I probably need to correct the record. I did some testing last week with my CD players and DACs to sniff out perceived differences. What I found: the older CD players put out less voltage than my newer DACs. When corrected for volume, they did not sound nearly so different. Likely not different enough to be able to tell the difference in blind testing. Even if the newer DACs measure better, the difference in absolute terms may be immaterial and inaudible.
FWIW, I had a Denon DL-160 sans stylus, I bought years ago, in my drawer of analog stuff. A seller on ebay advertises retipping. I think he charged $150.00 for an elliptical. Came back in a week, and it sounds fine. If I'm not mistaken it was some kind of bonding process, which is probably not as ideal as NOS, but the DL-160 has been out of production for years, and the DL-110 is now about three hundred dollars.
This is the trade-off I'm afraid to make. My super efficient system is as quiet as my digital source with my aging Ortofon Black. I feel like an mc is going to be a lateral movement if I have to live with system noise.
If you want to try a moving coil there are a number of high output ones available (Dynavector 20X2H comes to mind immediately).
I've been looking at the Hana's. I've tried one of the Denons (103r?) and it was ok, but the Black was clearly better. It's like car shopping without being able to test drive.
Unlike the earlier Red and Onyx, which sounded dead and far too 'velvet-toned-high-end' for my tastes, the Black was far more truthful if still a little beefy in tone. My deck/arm loved it though and I keep telling myself I'll fix it one day...
I have an Ortofon 2M Blue, not a Black, and I moved up to the Hana SL. I got much less surface noise from the Hana SL than from the 2M Blue. I love the Hana SL so much that I have a hard time imagining going back to a MM cartridge again on my VPI Traveler. I currently use the 2M Blue on my second system with a PLX-1000. When the stylus wears out, I will likely consider having Steve L. put a line-contact stylus on my 2M Blue.
I have experience with the Blue. It's nowhere near the Black (as you would expect for 4x the price) which is basically the same price as the Hana SL. I'm with you and leaning toward the Hana SL at this point for the shibata stylus, and keeping the Black as a spare. The stylus on the Black has held up amazingly well, but is $650 to replace (you could also put one on your Blue if you wanted top-tier mm) so long term cost of ownership is no better than the Hana. I did this same dance in my mind before I bought the Black. It's maddening, so it's nice to get reassurance from someone that is using the same Hana.
I don't believe the 2M Black stylus is compatible with the 2M Blue body. My understanding is that styli can be swapped between the 2M Red and 2M Blue and between the 2M Bronze and the 2M Black.
Ortofon would like you to believe that, but the styli are all interchangeable hence the fact that they charge 90% for the stylus.
Physically, they will certainly fit. But there are differences in the generating mechanisms between the Red/Blue and Bronze/Black. Whether or not those differences optimize the engines for the line contact type styli vs elliptical I have no idea.
The only differences is the wire and composition of the body- silver coated wire and glass resin (plastic) in the Black and Bronze vs just plastic and copper in the Red and Blue. IMHO the potential differences these changes bring to the table are likely indicative of the relative price differences in the body's themselves- about $50. Electrically the whole 2m line is nearly identical. The thinking is that the slightly better bodies go to the Bronze and the Black, but the difference is miniscule. In a MM cart, it's all about the stylus.
I'm not an expert either, but considering the cost of the stylus is 80% of the cart, I think you can draw some conclusions. Electrically the differences are cartridge inductance (700mH for Blue and 630mH for Black- about 10%), 1db higher channel separation for Black (negligible) and 0.5mV higher output for Blue (again about 10%)- I think all of these differences as well as FR could be attributed to the stylus assembly, but you are correct, it's entirely my speculation. I remember a poll (on the Hoffman forum iirc) with rips of the same track using the blue, black and bronze styli on a black body. The only obvious difference in the three was the Blue stylus sounding inferior to most.
