Phono Cartridges:
A+:
Ortofon MC Vertex: $16,999.99
See The Spin Doctor on p.37 of this issue. (Vol.49 No.10) A: Aidas AG-CU series Malachite Silver: $7025
Aidas CU-series Durawood: $5700
These hand-built, low-output moving coil cartridges from Lithuania use the same basic generator, boron cantilever, Alnico 5 magnet, and nude MicroLine stylus, but differ in the wire used to wind the coils and the material used for the cartridge body. The Durawood uses copper wire and a body made from multilayered wood; the Malachite uses silver-plated copper wire and a heavier, green, Tru-Stone body. The first thing that struck Michael Trei about the Durawood was how quietly this cartridge sat in the groove. “Minimal groove noise is usually a good indicator of a well-aligned stylus, sitting square and true in the groove,” he wrote. On a track featuring John Coltrane playing soprano saxophone, the sound never devolved into screechiness: “It remained prominent but smooth.” Art Davis plays a bowed solo on the same track, “which demonstrated just how embodied and rich the Durawood’s bass can be when given the right material.” With the Malachite Silver, Trei found that the sound remained similar in overall tonal flavor but with a noticeable improvement in microdynamics and power. “Both of these cartridges are easy to like, with a smooth, refined sound and gobs of detail and precision,” he concluded. “The Malachite Silver sounds similar to the Durawood but adds some dynamic impact and slam. … If you can swing the additional $1255, the Malachite Silver is a clear step up.” (Vol.47 No.2 WWW) Aidas Mammoth Gold Mono Limited Edition: $11,250
The Mammoth Gold Mono LE’s body is made from the 21,000-year-old tusk of a Siberian wooly mammoth. Stylus is a MicroLine from Japan’s Ogura, there is a single solid-gold coil, and output is 0.4mV. Alex Halberstadt found that this mono cartridge left nothing to be desired in terms of scale, pace, and frequency response; it was better by a mile than any mono cartridge he’d heard at manifesting fine detail. He also noted that the Mammoth Gold Mono exceeded Aidas’s stereo Tru Stone Violet Gold in both dynamics—albeit slightly—and color saturation. It was also terrific at rejecting surface noise and minimizing the effect of scratched LPs. (Vol.49 No.5 WWW) Aidas Tru Stone Violet Gold: $7025
This Lithuanian moving coil cartridge features a boron cantilever, MicroRidge stylus, and coils wound with solid gold. Output is 0.28mV, internal impedance is 3 ohms, compliance is a lowish 10µm/mN, and recommended VTF is 2gm. Alex Halberstadt noted an arresting sensation of clarity complemented by the cartridge’s silence in the groove and a minutely detailed, high-contrast presentation that was not accompanied by a tipped-up treble or bleached, mechanical sound. Halberstadt concluded that the Violet Gold “offers sonic explicitness without skimping on musical insight. And it traffics in a tangible beauty that I found addictive. Lowering the Aidas onto a record is like walking into a room filled with fresh flowers.” (Vol.49 No.5 WWW)
Analogtechnik DMT25 mono: TK
See Brilliant Corners on p.31 of this issue. (Vol.49 No.10) Analogtechnik DST15 Ice Age: TK
See Brilliant Corners on p.31 of this issue. (Vol.49 No.10) Audio Note IO II: $8452.50
This moving coil cartridge uses a diamond stylus fitted to a titanium cantilever and weighs 18gm, due to its use of gunmetal rather than aluminum for the outer binding plates. It puts out an extremely low 0.04mV, with an internal impedance of just 1 ohm. Compliance is a low 5–10µm/mN and the recommended tracking force is 2.5gm. Herb Reichert installed the IO II in DS Audio’s HS-001 headshell fitted to a Sorane SA-12 tonearm; playing a 1979 LP of Maurizio Pollini playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto 5 in E-flat with the Vienna Philharmonic, he reported that the Audio Note cartridge sailed through this record’s challenges “with spot-on tone and no congestion, confusion, sorting irregularities, glare, or hardness. It never flinched while sorting out sounds.” Reichert concluded that he was correct in remembering how dense, direct, and perfectly tone-truthful vintage AN IO cartridges are, but what he had forgotten was how “soignée, voguish, and urbane they could be.” After using the IO II with a variety of step-up transformers, he used Audio Note’s AN-S4/L SUT. (See Phono Preamplifiers.) This SUT made for a calmer, richer, fuller, more complete-sounding presentation, wrote Reichert, who concluded that he would not buy an IO II without the matching Audio Note SUT. The Class A rating applies when used with the Audio Note SUT. (Vol.49 No.9 WWW) Audio-Technica AT-ART1000x: $5999
Audio-Technica’s original ART1000, from 2016, moved the cartridge’s coils forward to a spot near the front of the cantilever, directly over the stylus. The result was more direct mechanical coupling between the stylus and the coils, with less interference from cantilever flexing and resonance. Eight years later, the AT-ART1000x incorporates several small but important improvements. The exposed round coils of the ART1000 have been replaced by rectangular coils, which boosts the cartridge’s output by 10%, to 0.22mV. A narrower gap in the magnet structure also improves the efficiency, and other refinements include threaded mounting holes for easier installation and an anticorrosive coating on the magnetic structure. Michael Trei found that the ART1000x seemed to collect more fluff from the grooves than most other cartridges do but warns that because of the unique coil placement, cleaning the ART1000x’s stylus is fraught with danger: “You need to remove dust and debris without touching or nudging the tiny coils out of position, and that requires a steady hand.” But he was impressed by the A-T’s transparency, noting that “piano had the perfect amount of attack and bite, with no hint of brightness or harshness.” With all the records Trei played, he was impressed by how silent record surfaces seemed. He concluded that the ART1000x was “an astonishing cartridge, a tour de force, but it comes with a caveat. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like to think too much about cartridge care and feeding, it may not be an ideal choice.” (Vol.47 No.12 WWW) DS Audio DS-W3: $16,500 (includes optical equalizer)
This unusual cartridge ($5000 without the DS-W3 equalizer) uses an LED light source and an optical sensor rather than the usual magnet and coils. It sits near the middle of DS Audio’s range, which Michael Trei describes as “the sweet spot.” Using this 7.9gm cartridge with its equalizer and a Brinkmann 12.1 tonearm and Brinkmann La Grange turntable, he noted that the combination worked flawlessly—in place of a wall of instruments, the DS-W3 was “able to tease out each individual element of the sound and present its sonic character individually. … The DS-W3’s ability to focus and put instruments and voices in proper perspective was uncanny.” Trei added that this cartridge offered a deep and sharply defined soundstage and concluded that it “has an extraordinary ability to pull new music and life out of old grooves while not imposing a character of its own on the sound.” (Vol.47 No.4 WWW)
DS Audio E3: $1500, $3000 w/equalizer
The E3 brings optical cartridge technology to the masses, at less than one-fifth the cost of the W3 that Michael Trei reviewed in April 2024. It features an aluminum cantilever with an elliptical stylus, and two narrow-angle LEDs—one for each channel—that read the cantilever’s deflection onto a pair of optical sensors. The matching E3 equalizer ($1375 when bought separately) handles the EQ correction an optical cartridge needs to conform to the RIAA curve. It has a single pair of single-ended outputs, and a switch that activates a rumble filter. Trei was struck by how effortlessly the E3 sorted out recordings that normally sound thick and dense, allowing him to hear each element of the sound. “The E3 gets you tantalizingly close to the performance of DS Audio’s much more expensive offerings at a small fraction of the price,” he wrote. “Highly recommended.” (Vol.47 No.11 WWW) Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua: $3650
Alex Halberstadt described this low-output MC as “a superbly transparent transducer with a lovely extended top end, gobs of detail, outstanding speed and separation, and a huge, billowy soundstage. … The Kaitora had a way of making every record—whether Brian Eno or Schubert or Godspeed You! Black Emperor—sound really good, and of cutting straight to its musical essence.” He described it as “more rhythmically propulsive” than the Miyajima Shilabe with which he compared it. (Vol.46 No.7 WWW) EBI Audio Khumar: $2599
The Indian Khumar uses an ebony wood body and a boron cantilever fitted with a Shibata III stylus tip. The low-impedance (2 ohm) coil generates a lowish output of 0.3mV. The recommended tracking force is 1.9gm, and dynamic compliance is specified as 15µm/mN. Michael Trei auditioned the Khumar in the Wand Master turntable fitted with the Dark Light tonearm, and in the Brinkmann La Grange turntable fitted with the 10.1 tonearm. He noted that Khumar’s build quality was superb, confirmed by the fact that the stylus alignment measured near perfect when the headshell was set level for azimuth and slightly lower in the back for VTA. Tracking was excellent, and the Shibata stylus resolved lots of clean detail. Tonally, the Khumar reminded Trei of the wood-bodied Benz Micro: “full-bodied with plenty of flesh on the bones, but also slightly illuminated in the upper midrange without ever edging into brightness.” (Vol.48 No.11 WWW)
EMT JSD Novel Titan MC: $9495
This high-output (1mV at 5cm/s), low-compliance MC cartridge features silver coils and a diamond-plated titanium body, and has a relatively high 16 ohm internal impedance. Michael Fremer noted the generous low-frequency transient textures combined with smoothness, refinement, good timbral balance, and commendable transparency. (Vol.45 No.5 WWW) Etsuro Urushi Cobalt Blue: $5750 ★
Etsuro Urushi’s Cobalt Blue moving coil cartridge—the least expensive of its three models—features scantly wound coils, a samarium-cobalt magnet with soft-iron flux-director pieces, and a sapphire-pipe cantilever fitted with a Microline stylus, all in a Duralumin body covered with blue Urushi lacquer. Specs include an impedance of 3 ohms, output of 0.25mV, and a weight of 8.1gm. Herb Reichert got the best from the Cobalt Blue by pairing it with the 1:10 version of the EMIA Phono step-up transformer, writing that during the time it was in his system, “I never once took the Cobalt Blue’s beguiling occupy-the-room presentation for granted. Every day it pleased me. Every day I thought, This cartridge could compete with any cartridge at any price.” Reichert’s closing thoughts: “I could dream away my sunset years listening only with the Etsuro Urushi Cobalt Blue: It does everything I desire.” “Analog is sensuous and tactile by nature, as is the character of the Etsuro Urushi Cobalt Blue,” Reichert subsequently wrote, noting that this was possibly the quietest cartridge he’d ever used. “The Etsuro Urushi Cobalt Blue satisfies something dark and romantic I don’t get from other cartridges,” he summed up. (Vol.42 No.8, Vol.43 No.6, Vol.49 No.7 WWW) Hana Umami Red: $3950 ★
The Umami Red features a gloss-red Urushi-lacquered Duralumin body with an ebony wood inlay. Stylus is a nude MicroLine diamond mounted on a boron cantilever. High-purity copper coils are wrapped on a square permalloy armature centered in a magnetic circuit that combines a samarium/cobalt magnet and an iron pole piece. Loaded with 80 ohms, this low-output moving coil impressed Herb Reichert with the intensity with which it endowed familiar recordings, as well as the enhanced intelligibility of vocals, “natural-feeling contrast levels, grain-free clarity, and lifelike solidity.” The Umami Red displayed sharper, more precisely focused images than the much less expensive Hana ML, he decided. (Vol.44 No.4 WWW)
Koetsu Rosewood Signature: $7995
