as good, especially with strings in the upper registers.

Everything matters. Having said that, for me/my system/my likings...SoundSmith Sussurro MKII..really floats my boat! It just brought everything together.

I should also add that I upgraded cartridges, then tonearms, then table, against expert advice, which was, table first, tonearm second, cartridge third. I should have listened to that advice, and saved myself some money.

Thing is, a TT generates noise. It's best to reduce that. The tonearm holds the cartridge in precise relation to the record. It's best if that precise relation is the correct one.

Asking a cartridge to make up for the TT and the tonearm is asking far too much, even of a precision instrument.

Pingvin,

I have a dedicated tt setup for classical and hesitate to mention what it is because there is little respect for this make and approach. Strings sound breathtaking. Until I discovered this a couple of years ago I never played symphonic music, only chamber music, because the string section always sounded like a smear of strings rather than a string section. I grew up in Philadelphia during the Ormandy era and regularly attended concerts with my parents. Close friends of theirs played violin (father)  and cello (son) in the Orchestra. I know what strings should sound like. When I close my eyes I'm experiencing that. While writing this the last movement of the Nielsen Violin Concerto finished. Please contact me if you wish to hear about the tt/cart setup. 

I agree with (almost) everything already said here.  IMO speakers are the single component most critical to whatever sound you are trying to achieve.  No other single component will make as much as a difference to your systems sound.

Other components will "dial in" the sound, some more and some less, but if your speakers aren't getting you close to what you are looking to hear then you are not going to hit the mark.  A change of cartridge will not overcome a speaker/room/amp compatibility mismatch.