What is the “World’s Best Cartridge”?


I believe that a cartridge and a speaker, by far, contribute the most to SQ.

The two transducers in a system.

I bit the bulllet and bought a Lyra Atlas SL for $13K for my Woodsong Garrard 301 with Triplanar SE arm. I use a full function Atma-Sphere MP-1 preamp. My $60K front end. It is certainly, by far, the best I have owned. I read so many comments exclaiming that Lyra as among the best. I had to wait 6 months to get it. But the improvement over my excellent $3K Mayijima Shilabi was spectacular-putting it mildly.

I recently heard a demo of much more pricy system using a $25K cartridge. Seemed to be the most expensive cartridge made. Don’t recall the name.

For sure, the amount of detail was something I never heard. To hear a timpani sound like the real thing was incredible. And so much more! 
This got me thinking of what could be possible with a different kind of cartridge than a moving coil. That is, a moving iron.

I have heard so much about the late Decca London Reference. A MI and a very different take from a MC. Could it be better? The World’s Best? No longer made.

However Grado has been making MI cartridges for decades. Even though they hold the patent for the MC. Recently, Grado came out with their assault on “The World’s Best”. At least their best effort. At $12K the Epoch 3. I bought one and have been using it now for about two weeks replacing my Lyra. There is no question that the Atlas SL is a fabulous cartridge. But the Epoch is even better. Overall, it’s SQ is the closest to real I have heard. To begin, putting the stylus down on the run in grove there is dead silence. As well as the groves between cuts. This silence is indicative of the purity of the music content. Everything I have read about it is true. IME, the comment of one reviewer, “The World’s Best”, may be true.
 

 

mglik

The best?

Always the next one ☝️

 

The problem with High End is the price tag. All think, the higher the price, the better it is.
Analog reproduction is a chain, the best cartridge can’t shine when the phono stage is not on par, same with Tonearm, cable, Preamp and so on and on

 

and finally, the old story… 3 Audiophiles listen … 3 opinions …

 

or, let’s be honest, imagine there is really the best cartridge out there BUT RSP would be 2500$ … do you really think, the audiophile community would accept it ?
I don’t think so

I try to understand the premise or assertion on which the ''conclusions '' are

based' . Those are called  in logic and mathematics  ''universal quantors''.

Those are in contra dsistinction with ''numerical''. Numerical name the numbers

of ''indicviduals'' involved while ''universal'' don't;

The formula e for universal kinds is:

''for all x Fx & Gx''  

'There are exacltly 100.000 members of A'gon forum.''  is the numerical.

One of Tarski's '''theories  of thruth'' is called 'truth by satisfaction''..

In the formula  above this means that all members of set ''x'' satisfy

conditions F and G. If there is one contra example or ''one x'' which does

not satisfay both F and G condiions  the (general) statement is NOT TRUE.

''All '' is not a name with refering function so we can't know to what  ''it''

refers to. In writeing an statement with ''all '' in the  ''subject place'' we

only assumet to to have said something sensible .

That is why numerical quantors explain ''universal''. because we know

the number of individuals to which ''it'' refers.

European commission decided that ''all immigrants'' have te right foir asylum procedure''. But each country has laws which determine condition which

''asylum immigrants'' NEED to satisfy to get an Asylum. The most do not

satisfy those conditions and will not get one. Well the (whole) European commission had no idea what ''all'' means so Europe got immigrants from ''everywhere''. The whole Africa in addition to Syria. Holland for example

has no place to put them.. While there is no possibility to return them

to their countires because those  will not accept them back.

I hope that the ''SENSE'' of the question iin casu is well explained?

 

 

  

One more thing about field coil cartridges--the Audio Note cartridge got quite hot; I did not dare to touch the Denon 103 modified to be a field coil cartridge, so I don't know if it too gets hot.

There are other somewhat exotic designs out there that I've heard, although it has been quite a few years since hearing some of them.  I thought that the field effect transistor cartridge was interesting in design, and it sounded pretty good.  This cartridge uses a permanently charged electret attached to the cantilever as the gate element in a field effect transistor.  This cartridge required a power supply and wiring to feed juice to the cartridge.

Recently, I heard the Audio Technica ART 1000 cartridge which has two small loops of wire fixed to a tiny plate that attaches to the cantilever immediately behind the stylus.  That plate, with its tiny coils fit into a magnetic gap placed extremely close to the stylus.  I liked the sound of this cartridge--it was lively and engaging while not being thin and analytical as some other "fast" sounding cartridges.  I don't know where it would fit in anyone's "best" ranking, but, it is, in my opinion, a very good cartridge.

I know I'm 1-2 thousand hours from the Deccapocalypse. I'm already thinking about what might come after. Having spent money on a Grado Statement 3 I don't think there's a future there for me. The other game in town is Soundsmith. Reviews are rather sparse, especially of recent versions. I'd love to hear from anyone who owns The Voice MkII, Paua MKII, Sussurro MkII, Hyperion or the strain gauge.

Using the Quad 24p (designed by Tim deParavicini) I can deal with low output cartridges (Paua and up) but the MC input has a fixed impedance of 10Ω, and ≥470Ω is recommended. Obviously, no issue if I go as far as the strain gauge with its own energiser/preamp. If The Voice MkII would make a Decca owner happy, there would be no issue as the 24p's MM input is 47kΩ. There's just no possibility of hearing these before purchase in Nova Scotia, even if I were allowed to leave the house (I'm not: recent bone marrow transplant and little immunity).

Hmm. Just like that my 24p died. Well, not dead, but the left channel is making clicking noises in the Quad 2905 speaker. It's not another panel gone in the speaker as there is no clicking with any other input. Fortunately, I have a line on a barely used Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista Vinyl. So there will be no end of loading options, after I save up again the cost of the phono stage.