The wood-bodied Rosewood Signature from the reborn Koetsu brand features copper coils, Permendur magnets, a boron cantilever with a line-contact stylus, a source impedance of 5 ohms, and an output of 0.4mV. Alex Halberstadt installed the Koetsu on the Schick 12" tonearm on his restored Garrard 301 turntable, loaded it with just over 100 ohms, and found that it tracked and sounded best at the specified 1.9gm. “The soundfield created by the Koetsu was as enveloping as a Black Friday crowd at a Walmart, creating a Cinemascope performance that seemed to wrap around me,” he wrote. Overall, Halberstadt found the Rosewood Signature’s laid-back, sumptuous presentation was constantly enjoyable, and he did plenty of marveling at the loveliness of various sonic events. However, he didn’t entirely trust what he was hearing. “This Koetsu struck me as more decorative than insightful, with a frequency response that felt tastefully contoured for my enjoyment. The contour itself was masterful—just a bit of emphasis in the upper bass and the presence region and the slightest recess at the top—but at times felt too apparent in calling attention to its own version of beauty,” he concluded. (Vol.49 No.6 WWW) Koetsu Urushi Vermilion: $9495
Michael Fremer reviewed the original scarlet-lacquered Urushi Vermilion, which used coils made of silver and copper wire and had an output of 0.4mV, in Vol.31 No.1. He wrote that despite its warm tendencies and slightly polite balance, “the cartridge managed to effectively resolve details in massed strings while never sounding soggy or overly romantic.” The new Urushi Vermilion from the reborn Koetsu brand still uses silver and copper coils but offers a lower output of just 0.2mV, and, as a result, requires a quiet phono stage with lots of gain. Alex Halberstadt found the Vermilion sounded best when loaded at just over 100 ohms; listening to a track from the Incredible String Band’s The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, what he first noticed was the Vermilion’s outstanding transparency, detail retrieval, and speed. Halberstadt wrote that the Vermilion brought along all the Rosewood Signature’s strengths: “the soundstage as grand as the Hollywood Bowl, the vivid colors, the harmonic richness, and the lush portrayal of textures. But whereas the Rosewood’s way with music sometimes seemed decorative and even a little decadent, the Vermilion’s transparency and brisk transient response made instrumental textures sound liquid and electric, so breathtakingly pure that they seemed lit from the inside. Vastly improved dynamics added to its sense of liveness.” (Vol.49 No.6 WWW) Lyra Atlas λ Lambda: $14,500
Compared with the earlier Atlas, the Lambda features a redesigned suspension and damper system that Lyra says “delivers enhancements in clarity and resolution.” While the new Atlas generates twice the signal level of the Atlas SL, it is still, at 0.56mV, a low-output cartridge. Michael Trei loaded the Lambda with 475 ohms—Lyra recommends between 104 and 887 ohms—and noted that high-frequency detail took on a security that reminded him of a master tape, making the listening experience a little more relaxed. He found that the Atlas’s famous slam and bass power remained intact. The new version “still has the same tell-it-like-it-is sound as the original Atlas,” Trei concluded, “but now with even further enhancements in resolution and clarity.” And when current Atlas owners send their cartridges to Lyra for a rebuild, the λ Lambda enhancements will be added for no additional charge. (Vol.47 No.7 WWW)
Miyajima Shilabe: $3450 ★
The Shilabe is a low-output (0.23mV), low-compliance design with an unusually high recommended tracking force of 2.5–3.2gm. Its Shibata stylus is attached to a large-diameter, old-fashioned–looking cantilever. The Shilabe uses a patented “cross-ring” construction that centers the generator’s fulcrum within the coil. The Shilabe had a sound that was “full-bodied, deep, and extremely well-defined” and offered “superbly coherent transient and harmonic presentation from top to bottom,” Michael Fremer wrote. Art Dudley also enjoyed the Shilabe’s “consistently present, colorful, and downright chunkyæ sound. “It was the closest I’ve heard a stereo cartridge come to delivering the meat, the force, the sheer solidity of mono.” Alex Halberstadt was also impressed by this cartridge: “After spending several weeks listening to the Shilabe, I had to admit that its tonal density, harmonic richness, and vivid textures made my beloved [Dynaudio Te Kaitora Rua], and frankly most other moving coils, sound a bit flat, bright, and electronic. The Shilabe … played records with much of the body and presence of my favorite old-school conical-stylus cartridges, like the [Ortofon SPU Classic G], but added scads more detail, extension, and refinement.” (Vol.32 No.9, Vol.33 No.10, Vol.46 No.7 WWW) Miyajima Zero Mono: $2375
The Zero Mono is a low-output (0.4mV) moving coil cartridge fitted with a 0.7mm nude conical diamond stylus and a body made of African blackwood. The recommended VTF is a high-ish 3.5gm; internal impedance is 6 ohms. Alex Halberstadt used the Zero Mono in a Well Tempered Labs LTD tonearm and had to experiment with phono preamps and connections to eliminate hum. (This is a common problem with true mono cartridges.) Once the hum was banished, the Miyajima’s way of making even severe surface noise tolerable was evident on every less-than-pristine record Halberstadt played: “Hearing [Nina] Simone play the first chords of Ellington’s ‘Mood Indigo’ made me sit up,” he wrote. “Those piano chords were so forceful that they jarred at first, then sounded utterly riveting. And to my growing surprise, the surface noise was lowered by orders of magnitude. Even the deep scratches that with stereo cartridges result in sickeningly loud pops were rendered inoffensive.” But the thing about the Zero Mono that really threw Halberstadt for a loop was scale. “Remember the hole-in-a-wall metaphor?” he asked. “Well, the sonic emanations between my speakers didn’t sound like miniaturized instruments coming from a single blob in space. When called for, the scale of the music was scary big.” Halberstadt summed up his time with this Miyajima cartridge by writing “What the Zero Mono does most brilliantly is strip away the glossy hi-fi sheen that characterizes the sound of so many high end components and reveal the music’s sinew and bone.” (Vol.47 Nos.8 & 9 WWW) My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent Ex: $7495 ★
Notably, the titanium-bodied Ultra Eminent Ex moving coil cartridge mates an output level that’s only moderately low (0.3mV) with an exceptionally low internal resistance (0.6 ohm). It does so thanks to the discovery by its maker, Yoshio Matsudaira, of a new magnetic material that allowed him to use fewer turns of coil wire—yielding lower moving mass, and the potential for greater detail retrieval—while maintaining a healthy output level. Recommended tracking force is 2gm. As Herb Reichert wrote, “what struck me was how much the Ultra Eminent Ex’s presentation sounded like analog tape,” adding that the cartridge “excavated so much microlevel information that it seemed to reach some perceptual limit where recorded detail … begins to materialize into the person, instrument, or environment the information represents,” and in doing so sounded “less mechanical than any other MC I’ve experienced.” (Vol.41 No.12 WWW)
Ortofon MC 90X: $5769.99
With its N-shaped SLM metal body, the MC 90X resembles Ortofon’s 90th anniversary, limited edition MC A90 from 2008. Stylus is a “take-no-prisoners” Replicant 100, which needs great care taken in setting vertical tracking angle, and recommended tracking force is precisely 2.3gm. Source impedance is 4 ohms and output voltage is 0.25mV. With the 90X mounted on either a Kuzma Safir 9 tonearm or a Brinkmann 10.5 tonearm on a Brinkmann LaGrange turntable, Michael Trei found that this cartridge “sucks an astonishing amount of information from the record grooves.” Trei’s experience listening to a chamber music album featuring violinist Gidon Kremer was that when the quartet played fast and loud, the strings could sound thin and brittle with lesser cartridges—and with previous N-bodied Ortofons. This effect was absent with the 90X, which added more flesh on the sonic bones and more realism. “The sound is clear and full bodied yet razor sharp,” concluded Trei. (Vol.48 No.7 WWW) Ortofon MC Windfeld Ti: $6299.99 ★
Derived from the first Windfeld model—which was designed by Ortofon’s head of R&D, Leif Johannsen, and named for his predecessor in that position, Per Windfeld—the new Windfeld Ti MC cartridge differs from the original in its use of a titanium body core that flares at the top to form its mounting platform, which is drilled and tapped for cartridge bolts of the usual sort. (The Windfeld Ti’s outer body is made of stainless steel.) The Ti’s armature is also less magnetic than the first Windfeld’s: a windfall (sorry) of the new cartridge’s more sophisticated magnet structure. Other pertinent specs include an output of 0.2mV, an internal impedance of 7 ohms, and a specially polished, nude Replicant 100 stylus tip. According to Michael Fremer, the Windfeld Ti, with which he used a vertical tracking force of 2.3gm, “retained all of the sweetness and lushness of the original Windfeld.” He added that “no one will be disappointed by the Windfeld Ti’s reproduction of space.” Mikey’s conclusion: “[$5159] buys you a piece of the highest echelon of cartridge performance for thousands fewer bucks.” (Vol.40 No.8 WWW) Ortofon Verismo: $7349.99 ★
Housed in a titanium body produced by Selective Laser Melting, the low-output Verismo moving coil features a diamond cantilever to which is attached a Swiss-manufactured Replicant 100 line-contact stylus shaped to resemble a cutting stylus as closely as possible. Michael Fremer found the Verismo’s sound “fast,” with sharp, finely drawn high-frequency transients yet with a lush and generous midrange and a tight, nimble, well-controlled bottom end—“knit together into a coherent sonic package.” He found that the Verismo “deftly places well-focused, three-dimensional images in a natural-sounding space.” (Vol.45 No.1 WWW)
Rega Aphelion 2: $5545
This low-output MC uses a boron cantilever and a fine-line stylus and has a 10 ohm coil. Recommended loading is 100 ohms and the recommended tracking force is 1.9gm. See the Rega Naia entry in Turntables. (Vol.48 No.1 WWW) Tzar DST: $10,000 ★
Tzar DST V1 Black Knight Corian: $11,000
Tzar DST (wood/brass-bodied): $11,500
Whereas most moving coil cartridges have their stylus at one end of a cantilever and their coils, wound on tiny coil formers, at the other, the Tzar DST—like the vintage Neumann DST 62 cartridge on which it’s modeled—says to hell with the formers: Its coils are glued right to the cantilever just behind the stylus. The theoretical result is far less dynamic compression than with traditional MC designs—and reduced compression is precisely what Art Dudley heard from the Tzar: “The Tzar DST is the most incredibly tactile, forceful, and altogether open-throttled pickup I’ve ever tried.” He added that the Tzar “allowed strings to sound sweet and utterly huge, with extraordinarily good, snappy, vibrant note attacks.” Created under the direction of tonearm designer Frank Schröder, the Tzar DST differs from the Neumann in its use of an aluminum body and a carbon-fiber cantilever. Its compliance, though unspecified, was observed by Dudley to be very low—recommended downforce is 3.2–4gm—and its output is a mere 0.25mV. (Schröder recommends pairing it with a step-up transformer of moderately high inductance; Dudley had best results with a borrowed NOS Neumann Bv33.) Dudley asked, “Is there a place in the market for a $10,000, Siberia-made phono cartridge?” The Tzar DST answers with a resounding Yes. In a Follow-Up, Michael Fremer echoed Dudley’s praise for the original Tzar and said about the wood-bodied version, which also has a brass top plate, that it produced “all of the aluminum-bodied version’s weight and ’straight from the groove to your body and brain’ musical communication, but it lightened the heaviness somewhat, with some rounding and airiness where the original was angular and literal.” As the name suggests, the Tzar DST V1 Black Knight Corian replaces the aluminum or wood bodies with one formed from the polymer Corian. Tracking the Corian version at 4gm downforce, Herb Reichert was impressed by its groove-tracking authority. With the cartridge mounted in a Sorane SA-1.2 tonearm fitted to a Dr. Feickert Blackbird turntable, Reichert doubted many cartridges could match the realism of the Tzar’s bass or the uncolored clarity of its vocal region. However, he felt that the Tzar didn’t sound as precise, open, spacious, and microdetailed as the very best cartridges. (Vol.39 No.1, Vol.43 No.9, Vol.49 No.3 WWW) B: Audio-Technica AT-ART20: $3199
