Running a denon dl103 with paratrace tip. This sounds really good but wondering what you get if you go up in price to one thousand, two thousand and ultra levels?
Thanks! Tim
Location: Bedford
Posts: 61
I'm Tim.
Running a denon dl103 with paratrace tip. This sounds really good but wondering what you get if you go up in price to one thousand, two thousand and ultra levels?
Thanks! Tim
Small gains are to be had with some large price changes in my opinion.
Kevin
Too busy enjoying the music....
European loan coordinator for Graham Slee HiFi system components..
I think it depends what you have further downstream..
GrahamS - It's not what you hear that counts, it's what you think you hear........
Present Kit: NAD 326BEE, NAD C515BEE CD player, JVC QL-7 DD turntable, JVC Tonearm, Shure M97Ve, Audio Technica AT95EX, Pickering V15, JVC Z1E, Wharfedale Diamond 230s, Visual Rio interconnects and My Ears.
Location: Bedford
Posts: 61
I'm Tim.
I have high end kit. Focal scala utopias etc. So thanks for the opinions. What have you actually run / compared ?
Well I've got a couple of ZYX R100's and I won't be spending more.
Spooky ! Been meaning to ask the same question to see what folks think.
Some high end carts are a heck of a lot of money no matter how you look at it and in my experince as you go up there are improvements but after a ceetain point they are small but welcome.
I loved the 2M Black at around £460 and gradually moved up to it's bigger brother the Cadenza Black, now pushing £1850 plus.
Do I feel you get £1400 worth of improvement with the Cadenza over the 2MB (to put it in that very simplistic manner)
Err, to be honest £1400 is a BIG difference / a heck of a lot of dough put that way, so no.
As has been said, Improvements are small after a certain point but the ask for those small improvements each time can be large (unfortunately)
Last edited by RobbieGong; 01-06-2018 at 22:09.
My System:
Amplification - Sansui AU-alpha 707 DR
Turntable - Technics SP10 MK2-Technics EPA-250 Tonearm-Yannis Tome 423.5Plus tonearm cable-Eichmann KLEI Absolute Harmony plugs.
Ortofon Cadenza Black moving coil cartridge-Fritz Gyger S re-tip. Panzerholz plinth.
CDP - Pioneer PD-91
Speakers - Spendor D7 on Soundcare SuperSpikes
QED Silver Spiral speaker cable-airloc banana plugs
Mains - Ultra Pure silver plated un-switched socket-Missing link EPS 500 silver plated plugs-Hi-Fi Tuning gold plated silver ceramic 13 amp fuses
Location: west yorkshire
Posts: 16
I'm ADRIAN.
RobbieGong
I would say it depends on how much disposable income you have to spend . If I was Elton John I would not flinch at £2000 for a cartridge.
Recently, I felt no need to invest much more in a cartridge when I picked up a nearly new Kontrapunkt b (£800ish New).
A few days ago, a friend of mine came round with an Ortofon Vienna (£2000 new) and an Audio Technica ART7 (£999 new)
The Audio Technica was very good and in some areas was better. A marginal improvement on the Kontrapunkt. The Vienna however, was a different league. Everything was better. The piano notes had better resonance, the soundstage was massive, the instrument separation was better and as a whole, I was left feeling like the Kontrapunkt had taken a beating and the Kontrapunkt is a fantastic cartridge.
In my opinion, just because a cartridge is more expensive, won't mean its automatically better. You need to buy smart. Swapping a 2M black for Candenza black will bring refinement and poise but the characteristics will likely be similar due to house sound.
Last edited by Bigman80; 01-06-2018 at 22:33.
To be honest, I know £1000 plus MC's do improve on sound quality, but a considerably more modestly priced item can still offer great music enjoyment.