My master tape collection has been growing steadily over time. This means that I now have quite a few albums on LP and tape. Recently I purchased a production master of Dusty in Memphis. For a bit of fun I compared this 15 IPS master on an Otari MTR12 against my vinyl set up - Platine Verdier with 2 tonearms - Schroeder Reference/Allaerts MC1B and a 1970s vintage Hadccock 228/ JW rebuilt Decca C4E.
I have a 45 RPM Analog Productions copy of Dusty in Memphis, which allowed me to compare the master tape to 2 cart/tonearm combinations side by side. So which cartridge sounded more like the master tape?
The Decca won by a long way. The Allaerts sounded lovely - spacious, tonally richer - some might say very attractive. But the Decca sounded much more like the master tape. OK the Decca was narrower and shallower in sound stage, as well as missing some of the harmonics, which gave the tape more texture. But the Decca was pretty close.