This a 9gm, aluminum-bodied moving coil uses a cantilever made from a solid boron shaft with a nude, square-shank, line contact stylus secured with a titanium anchoring plate for “enhanced rigidity and low tip mass.” Coil impedance is 12 ohms, output voltage is 0.55mV, and vertical tracking force is specified at 1.6–2.0gm with 1.8gm “standard.” Herb Reichert loved the “pale white wine–tinted transparency,” commenting that low-level details were pronounced and microfocused. Reichert summed up his time with the Audio-Technica’s AT-ART20 by writing that it is “an exciting-to-use top-shelf reference quality cartridge—at a middle-shelf price. What’s not to love?” (Vol.48 No.2 WWW)
Benz Micro SLR Gullwing: $4200 ★
Michael Trei used this cartridge for his favorable review of the AMG Giro MK II record player, noting that while this “fragile little beast [has] been around for a while, … it can reproduce recorded textures with an overtly tactile, right-there-in-front-of-me intensity that most other cartridges can’t match.” Its highish 40 ohm source impedance was too high for his Sutherland Loco phono preamplifier’s current-drive input. Herb Reichert again: With a voltage-mode phono preamp and “a 550 ohms load, the Benz Micro delivered an exceedingly smooth and precise response that wasn’t just pretty and flat; it excelled at presenting the vigorous drive, lifelike tones, and extra-dense, in-my-room presence I crave from the best-engineered 1950s mono discs.” In April 2024, after a month spent reviewing DACs, Reichert was jonesing for some of the Gullwing SLR’s “burnished glow,” so he reinstalled it and used it with PrimaLuna’s tubed EVO 100 phono stage and MoFi’s MasterPhono phono stage, both set to 500 ohms. “Like the very first Koetsus,” he wrote, the Gullwing SLR’s sound “is confident and crammed with myriad intangibles that combine to fashion a very eager, earthy presentation.” (Vol.45 No.12, Vol.46 No.9, Vol.47 No.4 WWW) Dynavector XX-2A: $2250
The XX-2A’s specifications are identical to those of the earlier XX-2 MKII, including the cantilever material (boron), stylus geometry (line contact), magnet material (Alnico 5), output voltage (0.28mV), internal impedance (6 ohms), and weight (8.9gm). However, Dynavector developed a new annealing process that preserves the structure of the iron in the magnetic pole pieces, greatly enhancing its permeability. Dynavector says this change results in improved resolution, dynamics, and dimensionality. Comparing the old and new XX-2s, Michael Trei was immediately struck by just how clean and tidy both versions sounded, though with the XX-2A, “background vocals had better-defined layering and a richer palette of tonal color.” The XX-2A “is a confident-sounding cartridge. It handles even the most difficult-to-track records with ease. It plays records with very little surface noise, managing to make less-than-pristine records sound clean and quiet,” he wrote. (Vol.47 No.9 WWW) EMT JSD 6: $4195
This low-output, aluminum-bodied MC cartridge uses a boron cantilever and a high-polish Super Fine Line (SFL) stylus. Weight is 10gm, compliance is a low 12µm/mN, source impedance is 24 ohms, output voltage is 1.05mV at 5cm/s, and recommended tracking force is 2.4gm. Herb Reichert used the JSD 6 in EMT’s 912-HI tonearm (see Tonearms) fitted to a Dr. Feickert Blackbird turntable (see Turntables) and noted a relaxed and naturally toned sound. “The more hours I put on it, the more it relaxed, opened up, and gained color,” he noted. Reichert concluded that “the EMT 912-HI arm and JSD 6 cartridge made every music genre seem like my latest favorite discovery, and that’s exactly the trait I’m looking for when auditioning source components.” (Vol.46 No.11 WWW)
EMT JSD Pure Black: $5995
Ken Micallef used this moving coil cartridge with EMT’s 928 II turntable and 909-HI tonearm (see Turntables). The cantilever is made from sapphire, and output is higher than typical, at 1.05mV at 5cm/s. (Vol.47 No.9 WWW) Excel Sound/LP Gear The Vessel: $129–$679 depending on stylus and cantilever $$$
The Vessel is a moving magnet cartridge that is available in eight different versions: the A3SE ($129) has an elliptical stylus and an aluminum cantilever; the A3SV ($249) has a nude hyperelliptical stylus and an aluminum cantilever; the R3SV ($539) has a nude hyperelliptical stylus and a ruby cantilever; the A3SM ($499) has a nude microline stylus and an aluminum cantilever; the R3SM ($649) has a nude microline stylus and a ruby cantilever; the A3SS ($499) has a nude Shibata stylus and an aluminum cantilever; the R3SS ($649) has a nude Shibata stylus and a ruby cantilever; and the B3SS ($679) has a nude Shibata stylus and boron cantilever. All versions of The Vessel feature an average output level for a MM cartridge (2.5mV), compliance on the higher side of medium—the exact spec depends on which stylus/cantilever assembly you choose—and a recommended tracking force of 2gm. (Tom Fine was impressed by The Vessel’s tracking ability.) All the stylus assemblies are swappable and attach easily to the cartridge body. Fine tried all of these variants and ended up preferring the maximum capacitance load, 400pF, as lower capacitance settings made The Vessel sound dull and lacking color. Overall he preferred the microline and hyperelliptical styli, “but that Shibata stylus/ruby cantilever combination is hard to beat if you’re willing to take the time and effort to set it up just right.” Regarding cantilever materials, he decided that it comes down to personal preference: “From aluminum to ruby to boron, each offers progressively more microdetails and precision musical timing.” Ultimately, The Vessel’s good sound and robust upgrade path make it an interesting option that need not break the bank, he concluded. Readers can listen to a track played with six of the variants at tinyurl.com/4e893eyb. (Vol.48 No.12 WWW) Goldring E3: $189 $$$ ★
Goldring’s budget E series—“designed in the UK, made in Japan”—consists of three versions: the conical-tipped, carbon-cantilevered E1 ($100), the conical-tipped, aluminum-cantilevered E2 ($129), and the elliptical-tipped, aluminum-cantilevered E3 ($169). When Herb Reichert auditioned the E3, he commented that “It brought out every note with a precision I never imagined a moving magnet could muster.” He added that the E3 “played [music] with much of the realism and complexity it does with a Koetsu” and noted the cartridge’s superb PRaT (pace, rhythm, and timing). (Vol.44 No.1 WWW)
Goldring Ethos: $1999
Goldring’s Ethos moving coil cartridge features an aluminum body, a neodymium magnet, and a nude 0.3 × 1.4 mil line-contact stylus on an aluminum cantilever. Internal resistance is 4 ohms, dynamic compliance is specified at 15mm/N, static compliance at 25mm/N, and its output is 0.5mV at 1kHz and 5cm/s. The first thing Herb Reichert noticed, when playing Nina Simone’s Little Girl Blue with the Ethos loaded with 100 ohms, was how it operated at a nice, brisk energy level, with sparkle in its clarity. Right away, he was puzzled: “How can this moderately priced Goldring be making some of the most vivid sound I’ve heard from a recording I’ve known my whole life?” He concluded, “Goldring’s overachieving Ethos delivers a bright, extra-quiet clarity that lets the sounds and attitudes of music come out fresh, full, distinct, and robust. In my system, with a variety of phono stages, the Goldring Ethos made high-chi uptown sound at a modest downtown price.” (Vol.47 No.4 WWW) Hana SL Mk II Mono: $850 $$$
This moving coil features a nude Shibata stylus and an alnico magnet. It is fundamentally the same cartridge as Hana’s stereo MK II, but with its coils rotated 45° so that electrically it favors horizontal groove modulations. It retains its vertical compliance, so no damage is done playing stereo records. Compared with the Lyra Delos playing a mono recording of a Sibelius symphony, Herb Reichert found that the SL Mono sounded smoother, softer, suppler, and considerably richer in tone and texture: “There was no hardness or brightness.” (Vol.48 No.7 WWW) Hana SL MK II: $850 $$$
The low-output SL MK II features an alnico magnet, a Permalloy armature/coil former, a tapered-aluminum cantilever, and a nude Shibata stylus. Recommended loading is 80–100 ohms. Herb Reichert found that Hana’s original SL was an easy-flowing cartridge with a natural demeanor that did not sacrifice focus or musical form when presenting complex recordings, but boogie, slam, and jump factor were not its strong points. The SL MK II’s heavier body, lower impedance coils, and tapered-tube cantilever addressed these deficiencies. The MK II sounded noticeably speedier, clearer, harder hitting, and more alpha than the original SL, concluded Reichert. (Vol.47 No.11 WWW)
Hana Umami Blue: $2500
The Blue uses a MicroLine stylus on a boron cantilever and generates 0.4mV from 8 ohm coils and an alnico magnet. Its CNC-machined duralumin body weighs 10.8gm and recommended tracking force is 2gm. Playing a mono album by violinist Ruggiero Ricci, Herb Reichert wrote that the Blue dug out more of that rich, old-mono sound than he was expecting from a contemporary stereo cartridge. It “put just the right bite on Ruggiero’s bowing, making its scraped tones into a goosebumpy spectacle,” and the dazzling harmonics of Ruggiero’s violin had his full attention. (Vol.47 No.11 WWW) Lyra Delos: $2495
Martin Colloms’s reference phono cartridge, this medium-weight, medium-compliance, low-impedance moving coil uses a solid boron cantilever with a nude MicroRidge line-contact stylus and a one-point suspension. Recommend tracking downforce is 1.75gm. Herb Reichert found that 200 ohms was the optimal loading with Mobile Fidelity’s Master Phono, but 50 ohms sounded best with SunValley’s EQ1616D. He concluded that the Delos “sounded like a fine-tuned supercartridge under a wide range of loading conditions. Its ability to probe deep and resolve finely never made me shy away from poorly recorded discs. In my system, it made every disc sound exciting. These traits secure the Lyra Delos’s position as a classic evergreen product that will be a first-round inductee to the Hi-Fi Hall of Fame.” He returned to the Delos in July 2025, writing, “the Delos scratches out an extraordinary amount of low-level data, then uses those tiny voltages to construct unusually dimensional sound pictures, with bones, matrices, scaffolding, and puffy clouds of reverb ricocheting against stone walls and over audiences’ heads. But no one told me it did goosebumps, tears, and sadness like it’s been doing in my system.” (Vol.48 Nos.5 & 7 WWW) Mobile Fidelity Electronics StudioSilver: $1000
This low-output, aluminum-bodied MC employs a boron cantilever with a “Nude MicroLinear” tip. MoFi recommends loading the StudioSilver with less than 100 ohms, and at 100 ohms Herb Reichert found that it “effortlessly depicted enormous wavefronts of massed strings with purring-cat textures and supple, billowing forms.” Changing to 500 ohms, the StudioSilver kicked up the energy and enjoyment factors. Comparing the StudioSilver with the Benz Micro Gullwing SLR, Reichert noted that it was not as dark or dense, tonewise and basswise, but it was lighter on its feet. “A high-value pickup that’s easy to recommend” he concluded. (Vol.47 Nos.11 & 12 WWW)
Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250: $1149
Compared with the basic 2M Black, the LVB moving magnet uses the low-mass boron cantilever/nude Shibata assembly found on Ortofon’s Cadenza Black. The new rubber suspension compound is based on a multiwall carbon nanotube nano filler compound for which Ortofon claims “desirable mechanical properties” as well as greater environmentally friendly production characteristics. Used with the SME Model 6 (see Turntables), the 2M Black LVB “sounded detailed, open, and extended on top,” wrote Michael Fremer. Herb Reichert auditioned the Ortofon tracking at 1.6gm with the Lab12 Melto2 phono preamp—see Phono Preamplifiers—and while the images spun by the LVB 250 were more ethereal and ghostlike than they were with his favorite moving coils, delicacy made the LVB 250 a sensible viable alternative to more expensive MCs. “I’d never experienced a moving magnet cartridge with that much alluring vibrancy,” he wrote. (Vol.44 Nos.5 & 9 original version, Vol.49 No.3 WWW) Ortofon Cadenza Bronze: $2599.99
This low-output moving coil is the second from the top in Ortofon’s Cadenza series. It features a stainless steel and aluminum body, an output of 0.4mV, and a lowish compliance of 12µm/mN. The tapered conical aluminum cantilever terminates in a nude Replicant stylus. Alex Halberstadt was intrigued by the fact that the Bronze has a deliberately “flavored” tuning. According to Ortofon, the Bronze is claimed to offer “a touch of romance and warmth.” Halberstadt noted that the Cadenza Bronze’s “warm” tuning “proved admirably subtle, lending recordings body and presence while dialing down sizzle and hi-fi artifacts like ‘air.’” He was never aware of missing deleted highs or finding the bass overripe. To Halberstadt, the Ortofon simply sounded more natural than many moving coil cartridges and bested every cartridge he’d heard in one important respect: its ability to reject surface noise. (Vol.47 No.3 WWW) Ortofon Cadenza Mono: $1599.99
The Cadenza Mono is a moving coil with an output of 0.45mV, an internal impedance of 5 ohms, and a recommended tracking force of 2.5gm. Despite being a mono cartridge, the Cadenza Mono has two coils, rotated to sit parallel to the record surface. This allows both vertical and horizontal movement, which enables the Cadenza Mono to play stereo records safely. Alex Halberstadt mounted the Ortofon Mono on a Well Tempered Lab Amadeus 254 GT record player—see Turntables—and found it offered a notably different presentation from the Miyajima Zero Mono. The Cadenza Mono sounded smoother than the Japanese cartridge, and while it handled pops and scratches with grace, minimizing their impact, it wasn’t quite as effective as the Miyajima at making them musically unintrusive. “The Ortofon Cadenza Mono creates a seamless, modern, high-resolution sound that worked well with every genre I played,” he wrote, adding that while it’s not the best choice for romantics or vintage mavens, “it will capture the musical treasures on your mono LPs with greater fidelity than stereo cartridges, even far more expensive ones.” (Vol.47 No.9 WWW)
Ortofon MC X40: $1150
Ortofon’s four X series moving coil cartridges feature a metal injection molded (MIM) honeycomb steel frame, use high-purity, solid silver wire on their cross-form coil armatures, and a single-segment cylindrical pole piece is integrated into a rear magnet yoke. The top model, the X40, employs a boron cantilever and a nude Shibata stylus, and Herb Reichert found it was a superb tracker. With the Schiit Stjarna phono preamp loaded at 100 ohms, the X40 never felt hi-fi–delic or too stereo-graphic—just focused, natural, and steady, noted Reichert. With the Sun Valley EQ1616D loaded at 50 ohms, the sound was super-tactile and delightfully unfettered. With the Mobile Fidelity MasterPhono, the X40’s sound character went from tuneful, smooth, and lucid to brighter, clearer, and more dynamic. Transient reproduction was delicate; transparency and focus were at a level any audiophile would applaud, Reichert wrote. “With all three phono stages I tried, the Ortofon MC X40 delivered peak-level mid-price phonography,” he concluded, adding “What never changed was the X40’s illusion of speed and agility, its conspicuous neutrality, and its ability to disappear behind whatever music I played.” (Vol.48 No.12 WWW) Pure Fidelity Stratos: $2495 ★
Ken Micallef used this duralumin-bodied MC cartridge for his review of Pure Fidelity’s Harmony turntable—see Turntables. It looks like a rebranded Hana, but Pure Fidelity says that the Stratos is built to their specifications by Goldnote in Italy, using a cantilever and stylus sourced from a Japanese company. Micallef felt that the EMT TSD15 N cartridge provided more weight in bass lines than he heard with the Stratos, though the Stratos produced more thrills than the Luxman LMC-5 cartridge. (Vol.45 No.12 WWW) Sumiko Oriole: $1699
This moving coil cartridge is made in Japan by Excel Sound, the manufacturer that builds the Hana cartridges. It uses an aluminum cantilever fitted with a nude Shibata stylus; nominal output is a low 0.3mV and source impedance is 5.5 ohms. The skeletal-bodied Oriole leaves its generator and cantilever out in the open, but it does come with a well-designed stylus cover. The Oriole offered superb tracking and no peakiness, found Michael Trei. Given its provenance he figured the Oriole might sound a bit like a Hana ML or Umami Blue, but its character was different: more upfront and dynamic, a bit leaner and less laid-back. “They all play in the same ballpark performance-wise,” he wrote; “it comes down to whether you prefer caramel or lemon sherbet.” (Vol.49 No.5 WWW)
VPI Goldy: $1200 $$$
See the VPI Forever Model One entry in Turntables. (Vol.48 No.7 WWW) Zu/Denon DL-103 Mk.II Rev B: $599—$1319 $$$ ★
The Zu/DL-103 Mk.II cartridge replaced the original Zu Audio DL-103 (see Stereophile‘s October 2007 issue), itself the first modification of the classic Denon DL-103 to achieve widespread recognition and commercial success. For the Mk.II version, the basic formula remains—Zu strips away the Denon’s plastic housing and repackages its motor and output-pin block in a precision-machined aluminum body—but here the body has been reshaped to make better contact with the motor and better resist the buildup of sound-sullying resonances. Also new are an improved epoxy for holding the motor in place and a body shape that permits the use of the Denon cartridge’s original stylus guard. The Zu DL-103 Mk.II is available in three versions, the differences between them determined by the tolerances Zu observes while hand-selecting stock Denon cartridges: Grade 1 ($791), Grade 2 ($959), and Grade 2 Prime ($1319). Art Dudley, who regarded the original Zu Audio/Denon DL-103 as a giant-slayer of Homeric proportions, thought the Grade 2 Premium Zu DL-103 Mk.II went even further, offering fine musical timing and “an ocean of tone.” Compared with the original Mk.II, the Rev B generator was moved slightly farther forward in the body and a notch was added above the stylus position to make cueing easier. Michael Trei auditioned the Grade 2 Rev B, noting that with the cartridge mounted in the Korf tonearm (see Tonearms), “gone was the typical, slightly-soft-and-comforting Zu/DL-103 sound, replaced by something significantly more nimble and lighter on its feet.” (Vol.41 No.4 WWW, Vol.46 No.12 WWW) C: Audio-Technica AT-VM95C, E, H, ML & SH: $54–$219 depending on stylus $$$ ★
A series of cartridges based on the no-longer-available Audio-Technica AT95E, the VMs all use the same body with a choice of interchangeable styli. Comparing the top model, the Shibata-tipped AT-VM95SH ($199), with his reference moving magnet, Ortofon’s 2M Black, Herb Reichert felt the A-T had more push and bounce, keeping the beat and carrying the tune better than the Ortofon. Switching to the elliptical-stylus VM95E ($49), he wrote that “the sound had even more pulse, presence, and genuine reggae-music energy. … It made the Shibata-tipped VM95 sound overly smooth and polite.” Changing to the conical-stylus AT-VM95C ($34), Reichert found that it sounded “cool, fast, and powerful but also detailed and invigorating.” He concluded that the cheapest A-T with its conical stylus was, music-pleasure–wise, the most satisfying cartridge of the family. (Vol.44 No.1 WWW) Denon DL-103: $399 $$$ ★
In production since 1962, the DL-103 is a resolutely old-fashioned cartridge with a two-piece plastic body. Its two-piece aluminum cantilever drives a cross-shaped armature wound with several turns of fine-gauge copper magnet wire. Its nude, square-shank diamond stylus is ground to a spherical tip. Though the Denon offered excellent bass depth and impact, with an overall exciting and “pleasantly forward” sound, its high-frequency response peak made bright recordings “a bit more forward than ideal.” Nonetheless, Art Dudley deemed it “a superb cartridge and a remarkable buy.” Compared to Denon’s DL-A100 100th Anniversary moving coil cartridge, Dudley’s old DL-103 was tubbier in the bass but just as dynamic and dramatic. Performance with the stock spherical stylus tip squeaks into low Class B, he adds, saying that, “apart from various Miyajimas and the always-recommendable Miyabi 47, it’s hard for me to think of another standard (non-pickup-head) type of cartridge that has this much impact and drama.” Ken Micallef’s go-to cartridge. Herb Reichert tried the DL-103 on Music Hall’s Stealth turntable, commenting that the DL-103 remains one of the most flat-out enjoyable-to-use cartridges he knows. It brings “vibrancy and spirited dynamics to every type of recording.” Borderline Class B. (Vol.3 No.9, Vol.30 Nos.10 & 12, Vol.34 No.12, Vol.39 No.9, Vol.45 No.10 WWW)
Nagaoka MP-110: $170 $$$
Described by Nagaoka as a “moving Permalloy” cartridge, the bargain-priced MP-110 features a bonded elliptical diamond on an aluminum cantilever and generates a 5.0mV output. Playing a 1952 mono disc, Herb Reichert said that the MP-110 sounded “fat, raw, direct, and highly tactile, with spot-on timbres.” The combined effect of these desirable traits was a frank realism that he found extremely compelling. The only downside that he noted was that it was “a grainy, noisy beast.” (Vol.47 No.8 WWW) Ortofon 2M Black: $749.99 $$$ ★
Partnered with the budget-priced Audio-Technica AT-PEQ3 phono preamp, the “ridiculously good” Ortofon 2M Black produced a bright, open sound with “surprising heft and slam.” Because its Shibata stylus is sensitive to rake angle, the 2M Black should be used only with tonearms that permit adjustment of VTA and SRA, Mikey advised. Herb Reichert used the Black on the Music Hall Stealth turntable, writing that compared with the Ortofon 2M Blue, “tone quality, and the illusion of force and forward momentum, were enhanced to a degree that made me think I could live happily forever with this setup.” (Vol.32 No.12, Vol.45 Nos.10, 11 & 12 WWW) Ortofon 2M Blue: $219.99 $$$ ★
Affordable moving magnet cartridge with user-replaceable elliptical diamond stylus. With the Blue mounted in a Music Hall Ikura turntable and arm, Bob Reina found that “the transients and bloom of the string quartet were reproduced with no trace of coloration or smear. Superb transient articulation and dynamics. Competes with cartridges at double its price. Also an excellent match for both the Music Hall Ikura and VPI Nomad turntables.” Herb Reichert auditioned the Blue on Music Hall’s Stealth turntable and noted that the 2M Blue was more passive than propulsive-sounding. “Its best trait was how it emphasized fine textures and the atmospheric aspects of recordings,” he concluded. (Vol.37 No.12, Vol.45 No.10 WWW)
Deletions
Hana EL MC, Ortofon SPU Royal N, discontinued. Grado Labs Platinum3 Low, Grado Labs Platinum3 High, replaced by newer model not yet reviewed. Goldring Eroica HX, LP Gear Carbon Fidelity CF3600LE, Hana ML MC, Luxman LMC-5, Miyajima Kotetu mono, Dynavector DV-20X2L, not auditioned in a long time.
