Cart upgrade recommendations please?

[oldson]

interested in a cart upgrade for my fairly modest system.
deck is a Rega RP3 (rb303 arm) into Mofi studiophono stage.
at the moment i have a Rega Exact cart which i would like to see if i can improve on.

the "natural" step would be , i suppose, a Rega Ania but i believe the stylus is a step backward from the Exact.
This would mean the better option would be the Ania Pro which has a better stylus.
these of course are more expensive and are at the top of my budget (£800 ish).

i dont mind sticking with MM and one that has caught my attention so far is the Sumiko Amethyst, which falls well within my budget.
i do like a "natural to warm" sound and listen mostly to rock/pop, nothing too heavy on the rock front though.
i would like a tad more high end detail than what i am hearing from the setup i have and maybe a lower noise floor, which i understand the amethyst may have.
having said this , it is possible my feeling that i am lacking high end detail is down to my 58 year old ears!

anyway, looking forward to any suggestions for me to research further.

[CageyH]

Nagaoka MP300 may fit the bill.

[oldson]

Nagaoka MP300 may fit the bill.

will look into that , thanks Kevin

[CageyH]

Another interesting choice is the Nagaoka JT-80 BK. Have a look at the reviews.
I am not sure it will add more detail than you have now.

[Macca]

Nagaoka are like the Alpha Romeo of cartridges. Everyone should have one at some point in their lives.

[diviy]

I have just fitted a RigB VM540ML on my SL1210 with a Jelco 750D it is out of this world.

[losepete]

Hi Simon

You mentioned that your hearing may be "lacking high end detail" due to age.
I have to admit that happened to me so I went along to my local Audiology Clinic and had some hearing tests done.
The result showed that I was definitely not hearing higher frequencies as well as I should and I ended up with a pair of hearing aids that were "tuned" for my hearing. It has certainly increased my music enjoyment.

Please don't be offended but can I suggest that it may be worth starting with a hearing test *before* parting with cash for a new cartridge.

[walpurgis]

Nagaoka are like the Alpha Romeo of cartridges. Everyone should have one at some point in their lives.

I've had a couple of each. Unlikely to be repeated, but they were OK.

[oldson]

Hi Simon

You mentioned that your hearing may be "lacking high end detail" due to age.
I have to admit that happened to me so I went along to my local Audiology Clinic and had some hearing tests done.
The result showed that I was definitely not hearing higher frequencies as well as I should and I ended up with a pair of hearing aids that were "tuned" for my hearing. It has certainly increased my music enjoyment.

Please don't be offended but can I suggest that it may be worth starting with a hearing test *before* parting with cash for a new cartridge.

thats not a bad shout, Pete.
i also listen to headphones on a regular basis, are your aids ok with them too

[losepete]

Hi Simon

Never really been a headphone user myself...
As my hearing aids perch behind the top of my ears and are connected to the ear inserts by little tubes I would not recommend headphones with this type of hearing aid. I suggest asking an Audiologist if they are aware of hearing aids that could be used with headphones, I suspect there are some but have no experience of them myself.

I guess an alternative would be to feed stereo through a graphic equaliser, set up to compensate for any hearing loss, then to headphones.