Do you have some data or articles on that? Compliance (the inverse of stiffness) shouldn't be mixed up with mass, from what I know typically MCs are engineered to be less compliant for their typical $$$$ buyer which uses rather heavy tone arms.
The Quietus is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics.
thequietus.com
If you want to spend money, get a non-contact optical turntable, like ELP. They are used by the Library of Congress, universities, and restoration studios.I was reading an article on The Quietus about a reissue of Dark Magus and trying to skip over the audiophile and definitive vinyl stuff when I got to this and nearly gave up.
Dark Magus is a demanding starting point in what could (should?) end up being a string of potentially revelatory re-releases – and, as befits a release presumably intended to put down a marker, the results are certainly impressive: though to what degree will depend on the quality of the system being used to play the record. Personal experience suggests a moving-coil cartridge is an absolute minimum requirement: even the best moving magnet will not be capable of the measuring the extra information in the groove with sufficient accuracy to reveal the additional detail and nuance. But if your system has sufficient capability, the rewards can be rich indeed.
If a moving-coil cartridge is an absolute minimum requirement, what would exceed the requirement? Rhetorical question. I don't care. You can read the rest of it here
Reissue of the Week: Dark Magus by Miles Davis | The Quietus
Angus Batey drops the needle on yet another (expensive) Miles Davis reissue but still finds there are new sounds and ideas to be had
I have enjoyed reading in The Quietus in the past. For example this was good.
Last I knew, the laser pickup was very sensitive to dust/particulates on the disk surface.
www.elpj.com
Last I knew, the laser pickup was very sensitive to dust/particulates on the disk surface.
I thought ELP was long gone, but it appears it/they may still exist(?!).
ELP Laser Turntable – Play Vinyl with No Contact and No Wear
ELP Laser Turntable ELP Laser Turntable Official English Site Learn about the original Laser Turntable for Vinyl Records. No Contact, No Wear.
I couldn't find it last time I looked, but somewhere on the forum there is a link (or maybe a direct copy) of a blind listening test comparing a few cartridges including at least one MC. The "looser" was one of the MM cartridges but the MC was NOT a clear "winner". The best of both were essentially tied. (It was a very old listening test form the vinyl days.)
Most "audiophiles" are nuts!
...Most "don't believe in" measurements or blind listening tests.
Thanks. That is a good piece of information arguing for cleaning vinyl and click pop removal systems.
Interesting list, thanks for sharing, do you know how it was measured?
Those are manufacturer spec. The ones with an asterisk I’ve confirmed from their literature.
Thanks so much.
...and typical low output MC cartridges require an additional gain stage or step up transformer which also adds to the cost and to the inconvenience. Two more reasons why they must be better and receive more audiophile street cred.
Absolutely! Not judging, but a masochistic tendency is a prerequisite for any affinity to vinyl.
I would like to see evidence that this is the case. More expensive in general, that I can agree with. Quality... a different matter, especially given the vague nature of the term "quality" in this context.
For a short period of time in the late 70's to the early 80s a couple of Japanese companies - Denon and Highphonics (sp?) - produced high trackability low effective tip mass MCs that tracked around 1 g downforce. The lowest effective tip mass cartridge I know of was the Denon DL 1000a MC. I had one and it was a terrific tracker. Which MM were you reffering to in your post?