See The Spin Doctor on p.37 of this issue. (Vol.49 No.10) A: Aidas AG-CU series Malachite Silver: $7025
Aidas CU-series Durawood: $5700
These hand-built, low-output moving coil cartridges from Lithuania use the same basic generator, boron cantilever, Alnico 5 magnet, and nude MicroLine stylus, but differ in the wire used to wind the coils and the material used for the cartridge body. The Durawood uses copper wire and a body made from multilayered wood; the Malachite uses silver-plated copper wire and a heavier, green, Tru-Stone body. The first thing that struck Michael Trei about the Durawood was how quietly this cartridge sat in the groove. “Minimal groove noise is usually a good indicator of a well-aligned stylus, sitting square and true in the groove,” he wrote. On a track featuring John Coltrane playing soprano saxophone, the sound never devolved into screechiness: “It remained prominent but smooth.” Art Davis plays a bowed solo on the same track, “which demonstrated just how embodied and rich the Durawood’s bass can be when given the right material.” With the Malachite Silver, Trei found that the sound remained similar in overall tonal flavor but with a noticeable improvement in microdynamics and power. “Both of these cartridges are easy to like, with a smooth, refined sound and gobs of detail and precision,” he concluded. “The Malachite Silver sounds similar to the Durawood but adds some dynamic impact and slam. … If you can swing the additional $1255, the Malachite Silver is a clear step up.” (Vol.47 No.2 WWW) Aidas Mammoth Gold Mono Limited Edition: $11,250
The Mammoth Gold Mono LE’s body is made from the 21,000-year-old tusk of a Siberian wooly mammoth. Stylus is a MicroLine from Japan’s Ogura, there is a single solid-gold coil, and output is 0.4mV. Alex Halberstadt found that this mono cartridge left nothing to be desired in terms of scale, pace, and frequency response; it was better by a mile than any mono cartridge he’d heard at manifesting fine detail. He also noted that the Mammoth Gold Mono exceeded Aidas’s stereo Tru Stone Violet Gold in both dynamics—albeit slightly—and color saturation. It was also terrific at rejecting surface noise and minimizing the effect of scratched LPs. (Vol.49 No.5 WWW) Aidas Tru Stone Violet Gold: $7025
This Lithuanian moving coil cartridge features a boron cantilever, MicroRidge stylus, and coils wound with solid gold. Output is 0.28mV, internal impedance is 3 ohms, compliance is a lowish 10µm/mN, and recommended VTF is 2gm. Alex Halberstadt noted an arresting sensation of clarity complemented by the cartridge’s silence in the groove and a minutely detailed, high-contrast presentation that was not accompanied by a tipped-up treble or bleached, mechanical sound. Halberstadt concluded that the Violet Gold “offers sonic explicitness without skimping on musical insight. And it traffics in a tangible beauty that I found addictive. Lowering the Aidas onto a record is like walking into a room filled with fresh flowers.” (Vol.49 No.5 WWW)
See Brilliant Corners on p.31 of this issue. (Vol.49 No.10) Analogtechnik DST15 Ice Age: TK
See Brilliant Corners on p.31 of this issue. (Vol.49 No.10) Audio Note IO II: $8452.50
This moving coil cartridge uses a diamond stylus fitted to a titanium cantilever and weighs 18gm, due to its use of gunmetal rather than aluminum for the outer binding plates. It puts out an extremely low 0.04mV, with an internal impedance of just 1 ohm. Compliance is a low 5–10µm/mN and the recommended tracking force is 2.5gm. Herb Reichert installed the IO II in DS Audio’s HS-001 headshell fitted to a Sorane SA-12 tonearm; playing a 1979 LP of Maurizio Pollini playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto 5 in E-flat with the Vienna Philharmonic, he reported that the Audio Note cartridge sailed through this record’s challenges “with spot-on tone and no congestion, confusion, sorting irregularities, glare, or hardness. It never flinched while sorting out sounds.” Reichert concluded that he was correct in remembering how dense, direct, and perfectly tone-truthful vintage AN IO cartridges are, but what he had forgotten was how “soignée, voguish, and urbane they could be.” After using the IO II with a variety of step-up transformers, he used Audio Note’s AN-S4/L SUT. (See Phono Preamplifiers.) This SUT made for a calmer, richer, fuller, more complete-sounding presentation, wrote Reichert, who concluded that he would not buy an IO II without the matching Audio Note SUT. The Class A rating applies when used with the Audio Note SUT. (Vol.49 No.9 WWW) Audio-Technica AT-ART1000x: $5999
Audio-Technica’s original ART1000, from 2016, moved the cartridge’s coils forward to a spot near the front of the cantilever, directly over the stylus. The result was more direct mechanical coupling between the stylus and the coils, with less interference from cantilever flexing and resonance. Eight years later, the AT-ART1000x incorporates several small but important improvements. The exposed round coils of the ART1000 have been replaced by rectangular coils, which boosts the cartridge’s output by 10%, to 0.22mV. A narrower gap in the magnet structure also improves the efficiency, and other refinements include threaded mounting holes for easier installation and an anticorrosive coating on the magnetic structure. Michael Trei found that the ART1000x seemed to collect more fluff from the grooves than most other cartridges do but warns that because of the unique coil placement, cleaning the ART1000x’s stylus is fraught with danger: “You need to remove dust and debris without touching or nudging the tiny coils out of position, and that requires a steady hand.” But he was impressed by the A-T’s transparency, noting that “piano had the perfect amount of attack and bite, with no hint of brightness or harshness.” With all the records Trei played, he was impressed by how silent record surfaces seemed. He concluded that the ART1000x was “an astonishing cartridge, a tour de force, but it comes with a caveat. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like to think too much about cartridge care and feeding, it may not be an ideal choice.” (Vol.47 No.12 WWW) DS Audio DS-W3: $16,500 (includes optical equalizer)
This unusual cartridge ($5000 without the DS-W3 equalizer) uses an LED light source and an optical sensor rather than the usual magnet and coils. It sits near the middle of DS Audio’s range, which Michael Trei describes as “the sweet spot.” Using this 7.9gm cartridge with its equalizer and a Brinkmann 12.1 tonearm and Brinkmann La Grange turntable, he noted that the combination worked flawlessly—in place of a wall of instruments, the DS-W3 was “able to tease out each individual element of the sound and present its sonic character individually. … The DS-W3’s ability to focus and put instruments and voices in proper perspective was uncanny.” Trei added that this cartridge offered a deep and sharply defined soundstage and concluded that it “has an extraordinary ability to pull new music and life out of old grooves while not imposing a character of its own on the sound.” (Vol.47 No.4 WWW)
The E3 brings optical cartridge technology to the masses, at less than one-fifth the cost of the W3 that Michael Trei reviewed in April 2024. It features an aluminum cantilever with an elliptical stylus, and two narrow-angle LEDs—one for each channel—that read the cantilever’s deflection onto a pair of optical sensors. The matching E3 equalizer ($1375 when bought separately) handles the EQ correction an optical cartridge needs to conform to the RIAA curve. It has a single pair of single-ended outputs, and a switch that activates a rumble filter. Trei was struck by how effortlessly the E3 sorted out recordings that normally sound thick and dense, allowing him to hear each element of the sound. “The E3 gets you tantalizingly close to the performance of DS Audio’s much more expensive offerings at a small fraction of the price,” he wrote. “Highly recommended.” (Vol.47 No.11 WWW) Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua: $3650
Alex Halberstadt described this low-output MC as “a superbly transparent transducer with a lovely extended top end, gobs of detail, outstanding speed and separation, and a huge, billowy soundstage. … The Kaitora had a way of making every record—whether Brian Eno or Schubert or Godspeed You! Black Emperor—sound really good, and of cutting straight to its musical essence.” He described it as “more rhythmically propulsive” than the Miyajima Shilabe with which he compared it. (Vol.46 No.7 WWW) EBI Audio Khumar: $2599
The Indian Khumar uses an ebony wood body and a boron cantilever fitted with a Shibata III stylus tip. The low-impedance (2 ohm) coil generates a lowish output of 0.3mV. The recommended tracking force is 1.9gm, and dynamic compliance is specified as 15µm/mN. Michael Trei auditioned the Khumar in the Wand Master turntable fitted with the Dark Light tonearm, and in the Brinkmann La Grange turntable fitted with the 10.1 tonearm. He noted that Khumar’s build quality was superb, confirmed by the fact that the stylus alignment measured near perfect when the headshell was set level for azimuth and slightly lower in the back for VTA. Tracking was excellent, and the Shibata stylus resolved lots of clean detail. Tonally, the Khumar reminded Trei of the wood-bodied Benz Micro: “full-bodied with plenty of flesh on the bones, but also slightly illuminated in the upper midrange without ever edging into brightness.” (Vol.48 No.11 WWW)
This high-output (1mV at 5cm/s), low-compliance MC cartridge features silver coils and a diamond-plated titanium body, and has a relatively high 16 ohm internal impedance. Michael Fremer noted the generous low-frequency transient textures combined with smoothness, refinement, good timbral balance, and commendable transparency. (Vol.45 No.5 WWW) Etsuro Urushi Cobalt Blue: $5750 ★
Etsuro Urushi’s Cobalt Blue moving coil cartridge—the least expensive of its three models—features scantly wound coils, a samarium-cobalt magnet with soft-iron flux-director pieces, and a sapphire-pipe cantilever fitted with a Microline stylus, all in a Duralumin body covered with blue Urushi lacquer. Specs include an impedance of 3 ohms, output of 0.25mV, and a weight of 8.1gm. Herb Reichert got the best from the Cobalt Blue by pairing it with the 1:10 version of the EMIA Phono step-up transformer, writing that during the time it was in his system, “I never once took the Cobalt Blue’s beguiling occupy-the-room presentation for granted. Every day it pleased me. Every day I thought, This cartridge could compete with any cartridge at any price.” Reichert’s closing thoughts: “I could dream away my sunset years listening only with the Etsuro Urushi Cobalt Blue: It does everything I desire.” “Analog is sensuous and tactile by nature, as is the character of the Etsuro Urushi Cobalt Blue,” Reichert subsequently wrote, noting that this was possibly the quietest cartridge he’d ever used. “The Etsuro Urushi Cobalt Blue satisfies something dark and romantic I don’t get from other cartridges,” he summed up. (Vol.42 No.8, Vol.43 No.6, Vol.49 No.7 WWW) Hana Umami Red: $3950 ★
The Umami Red features a gloss-red Urushi-lacquered Duralumin body with an ebony wood inlay. Stylus is a nude MicroLine diamond mounted on a boron cantilever. High-purity copper coils are wrapped on a square permalloy armature centered in a magnetic circuit that combines a samarium/cobalt magnet and an iron pole piece. Loaded with 80 ohms, this low-output moving coil impressed Herb Reichert with the intensity with which it endowed familiar recordings, as well as the enhanced intelligibility of vocals, “natural-feeling contrast levels, grain-free clarity, and lifelike solidity.” The Umami Red displayed sharper, more precisely focused images than the much less expensive Hana ML, he decided. (Vol.44 No.4 WWW)
