Hmm, I would describe this as one of the great paradoxes in HiFi.
The higher the resolution, the more the bass range is detailed, with the previously blurred bass range becoming more contoured and detailed. The sound of two different drums and the differce between their felt can now be recognized, for example.
If the ear is calibrated to the effect of “rumbling and banging in the bass”, then there might be the impression created that the dynamic range (i.e. the difference between the loudest and the lowest sound) has also decreased, but it hasn´t. You need to hear to other aspects than bass and treble performance in order to detect a higher performance pickup correctly.
I had an Nagaoka MP110 in a Rega P3 (latest model) and it killed all life.
I do not know your TT, but if it is like a Rega/Linn or similar, I would have got an Audio Technica.
I did not get the lively, dynamic sound Rega are known for. But it was the cheapest pickup I have ever used. Could be a half answer. I guess that a Audio Technica or a cheaper DV is better.
Regarding cartridges…
MM is good up to a certain level, but if you want to progress beyond that, you simply have to switch to MC. There are no other choices
While that is undoubtedly true, where that line is is open to debate. If you want to throw $5k at a MM cart you can if you look really hard. If you want to throw $1k at an MM cart (well over most people’s MC cutover point) there are loads of options on the market. And those MM carts are getting reviewed very favourably against similar priced MC.
As with most things in this hobby, most rules are “vaguely” and “generally” true (okay a few are codswallop but not on this thread). Few are etched in stone though.
Agree and as you also know and obviously agree, the best MC always beats the best MM. It one of those things that is carved in stone. But back to the topic.
Yes I do agree. But it’s also not a problem I’m likely to hit as my budget for such things puts me well below such lines.
Which is why I think it’s great that there are so many superb MM carts out there in the affordable end of the market.
There are those on the forum with decks and budgets for cartridges well beyond even the most expensive MM available where it simply isn’t, as you point out, even a question. At their level it’s MC, MC, or if they’re feeling saucy, MC.
I’m happy with a $500 MM. And I’ve heard good $150 carts I could live with forever if that’s all I could afford.
Todays pickups in most cases are old wine in new bottles. Their design didn´t change since decades and hardly all what´s today new was already there in the 80s.
Today Ortofon 2M re-uses the OM generator, that was introduced with their VMS model in the 70s for instance
This is true but manufacturing tolerances, consistency, and quality have massively improved. A lot of analogue amps on the market today are also “old wine in new bottles” as you say. Some new releases based on curcuits from the 50s. But they don’t perform like amps from the 50s.
I think the Sumiko Pearl has been around for 40 years but it’s based on an even older design. But the production of a lot of these rebadged teleases is auperior enough to qualify as a new product.
That´s always said but not really true. With automation of processes you´ll achieve a consistent quality but need to widen up tolerances in many areas.
I´m a collector of old lightweight bicycles and track bikes. Industrial bearings were propagated in the 80s a lot but introduced in the beginning of the 30th already and made to measure back than. You would be surprised to see how easy and flawlessly a made to measure industrial bearing runs in comparism to one industrially made today with fully automated processes.
I’d say written in stone is a bit of a stretch…I’ve carefully auditioned dozens of top MCs, mostly at high end audio shows around the world, and the conclusion is always pretty much the same: Extremely detailed, amazing clarity and soundstage, but lacking drive, low end heft and PRaT. If I had to describe MCs with two words it would be “anemic finesse”.
