Well out of curiosity and a desire to understand how a simple change effects the overall SQ of my system I have been Cartridge swapping, and thought you might find this interesting.
Firstly I have these MC cartridges, Ortofon Rondo Blue ~250hrs use, Michell Cusis (Micro Benz Wood S in composite body) ~700hrs use, and Benz Micro LP-S ~ 200hrs use
Then I have this MM Ortofon OM with Dual DN165E stylus ~2hrs use, this was given to me about 3 years ago and was brand new unused.
Firstly how I would grade the cartridges, from 1-10, first figure is soundstage, 2nd is for detail/clarity, 3rd is top end clarity, 4th is for bass control/depth, last is overall musicallity listenability.
Rondo Blue - 8.5, 8, 8.5, 8, 8.5
Michell Cusis - 9, 9, 9, 9.5, 9
Benz Micr LP-S - 9.5, 9.5, 10, 9.5, 9.5 or above
and now we come to the MM
Ortofon OM/DN165E 8.5, 8, 8, 8, 8
For reference the only change when using a MM cartridge is to remove the Rothwell MCX SUT, which is pretty neutral and performs very well, better than the MC side of the LFD IMO, but this is a very subtle difference. I also took great efforts setting up the Ortofon OM/DN165E in my TT and also used the HiFi news test record to check this, and it tracked every test track perfectly. When setting up I did take time to dial in the VTA on the arm and found that being very slightly down at the rear gave the best result, and I mean very sightly.
So lets put this into context, the Rondo Blue was originally around £550, the Michell Cusis £1100, and the LP-S is £2800, and last but not least is the Ortofon OM at an eye watering price of about £60 (I think). Is the 9.5 for the LP-S actually and 15% improvement in SQ over the Ortofon OM/DN165E? Actually IMHO it certainly is not, maybe somewhere between 5-10% at most, but you really need to be listening for it, not just casually listening, if you are just putting on a record and not focusing on it then forget spending big bucks, even then this is questionable.
So to summarise, based on the scores above the £60 MM cartridge certainly performs very well and is very good VFM (I am not exactly sure where the OM/DN165E would fit in the current OM range but I would presume similar to an OM 5E). But this is where it is subjectively in terms of my personal listening experience, the Rondo Blue is certainly a great listen, maybe a tinge top-endy, the Cusis is a lovely cartridge, very natural and musical, the LP-S is an outright winner but only in terms of that little extra detail and definition over the Cusis. So finally the Ortofon OM/DN165E, well this has actually taken me aback somewhat, I am sat here listening to Eva Cassidy – Nightbird, Label: Blix Street Records – BOX20142, 7 × Vinyl, LP, 45 RPM with it and I have to say it is extremely listenable, lots of detail and control, and pretty musical. I have also listened to some other favourite test listening tracks and feel the same. By the way since starting to write this I have played another 2 hour of records and I am pretty sure it is improving, becoming a little richer and slightly more detail, presumably bedding in, as I said it was brand new when I fitted it last night.
So I think I have learned a big lesson here in terms of hifi and SQ reward, so much so that I think I will probably invest in a better MM cartridge for my everyday use, and just replace the stylus when needed, I will use the MC's when I feel like a change and when they are used up will move them on for someone else to re-tip. I might keep the LP-S but only if I can afford to re-tip it at the time. My current thoughts based on what I have seen others say would be an ORTOFON 2M BLACK MM, but I am open to other suggestions or views.