The wood-bodied Rosewood Signature from the reborn Koetsu brand features copper coils, Permendur magnets, a boron cantilever with a line-contact stylus, a source impedance of 5 ohms, and an output of 0.4mV. Alex Halberstadt installed the Koetsu on the Schick 12" tonearm on his restored Garrard 301 turntable, loaded it with just over 100 ohms, and found that it tracked and sounded best at the specified 1.9gm. “The soundfield created by the Koetsu was as enveloping as a Black Friday crowd at a Walmart, creating a Cinemascope performance that seemed to wrap around me,” he wrote. Overall, Halberstadt found the Rosewood Signature’s laid-back, sumptuous presentation was constantly enjoyable, and he did plenty of marveling at the loveliness of various sonic events. However, he didn’t entirely trust what he was hearing. “This Koetsu struck me as more decorative than insightful, with a frequency response that felt tastefully contoured for my enjoyment. The contour itself was masterful—just a bit of emphasis in the upper bass and the presence region and the slightest recess at the top—but at times felt too apparent in calling attention to its own version of beauty,” he concluded. (Vol.49 No.6 WWW) Koetsu Urushi Vermilion: $9495
Michael Fremer reviewed the original scarlet-lacquered Urushi Vermilion, which used coils made of silver and copper wire and had an output of 0.4mV, in Vol.31 No.1. He wrote that despite its warm tendencies and slightly polite balance, “the cartridge managed to effectively resolve details in massed strings while never sounding soggy or overly romantic.” The new Urushi Vermilion from the reborn Koetsu brand still uses silver and copper coils but offers a lower output of just 0.2mV, and, as a result, requires a quiet phono stage with lots of gain. Alex Halberstadt found the Vermilion sounded best when loaded at just over 100 ohms; listening to a track from the Incredible String Band’s The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, what he first noticed was the Vermilion’s outstanding transparency, detail retrieval, and speed. Halberstadt wrote that the Vermilion brought along all the Rosewood Signature’s strengths: “the soundstage as grand as the Hollywood Bowl, the vivid colors, the harmonic richness, and the lush portrayal of textures. But whereas the Rosewood’s way with music sometimes seemed decorative and even a little decadent, the Vermilion’s transparency and brisk transient response made instrumental textures sound liquid and electric, so breathtakingly pure that they seemed lit from the inside. Vastly improved dynamics added to its sense of liveness.” (Vol.49 No.6 WWW) Lyra Atlas λ Lambda: $14,500
Compared with the earlier Atlas, the Lambda features a redesigned suspension and damper system that Lyra says “delivers enhancements in clarity and resolution.” While the new Atlas generates twice the signal level of the Atlas SL, it is still, at 0.56mV, a low-output cartridge. Michael Trei loaded the Lambda with 475 ohms—Lyra recommends between 104 and 887 ohms—and noted that high-frequency detail took on a security that reminded him of a master tape, making the listening experience a little more relaxed. He found that the Atlas’s famous slam and bass power remained intact. The new version “still has the same tell-it-like-it-is sound as the original Atlas,” Trei concluded, “but now with even further enhancements in resolution and clarity.” And when current Atlas owners send their cartridges to Lyra for a rebuild, the λ Lambda enhancements will be added for no additional charge. (Vol.47 No.7 WWW)
The Shilabe is a low-output (0.23mV), low-compliance design with an unusually high recommended tracking force of 2.5–3.2gm. Its Shibata stylus is attached to a large-diameter, old-fashioned–looking cantilever. The Shilabe uses a patented “cross-ring” construction that centers the generator’s fulcrum within the coil. The Shilabe had a sound that was “full-bodied, deep, and extremely well-defined” and offered “superbly coherent transient and harmonic presentation from top to bottom,” Michael Fremer wrote. Art Dudley also enjoyed the Shilabe’s “consistently present, colorful, and downright chunkyæ sound. “It was the closest I’ve heard a stereo cartridge come to delivering the meat, the force, the sheer solidity of mono.” Alex Halberstadt was also impressed by this cartridge: “After spending several weeks listening to the Shilabe, I had to admit that its tonal density, harmonic richness, and vivid textures made my beloved [Dynaudio Te Kaitora Rua], and frankly most other moving coils, sound a bit flat, bright, and electronic. The Shilabe … played records with much of the body and presence of my favorite old-school conical-stylus cartridges, like the [Ortofon SPU Classic G], but added scads more detail, extension, and refinement.” (Vol.32 No.9, Vol.33 No.10, Vol.46 No.7 WWW) Miyajima Zero Mono: $2375
The Zero Mono is a low-output (0.4mV) moving coil cartridge fitted with a 0.7mm nude conical diamond stylus and a body made of African blackwood. The recommended VTF is a high-ish 3.5gm; internal impedance is 6 ohms. Alex Halberstadt used the Zero Mono in a Well Tempered Labs LTD tonearm and had to experiment with phono preamps and connections to eliminate hum. (This is a common problem with true mono cartridges.) Once the hum was banished, the Miyajima’s way of making even severe surface noise tolerable was evident on every less-than-pristine record Halberstadt played: “Hearing [Nina] Simone play the first chords of Ellington’s ‘Mood Indigo’ made me sit up,” he wrote. “Those piano chords were so forceful that they jarred at first, then sounded utterly riveting. And to my growing surprise, the surface noise was lowered by orders of magnitude. Even the deep scratches that with stereo cartridges result in sickeningly loud pops were rendered inoffensive.” But the thing about the Zero Mono that really threw Halberstadt for a loop was scale. “Remember the hole-in-a-wall metaphor?” he asked. “Well, the sonic emanations between my speakers didn’t sound like miniaturized instruments coming from a single blob in space. When called for, the scale of the music was scary big.” Halberstadt summed up his time with this Miyajima cartridge by writing “What the Zero Mono does most brilliantly is strip away the glossy hi-fi sheen that characterizes the sound of so many high end components and reveal the music’s sinew and bone.” (Vol.47 Nos.8 & 9 WWW) My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent Ex: $7495 ★
Notably, the titanium-bodied Ultra Eminent Ex moving coil cartridge mates an output level that’s only moderately low (0.3mV) with an exceptionally low internal resistance (0.6 ohm). It does so thanks to the discovery by its maker, Yoshio Matsudaira, of a new magnetic material that allowed him to use fewer turns of coil wire—yielding lower moving mass, and the potential for greater detail retrieval—while maintaining a healthy output level. Recommended tracking force is 2gm. As Herb Reichert wrote, “what struck me was how much the Ultra Eminent Ex’s presentation sounded like analog tape,” adding that the cartridge “excavated so much microlevel information that it seemed to reach some perceptual limit where recorded detail … begins to materialize into the person, instrument, or environment the information represents,” and in doing so sounded “less mechanical than any other MC I’ve experienced.” (Vol.41 No.12 WWW)
With its N-shaped SLM metal body, the MC 90X resembles Ortofon’s 90th anniversary, limited edition MC A90 from 2008. Stylus is a “take-no-prisoners” Replicant 100, which needs great care taken in setting vertical tracking angle, and recommended tracking force is precisely 2.3gm. Source impedance is 4 ohms and output voltage is 0.25mV. With the 90X mounted on either a Kuzma Safir 9 tonearm or a Brinkmann 10.5 tonearm on a Brinkmann LaGrange turntable, Michael Trei found that this cartridge “sucks an astonishing amount of information from the record grooves.” Trei’s experience listening to a chamber music album featuring violinist Gidon Kremer was that when the quartet played fast and loud, the strings could sound thin and brittle with lesser cartridges—and with previous N-bodied Ortofons. This effect was absent with the 90X, which added more flesh on the sonic bones and more realism. “The sound is clear and full bodied yet razor sharp,” concluded Trei. (Vol.48 No.7 WWW) Ortofon MC Windfeld Ti: $6299.99 ★
Derived from the first Windfeld model—which was designed by Ortofon’s head of R&D, Leif Johannsen, and named for his predecessor in that position, Per Windfeld—the new Windfeld Ti MC cartridge differs from the original in its use of a titanium body core that flares at the top to form its mounting platform, which is drilled and tapped for cartridge bolts of the usual sort. (The Windfeld Ti’s outer body is made of stainless steel.) The Ti’s armature is also less magnetic than the first Windfeld’s: a windfall (sorry) of the new cartridge’s more sophisticated magnet structure. Other pertinent specs include an output of 0.2mV, an internal impedance of 7 ohms, and a specially polished, nude Replicant 100 stylus tip. According to Michael Fremer, the Windfeld Ti, with which he used a vertical tracking force of 2.3gm, “retained all of the sweetness and lushness of the original Windfeld.” He added that “no one will be disappointed by the Windfeld Ti’s reproduction of space.” Mikey’s conclusion: “[$5159] buys you a piece of the highest echelon of cartridge performance for thousands fewer bucks.” (Vol.40 No.8 WWW) Ortofon Verismo: $7349.99 ★
Housed in a titanium body produced by Selective Laser Melting, the low-output Verismo moving coil features a diamond cantilever to which is attached a Swiss-manufactured Replicant 100 line-contact stylus shaped to resemble a cutting stylus as closely as possible. Michael Fremer found the Verismo’s sound “fast,” with sharp, finely drawn high-frequency transients yet with a lush and generous midrange and a tight, nimble, well-controlled bottom end—“knit together into a coherent sonic package.” He found that the Verismo “deftly places well-focused, three-dimensional images in a natural-sounding space.” (Vol.45 No.1 WWW)
This low-output MC uses a boron cantilever and a fine-line stylus and has a 10 ohm coil. Recommended loading is 100 ohms and the recommended tracking force is 1.9gm. See the Rega Naia entry in Turntables. (Vol.48 No.1 WWW) Tzar DST: $10,000 ★
Tzar DST V1 Black Knight Corian: $11,000
Tzar DST (wood/brass-bodied): $11,500
Whereas most moving coil cartridges have their stylus at one end of a cantilever and their coils, wound on tiny coil formers, at the other, the Tzar DST—like the vintage Neumann DST 62 cartridge on which it’s modeled—says to hell with the formers: Its coils are glued right to the cantilever just behind the stylus. The theoretical result is far less dynamic compression than with traditional MC designs—and reduced compression is precisely what Art Dudley heard from the Tzar: “The Tzar DST is the most incredibly tactile, forceful, and altogether open-throttled pickup I’ve ever tried.” He added that the Tzar “allowed strings to sound sweet and utterly huge, with extraordinarily good, snappy, vibrant note attacks.” Created under the direction of tonearm designer Frank Schröder, the Tzar DST differs from the Neumann in its use of an aluminum body and a carbon-fiber cantilever. Its compliance, though unspecified, was observed by Dudley to be very low—recommended downforce is 3.2–4gm—and its output is a mere 0.25mV. (Schröder recommends pairing it with a step-up transformer of moderately high inductance; Dudley had best results with a borrowed NOS Neumann Bv33.) Dudley asked, “Is there a place in the market for a $10,000, Siberia-made phono cartridge?” The Tzar DST answers with a resounding Yes. In a Follow-Up, Michael Fremer echoed Dudley’s praise for the original Tzar and said about the wood-bodied version, which also has a brass top plate, that it produced “all of the aluminum-bodied version’s weight and ’straight from the groove to your body and brain’ musical communication, but it lightened the heaviness somewhat, with some rounding and airiness where the original was angular and literal.” As the name suggests, the Tzar DST V1 Black Knight Corian replaces the aluminum or wood bodies with one formed from the polymer Corian. Tracking the Corian version at 4gm downforce, Herb Reichert was impressed by its groove-tracking authority. With the cartridge mounted in a Sorane SA-1.2 tonearm fitted to a Dr. Feickert Blackbird turntable, Reichert doubted many cartridges could match the realism of the Tzar’s bass or the uncolored clarity of its vocal region. However, he felt that the Tzar didn’t sound as precise, open, spacious, and microdetailed as the very best cartridges. (Vol.39 No.1, Vol.43 No.9, Vol.49 No.3 WWW) B: Audio-Technica AT-ART20: $3199
