A cartridge with more bite, please and thank you


My Hana SL is a little soft sounding for the Linn LP12/Cirkus/Mober supchassis/Alphason Xenon MCS and I'm looking for some direction and insight. My phono preamp is a Supratek Syrah.

Thinking about Ortofon Cadenza Bronze, ZYX Ultima 100 and Soundsmith Paua. Anybody out there compare these? Heard any of them on a similar set up? Or, have other recommendation that would mate well?

 

I see a lot Ortofon recommendations for Alphason, the ZYX reviews well and Soundsmith is right down the river - I've enjoyed their lower models and like the rebuild concept and pricing. That said, best sound is best sound!

Oh, I'm also open to having the Alphason rewired - I'm not sure that's the biggest priority right now, but it's tempting...

Muchas gracias and happy holidays!

budburma

Lyra Delos.  

Had soundsmith mimc star es, AT ART9 and ART9XA (very good); Ortofon Cadenza Blue (better), Lyra Delos, best by quite a bit.  nothing soft about it but still refined and musical.  

“The MCS version of the Xenon tonearm came wired with mono crystal silver wiring from cartridge tags to phono connectors.”

Not sure a rewrite would gain much ground…

 

"...a cart with more Bite..."

Remove subject cart from tonearm.  Drag needle upon instide forearm.....

The deeper the wound, the longer it takes to heal....

Oops, wrong test.... 

Pardon....😏