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Best $500 cartridge? Dynavector DV-20XH?

I'm looking to upgrade from my Grado Gold cartridge, its about a year old, and i've heard good things about the Dynavector DV-20X 2.5mv output. I have a killer channel islands VPP-1 phono preamp with VAC-1 power supply and custom DH Labs IEC cable. the cartridge is going on a Project carbon arm on a modded Project XPression table that's also a year old. Any suggestions other than Dynavector? What would I gain from upgrading to the $500 range?
mattcecil
stefanl
296 posts
 
Why hasn't anyone mentioned the Denon 160 or Denon 103 cartridges? You won't have to spend $500 to get pretty good playback.The Denon 103 has been compared favourably to a Shelter 501 and it's whispered to be one of the best MC's ever in the Lenco thread period....The Denon 160 is no slouch either.I think the Project arm effective mass is 11gms so either one would be a good match.
robdoorack
63 posts
 
Under $200 and the single greatest value - for - the - dollar component in the history of audio. Yeah, it gives up some high frequency extension to pricier cartridges, and it's not going to give you holographic imaging, but it has a verisimilitude that's very seductive. Tremendous bass slam and drive too. There's a reason this cartridge has been in continuous production for over 40 years. Note that your phono stage must be capable of handling a low output MC cartridge to use it.
robdoorack
63 posts
 
Oops. I neglected to mention that I was writing about the Denon 103.
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