This a 9gm, aluminum-bodied moving coil uses a cantilever made from a solid boron shaft with a nude, square-shank, line contact stylus secured with a titanium anchoring plate for “enhanced rigidity and low tip mass.” Coil impedance is 12 ohms, output voltage is 0.55mV, and vertical tracking force is specified at 1.6–2.0gm with 1.8gm “standard.” Herb Reichert loved the “pale white wine–tinted transparency,” commenting that low-level details were pronounced and microfocused. Reichert summed up his time with the Audio-Technica’s AT-ART20 by writing that it is “an exciting-to-use top-shelf reference quality cartridge—at a middle-shelf price. What’s not to love?” (Vol.48 No.2 WWW)
Michael Trei used this cartridge for his favorable review of the AMG Giro MK II record player, noting that while this “fragile little beast [has] been around for a while, … it can reproduce recorded textures with an overtly tactile, right-there-in-front-of-me intensity that most other cartridges can’t match.” Its highish 40 ohm source impedance was too high for his Sutherland Loco phono preamplifier’s current-drive input. Herb Reichert again: With a voltage-mode phono preamp and “a 550 ohms load, the Benz Micro delivered an exceedingly smooth and precise response that wasn’t just pretty and flat; it excelled at presenting the vigorous drive, lifelike tones, and extra-dense, in-my-room presence I crave from the best-engineered 1950s mono discs.” In April 2024, after a month spent reviewing DACs, Reichert was jonesing for some of the Gullwing SLR’s “burnished glow,” so he reinstalled it and used it with PrimaLuna’s tubed EVO 100 phono stage and MoFi’s MasterPhono phono stage, both set to 500 ohms. “Like the very first Koetsus,” he wrote, the Gullwing SLR’s sound “is confident and crammed with myriad intangibles that combine to fashion a very eager, earthy presentation.” (Vol.45 No.12, Vol.46 No.9, Vol.47 No.4 WWW) Dynavector XX-2A: $2250
The XX-2A’s specifications are identical to those of the earlier XX-2 MKII, including the cantilever material (boron), stylus geometry (line contact), magnet material (Alnico 5), output voltage (0.28mV), internal impedance (6 ohms), and weight (8.9gm). However, Dynavector developed a new annealing process that preserves the structure of the iron in the magnetic pole pieces, greatly enhancing its permeability. Dynavector says this change results in improved resolution, dynamics, and dimensionality. Comparing the old and new XX-2s, Michael Trei was immediately struck by just how clean and tidy both versions sounded, though with the XX-2A, “background vocals had better-defined layering and a richer palette of tonal color.” The XX-2A “is a confident-sounding cartridge. It handles even the most difficult-to-track records with ease. It plays records with very little surface noise, managing to make less-than-pristine records sound clean and quiet,” he wrote. (Vol.47 No.9 WWW) EMT JSD 6: $4195
This low-output, aluminum-bodied MC cartridge uses a boron cantilever and a high-polish Super Fine Line (SFL) stylus. Weight is 10gm, compliance is a low 12µm/mN, source impedance is 24 ohms, output voltage is 1.05mV at 5cm/s, and recommended tracking force is 2.4gm. Herb Reichert used the JSD 6 in EMT’s 912-HI tonearm (see Tonearms) fitted to a Dr. Feickert Blackbird turntable (see Turntables) and noted a relaxed and naturally toned sound. “The more hours I put on it, the more it relaxed, opened up, and gained color,” he noted. Reichert concluded that “the EMT 912-HI arm and JSD 6 cartridge made every music genre seem like my latest favorite discovery, and that’s exactly the trait I’m looking for when auditioning source components.” (Vol.46 No.11 WWW)
Ken Micallef used this moving coil cartridge with EMT’s 928 II turntable and 909-HI tonearm (see Turntables). The cantilever is made from sapphire, and output is higher than typical, at 1.05mV at 5cm/s. (Vol.47 No.9 WWW) Excel Sound/LP Gear The Vessel: $129–$679 depending on stylus and cantilever $$$
The Vessel is a moving magnet cartridge that is available in eight different versions: the A3SE ($129) has an elliptical stylus and an aluminum cantilever; the A3SV ($249) has a nude hyperelliptical stylus and an aluminum cantilever; the R3SV ($539) has a nude hyperelliptical stylus and a ruby cantilever; the A3SM ($499) has a nude microline stylus and an aluminum cantilever; the R3SM ($649) has a nude microline stylus and a ruby cantilever; the A3SS ($499) has a nude Shibata stylus and an aluminum cantilever; the R3SS ($649) has a nude Shibata stylus and a ruby cantilever; and the B3SS ($679) has a nude Shibata stylus and boron cantilever. All versions of The Vessel feature an average output level for a MM cartridge (2.5mV), compliance on the higher side of medium—the exact spec depends on which stylus/cantilever assembly you choose—and a recommended tracking force of 2gm. (Tom Fine was impressed by The Vessel’s tracking ability.) All the stylus assemblies are swappable and attach easily to the cartridge body. Fine tried all of these variants and ended up preferring the maximum capacitance load, 400pF, as lower capacitance settings made The Vessel sound dull and lacking color. Overall he preferred the microline and hyperelliptical styli, “but that Shibata stylus/ruby cantilever combination is hard to beat if you’re willing to take the time and effort to set it up just right.” Regarding cantilever materials, he decided that it comes down to personal preference: “From aluminum to ruby to boron, each offers progressively more microdetails and precision musical timing.” Ultimately, The Vessel’s good sound and robust upgrade path make it an interesting option that need not break the bank, he concluded. Readers can listen to a track played with six of the variants at tinyurl.com/4e893eyb. (Vol.48 No.12 WWW) Goldring E3: $189 $$$ ★
Goldring’s budget E series—“designed in the UK, made in Japan”—consists of three versions: the conical-tipped, carbon-cantilevered E1 ($100), the conical-tipped, aluminum-cantilevered E2 ($129), and the elliptical-tipped, aluminum-cantilevered E3 ($169). When Herb Reichert auditioned the E3, he commented that “It brought out every note with a precision I never imagined a moving magnet could muster.” He added that the E3 “played [music] with much of the realism and complexity it does with a Koetsu” and noted the cartridge’s superb PRaT (pace, rhythm, and timing). (Vol.44 No.1 WWW)
Goldring’s Ethos moving coil cartridge features an aluminum body, a neodymium magnet, and a nude 0.3 × 1.4 mil line-contact stylus on an aluminum cantilever. Internal resistance is 4 ohms, dynamic compliance is specified at 15mm/N, static compliance at 25mm/N, and its output is 0.5mV at 1kHz and 5cm/s. The first thing Herb Reichert noticed, when playing Nina Simone’s Little Girl Blue with the Ethos loaded with 100 ohms, was how it operated at a nice, brisk energy level, with sparkle in its clarity. Right away, he was puzzled: “How can this moderately priced Goldring be making some of the most vivid sound I’ve heard from a recording I’ve known my whole life?” He concluded, “Goldring’s overachieving Ethos delivers a bright, extra-quiet clarity that lets the sounds and attitudes of music come out fresh, full, distinct, and robust. In my system, with a variety of phono stages, the Goldring Ethos made high-chi uptown sound at a modest downtown price.” (Vol.47 No.4 WWW) Hana SL Mk II Mono: $850 $$$
This moving coil features a nude Shibata stylus and an alnico magnet. It is fundamentally the same cartridge as Hana’s stereo MK II, but with its coils rotated 45° so that electrically it favors horizontal groove modulations. It retains its vertical compliance, so no damage is done playing stereo records. Compared with the Lyra Delos playing a mono recording of a Sibelius symphony, Herb Reichert found that the SL Mono sounded smoother, softer, suppler, and considerably richer in tone and texture: “There was no hardness or brightness.” (Vol.48 No.7 WWW) Hana SL MK II: $850 $$$
The low-output SL MK II features an alnico magnet, a Permalloy armature/coil former, a tapered-aluminum cantilever, and a nude Shibata stylus. Recommended loading is 80–100 ohms. Herb Reichert found that Hana’s original SL was an easy-flowing cartridge with a natural demeanor that did not sacrifice focus or musical form when presenting complex recordings, but boogie, slam, and jump factor were not its strong points. The SL MK II’s heavier body, lower impedance coils, and tapered-tube cantilever addressed these deficiencies. The MK II sounded noticeably speedier, clearer, harder hitting, and more alpha than the original SL, concluded Reichert. (Vol.47 No.11 WWW)
The Blue uses a MicroLine stylus on a boron cantilever and generates 0.4mV from 8 ohm coils and an alnico magnet. Its CNC-machined duralumin body weighs 10.8gm and recommended tracking force is 2gm. Playing a mono album by violinist Ruggiero Ricci, Herb Reichert wrote that the Blue dug out more of that rich, old-mono sound than he was expecting from a contemporary stereo cartridge. It “put just the right bite on Ruggiero’s bowing, making its scraped tones into a goosebumpy spectacle,” and the dazzling harmonics of Ruggiero’s violin had his full attention. (Vol.47 No.11 WWW) Lyra Delos: $2495
Martin Colloms’s reference phono cartridge, this medium-weight, medium-compliance, low-impedance moving coil uses a solid boron cantilever with a nude MicroRidge line-contact stylus and a one-point suspension. Recommend tracking downforce is 1.75gm. Herb Reichert found that 200 ohms was the optimal loading with Mobile Fidelity’s Master Phono, but 50 ohms sounded best with SunValley’s EQ1616D. He concluded that the Delos “sounded like a fine-tuned supercartridge under a wide range of loading conditions. Its ability to probe deep and resolve finely never made me shy away from poorly recorded discs. In my system, it made every disc sound exciting. These traits secure the Lyra Delos’s position as a classic evergreen product that will be a first-round inductee to the Hi-Fi Hall of Fame.” He returned to the Delos in July 2025, writing, “the Delos scratches out an extraordinary amount of low-level data, then uses those tiny voltages to construct unusually dimensional sound pictures, with bones, matrices, scaffolding, and puffy clouds of reverb ricocheting against stone walls and over audiences’ heads. But no one told me it did goosebumps, tears, and sadness like it’s been doing in my system.” (Vol.48 Nos.5 & 7 WWW) Mobile Fidelity Electronics StudioSilver: $1000
This low-output, aluminum-bodied MC employs a boron cantilever with a “Nude MicroLinear” tip. MoFi recommends loading the StudioSilver with less than 100 ohms, and at 100 ohms Herb Reichert found that it “effortlessly depicted enormous wavefronts of massed strings with purring-cat textures and supple, billowing forms.” Changing to 500 ohms, the StudioSilver kicked up the energy and enjoyment factors. Comparing the StudioSilver with the Benz Micro Gullwing SLR, Reichert noted that it was not as dark or dense, tonewise and basswise, but it was lighter on its feet. “A high-value pickup that’s easy to recommend” he concluded. (Vol.47 Nos.11 & 12 WWW)
