What innovative, unconventional cartridge designs can you recommend?

@lewm 

you run into a law of diminishing returns

Yes, that's what I wrote too.

Mindful that my SoulNote Equalizer has about 2 orders of magnitude less capacitance than some DS Audio ones, I note that SoulNote uses an active Darlington-effect ripple mitigation circuit, plus fast diodes.  This could get three orders of magnitude improvement.

The SoulNote keeps the diodes in my cartridge on, whenever the SoulNote is on, even if its source is switched to MM or MC.  The cartridge is warm to the touch, which will be nice in wintertime 

Like you, I often wonder why devices with low power requirements, of less than say 100-Watts, are not routinely powered by batteries. The house batteries in my motorhome can power my modest domestic set up for a few hours, but cost about A$10-k all up.  It would be cheaper if they directly provided regulated DC

@richardbrand 

My Umami Blue arrived today, along with the Soundsmith Counter Intuitive. I anxiously awaited the end of my work day and installed both the cartridge and the Smith. 

I’m blown away by the difference this cartridge upgrade brought to the table (pun intended). It’s simply incredible. Right out of the box it’s a major step up. I can only imagine what it will sound like after it breaks in. Super thrilled. 
Major differences are - more open sound, better clarity, mids are killer…vibrant, grainless and airy. Instrument separation, placement and focus are all several notches up. Soundstage grew in every direction. Noise level is significantly reduced. What shocked me is how much quieter it sounds even in dead wax! Barely any noise there. While playing no noise at all. 
I was running the ML at 1000 ohms load to open up the presentation. Umami Blue is great at 470 ohms. I’m leaving it all as is until it breaks in. 
So far I’m extremely pleased!


 

100W is a very high bar.  At 5V, that would be 20A. That merits and active LPS for sure.  I would wager your cartridge draws less than 1W. way less.

@lewm 

100W is a very high bar.  At 5V, that would be 20A. That merits and active LPS for sure.  I would wager your cartridge draws less than 1W. way less

Of course.  I was just generalising about battery power, which could be used for almost any HiFi box except power hungry amplifiers.

Don't forget the power supply in an Equalizer has to power the equalizer circuits as well as the three diodes in the cartridge.  A reasonable model of the cartridge would be an optical mouse.  Mine works for months before needing a charge.

@audphile1  Awesome news!  The Sydney HiFi Show is only weeks away.  I will be snooping around.

Keep us posted ...