Compared with the basic 2M Black, the LVB moving magnet uses the low-mass boron cantilever/nude Shibata assembly found on Ortofon’s Cadenza Black. The new rubber suspension compound is based on a multiwall carbon nanotube nano filler compound for which Ortofon claims “desirable mechanical properties” as well as greater environmentally friendly production characteristics. Used with the SME Model 6 (see Turntables), the 2M Black LVB “sounded detailed, open, and extended on top,” wrote Michael Fremer. Herb Reichert auditioned the Ortofon tracking at 1.6gm with the Lab12 Melto2 phono preamp—see Phono Preamplifiers—and while the images spun by the LVB 250 were more ethereal and ghostlike than they were with his favorite moving coils, delicacy made the LVB 250 a sensible viable alternative to more expensive MCs. “I’d never experienced a moving magnet cartridge with that much alluring vibrancy,” he wrote. (Vol.44 Nos.5 & 9 original version, Vol.49 No.3 WWW) Ortofon Cadenza Bronze: $2599.99
This low-output moving coil is the second from the top in Ortofon’s Cadenza series. It features a stainless steel and aluminum body, an output of 0.4mV, and a lowish compliance of 12µm/mN. The tapered conical aluminum cantilever terminates in a nude Replicant stylus. Alex Halberstadt was intrigued by the fact that the Bronze has a deliberately “flavored” tuning. According to Ortofon, the Bronze is claimed to offer “a touch of romance and warmth.” Halberstadt noted that the Cadenza Bronze’s “warm” tuning “proved admirably subtle, lending recordings body and presence while dialing down sizzle and hi-fi artifacts like ‘air.’” He was never aware of missing deleted highs or finding the bass overripe. To Halberstadt, the Ortofon simply sounded more natural than many moving coil cartridges and bested every cartridge he’d heard in one important respect: its ability to reject surface noise. (Vol.47 No.3 WWW) Ortofon Cadenza Mono: $1599.99
The Cadenza Mono is a moving coil with an output of 0.45mV, an internal impedance of 5 ohms, and a recommended tracking force of 2.5gm. Despite being a mono cartridge, the Cadenza Mono has two coils, rotated to sit parallel to the record surface. This allows both vertical and horizontal movement, which enables the Cadenza Mono to play stereo records safely. Alex Halberstadt mounted the Ortofon Mono on a Well Tempered Lab Amadeus 254 GT record player—see Turntables—and found it offered a notably different presentation from the Miyajima Zero Mono. The Cadenza Mono sounded smoother than the Japanese cartridge, and while it handled pops and scratches with grace, minimizing their impact, it wasn’t quite as effective as the Miyajima at making them musically unintrusive. “The Ortofon Cadenza Mono creates a seamless, modern, high-resolution sound that worked well with every genre I played,” he wrote, adding that while it’s not the best choice for romantics or vintage mavens, “it will capture the musical treasures on your mono LPs with greater fidelity than stereo cartridges, even far more expensive ones.” (Vol.47 No.9 WWW)
Ortofon’s four X series moving coil cartridges feature a metal injection molded (MIM) honeycomb steel frame, use high-purity, solid silver wire on their cross-form coil armatures, and a single-segment cylindrical pole piece is integrated into a rear magnet yoke. The top model, the X40, employs a boron cantilever and a nude Shibata stylus, and Herb Reichert found it was a superb tracker. With the Schiit Stjarna phono preamp loaded at 100 ohms, the X40 never felt hi-fi–delic or too stereo-graphic—just focused, natural, and steady, noted Reichert. With the Sun Valley EQ1616D loaded at 50 ohms, the sound was super-tactile and delightfully unfettered. With the Mobile Fidelity MasterPhono, the X40’s sound character went from tuneful, smooth, and lucid to brighter, clearer, and more dynamic. Transient reproduction was delicate; transparency and focus were at a level any audiophile would applaud, Reichert wrote. “With all three phono stages I tried, the Ortofon MC X40 delivered peak-level mid-price phonography,” he concluded, adding “What never changed was the X40’s illusion of speed and agility, its conspicuous neutrality, and its ability to disappear behind whatever music I played.” (Vol.48 No.12 WWW) Pure Fidelity Stratos: $2495 ★
Ken Micallef used this duralumin-bodied MC cartridge for his review of Pure Fidelity’s Harmony turntable—see Turntables. It looks like a rebranded Hana, but Pure Fidelity says that the Stratos is built to their specifications by Goldnote in Italy, using a cantilever and stylus sourced from a Japanese company. Micallef felt that the EMT TSD15 N cartridge provided more weight in bass lines than he heard with the Stratos, though the Stratos produced more thrills than the Luxman LMC-5 cartridge. (Vol.45 No.12 WWW) Sumiko Oriole: $1699
This moving coil cartridge is made in Japan by Excel Sound, the manufacturer that builds the Hana cartridges. It uses an aluminum cantilever fitted with a nude Shibata stylus; nominal output is a low 0.3mV and source impedance is 5.5 ohms. The skeletal-bodied Oriole leaves its generator and cantilever out in the open, but it does come with a well-designed stylus cover. The Oriole offered superb tracking and no peakiness, found Michael Trei. Given its provenance he figured the Oriole might sound a bit like a Hana ML or Umami Blue, but its character was different: more upfront and dynamic, a bit leaner and less laid-back. “They all play in the same ballpark performance-wise,” he wrote; “it comes down to whether you prefer caramel or lemon sherbet.” (Vol.49 No.5 WWW)
See the VPI Forever Model One entry in Turntables. (Vol.48 No.7 WWW) Zu/Denon DL-103 Mk.II Rev B: $599—$1319 $$$ ★
The Zu/DL-103 Mk.II cartridge replaced the original Zu Audio DL-103 (see Stereophile‘s October 2007 issue), itself the first modification of the classic Denon DL-103 to achieve widespread recognition and commercial success. For the Mk.II version, the basic formula remains—Zu strips away the Denon’s plastic housing and repackages its motor and output-pin block in a precision-machined aluminum body—but here the body has been reshaped to make better contact with the motor and better resist the buildup of sound-sullying resonances. Also new are an improved epoxy for holding the motor in place and a body shape that permits the use of the Denon cartridge’s original stylus guard. The Zu DL-103 Mk.II is available in three versions, the differences between them determined by the tolerances Zu observes while hand-selecting stock Denon cartridges: Grade 1 ($791), Grade 2 ($959), and Grade 2 Prime ($1319). Art Dudley, who regarded the original Zu Audio/Denon DL-103 as a giant-slayer of Homeric proportions, thought the Grade 2 Premium Zu DL-103 Mk.II went even further, offering fine musical timing and “an ocean of tone.” Compared with the original Mk.II, the Rev B generator was moved slightly farther forward in the body and a notch was added above the stylus position to make cueing easier. Michael Trei auditioned the Grade 2 Rev B, noting that with the cartridge mounted in the Korf tonearm (see Tonearms), “gone was the typical, slightly-soft-and-comforting Zu/DL-103 sound, replaced by something significantly more nimble and lighter on its feet.” (Vol.41 No.4 WWW, Vol.46 No.12 WWW) C: Audio-Technica AT-VM95C, E, H, ML & SH: $54–$219 depending on stylus $$$ ★
A series of cartridges based on the no-longer-available Audio-Technica AT95E, the VMs all use the same body with a choice of interchangeable styli. Comparing the top model, the Shibata-tipped AT-VM95SH ($199), with his reference moving magnet, Ortofon’s 2M Black, Herb Reichert felt the A-T had more push and bounce, keeping the beat and carrying the tune better than the Ortofon. Switching to the elliptical-stylus VM95E ($49), he wrote that “the sound had even more pulse, presence, and genuine reggae-music energy. … It made the Shibata-tipped VM95 sound overly smooth and polite.” Changing to the conical-stylus AT-VM95C ($34), Reichert found that it sounded “cool, fast, and powerful but also detailed and invigorating.” He concluded that the cheapest A-T with its conical stylus was, music-pleasure–wise, the most satisfying cartridge of the family. (Vol.44 No.1 WWW) Denon DL-103: $399 $$$ ★
In production since 1962, the DL-103 is a resolutely old-fashioned cartridge with a two-piece plastic body. Its two-piece aluminum cantilever drives a cross-shaped armature wound with several turns of fine-gauge copper magnet wire. Its nude, square-shank diamond stylus is ground to a spherical tip. Though the Denon offered excellent bass depth and impact, with an overall exciting and “pleasantly forward” sound, its high-frequency response peak made bright recordings “a bit more forward than ideal.” Nonetheless, Art Dudley deemed it “a superb cartridge and a remarkable buy.” Compared to Denon’s DL-A100 100th Anniversary moving coil cartridge, Dudley’s old DL-103 was tubbier in the bass but just as dynamic and dramatic. Performance with the stock spherical stylus tip squeaks into low Class B, he adds, saying that, “apart from various Miyajimas and the always-recommendable Miyabi 47, it’s hard for me to think of another standard (non-pickup-head) type of cartridge that has this much impact and drama.” Ken Micallef’s go-to cartridge. Herb Reichert tried the DL-103 on Music Hall’s Stealth turntable, commenting that the DL-103 remains one of the most flat-out enjoyable-to-use cartridges he knows. It brings “vibrancy and spirited dynamics to every type of recording.” Borderline Class B. (Vol.3 No.9, Vol.30 Nos.10 & 12, Vol.34 No.12, Vol.39 No.9, Vol.45 No.10 WWW)
Described by Nagaoka as a “moving Permalloy” cartridge, the bargain-priced MP-110 features a bonded elliptical diamond on an aluminum cantilever and generates a 5.0mV output. Playing a 1952 mono disc, Herb Reichert said that the MP-110 sounded “fat, raw, direct, and highly tactile, with spot-on timbres.” The combined effect of these desirable traits was a frank realism that he found extremely compelling. The only downside that he noted was that it was “a grainy, noisy beast.” (Vol.47 No.8 WWW) Ortofon 2M Black: $749.99 $$$ ★
Partnered with the budget-priced Audio-Technica AT-PEQ3 phono preamp, the “ridiculously good” Ortofon 2M Black produced a bright, open sound with “surprising heft and slam.” Because its Shibata stylus is sensitive to rake angle, the 2M Black should be used only with tonearms that permit adjustment of VTA and SRA, Mikey advised. Herb Reichert used the Black on the Music Hall Stealth turntable, writing that compared with the Ortofon 2M Blue, “tone quality, and the illusion of force and forward momentum, were enhanced to a degree that made me think I could live happily forever with this setup.” (Vol.32 No.12, Vol.45 Nos.10, 11 & 12 WWW) Ortofon 2M Blue: $219.99 $$$ ★
Affordable moving magnet cartridge with user-replaceable elliptical diamond stylus. With the Blue mounted in a Music Hall Ikura turntable and arm, Bob Reina found that “the transients and bloom of the string quartet were reproduced with no trace of coloration or smear. Superb transient articulation and dynamics. Competes with cartridges at double its price. Also an excellent match for both the Music Hall Ikura and VPI Nomad turntables.” Herb Reichert auditioned the Blue on Music Hall’s Stealth turntable and noted that the 2M Blue was more passive than propulsive-sounding. “Its best trait was how it emphasized fine textures and the atmospheric aspects of recordings,” he concluded. (Vol.37 No.12, Vol.45 No.10 WWW)
Hana EL MC, Ortofon SPU Royal N, discontinued. Grado Labs Platinum3 Low, Grado Labs Platinum3 High, replaced by newer model not yet reviewed. Goldring Eroica HX, LP Gear Carbon Fidelity CF3600LE, Hana ML MC, Luxman LMC-5, Miyajima Kotetu mono, Dynavector DV-20X2L, not auditioned in a long time.
