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Denon DL103 modification craze. Snake oil?

Oztayls

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It doesn't take much searching online before you start coming across articles and videos discussing the modification of the venerable DL103 cartridge. Some that I've seen are:
  • The bodies are removed
  • Bodies removed and replaced with wooden ones
  • Bodies removed and replaced with alloy
  • Bodies left in place and installed onto alloy caps
  • Cantilevers and styli are replaced
The DL103 is already an excellent MC cartridge, especially at its price point. If you believe the hype, the mods elevate the performance to stratospheric levels to the point that it competes with cartridges costing $1000s more. But do they really? I have my doubts regarding all of them except where cantilevers and styli are replaced, as these definitely can make a sonic difference. I could not find anything where measurements have been made.

A whole industry seems to have developed around these mods and some companies have started supplying these products, at silly prices for what they are too. The hype is unbelievable!

I've added some pics of just some of them...
 

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sq225917

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I've heard a hi-grade Zu model vs the S and the R versions and separately one with a Ruby canti and Ogura fine line. They all sound more or less like a 103, bit toppy with a tendency to sibilance.
 
OP
O

Oztayls

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I've heard a hi-grade Zu model vs the S and the R versions and separately one with a Ruby canti and Ogura fine line. They all sound more or less like a 103, bit toppy with a tendency to sibilance.
Do you mean that the upgrades actually sounded worse, because the DL 103 is definitely not sibilant?
 

USER

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Here is one of the more interesting commentaries regarding the cap mod: http://korfaudio.com/blog58

The take: "To sum everything up, Steve Bedard's Aluminium Body Cap significantly changes the measured vibration profile of a DL-103. In my opinion, its use noticeably improves the subjective performance of the cartridge"

But this captures everything I like and hate about Korf. He engages in measurements (and did so during a dark, vacuous period for turntable discussion), which is great, but in the end he is dealing in results so miniscule that it is completely unreasonable for him to deduce what he does out of them. His subjective opinions are as bad as a 12 year old's on reddit. But in the end at least there are measurements and you can see the effect the cap has on the cartridge.

In this case, the broad view is good enough and shouldn't be too surprising as it's almost obvious. Adding mass to a cartridge with a supposedly super low compliance should make it more compatible with more tonearms and perhaps fix an issue if its there.

Here are measurements I took of a DL-103R with and without the cap. Unfortunately they weren't done consecutively, were loaded a little differently, and I no longer have them. (And the inconsistencies above 10kHz are more the test record.) Two very different turntables, however, with the Clearaudio having a very low effective mass tonearm and the Sony a high one.

DL-103R w. Cap - Clearaudio Concept w. Satisfy Carbon Fiber 1.png
DL-103R - Sony PS-X50 1.png


I would argue as the person that took them that they are within a reasonable margin of error. I wish I had more full range recordings as we can now graph them out and that is likely where things get interesting.

If we go by this superbly timed post regarding Toole's cartridge blind testing (which we should), which argues,

Untitled222.jpg


Then it is likely that there was no significant audible difference in this particular comparison.


Edit: with a close up we may be able to see a small difference with a dip above 10kHz. This is inconclusive, however, and likely inaudible anyways as Q is high and there isn't a lot of info there.
 
Last edited:
OP
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Oztayls

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That is very interesting, as is your commentary. Yes, the outcomes are always subjective, so that results always come down to opinion. It seems to be that way in audio, generally speaking. If you modify a car, the results of the mod are much more readily apparent and measurable!
 

JP

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Here is one of the more interesting commentaries regarding the cap mod: http://korfaudio.com/blog58

The take: "To sum everything up, Steve Bedard's Aluminium Body Cap significantly changes the measured vibration profile of a DL-103. In my opinion, its use noticeably improves the subjective performance of the cartridge"

But this captures everything I like and hate about Korf. He engages in measurements (and did so during a dark, vacuous period for turntable discussion), which is great, but in the end he is dealing in results so miniscule that it is completely unreasonable for him to deduce what he does out of them. His subjective opinions are as bad as a 12 year old's on reddit. But in the end at least there are measurements and you can see the effect the cap has on the cartridge.

In this case, the broad view is good enough and shouldn't be too surprising as it's almost obvious. Adding mass to a cartridge with a supposedly super low compliance should make it more compatible with more tonearms and perhaps fix an issue if its there.

Here are measurements I took of a DL-103R with and without the cap. Unfortunately they weren't done consecutively, were loaded a little differently, and I no longer have them. (And the inconsistencies above 10kHz are more the test record.) Two very different turntables, however, with the Clearaudio having a very low effective mass tonearm and the Sony a high one.

View attachment 263213 View attachment 263212

I would argue as the person that took them that they are within a reasonable margin of error. I wish I had more full range recordings as we can now graph them out and that is likely where things get interesting.

If we go by this superbly timed post regarding Toole's cartridge blind testing (which we should), which argues,

View attachment 263221

Then it is likely that there was no significant audible difference in this particular comparison.


Just like with the measurements, the improvements weren't subtle. I was especially impressed by the change in the stereo scene. It became slightly wider and gained substantial depth. Subjectively, linearity improved. Sibilance, which is a known problem with a DL-103/Jelco combo, became a lot more manageable — the 4 kHz peak seems to excite the bearing resonances a lot less than the 6 kHz peak.

This is trivial to measure. Why obscure it behind accelerometers and gs?
 

Boltman92124

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Feb 14, 2023
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It doesn't take much searching online before you start coming across articles and videos discussing the modification of the venerable DL103 cartridge. Some that I've seen are:
  • The bodies are removed
  • Bodies removed and replaced with wooden ones
  • Bodies removed and replaced with alloy
  • Bodies left in place and installed onto alloy caps
  • Cantilevers and styli are replaced
The DL103 is already an excellent MC cartridge, especially at its price point. If you believe the hype, the mods elevate the performance to stratospheric levels to the point that it competes with cartridges costing $1000s more. But do they really? I have my doubts regarding all of them except where cantilevers and styli are replaced, as these definitely can make a sonic difference. I could not find anything where measurements have been made.

A whole industry seems to have developed around these mods and some companies have started supplying these products, at silly prices for what they are too. The hype is unbelievable!

I've added some pics of just some of them...
I think the point behind the 103 is to have such a beautiful sound without mods and the higher cost. Replacing that stiff suspension and beautiful nude, polished conical kind of changes it into another cartridge. But that's just my opinion of course. It still puts much more expensive moving magnet carts to shame in stock form IMO.
 

spiral scratch

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I've been using 103 and 103R for decades. I have replaced the original outer plastic shells with wooden ones. I haven't made measurements with these modifications, but I have made recordings with the cartridge before and after modifications and with different mass arms. My subjective experience based on A/B comparisons is that this is mostly related to increasing the mass that the cartridge has to work with. The greater mass creates greater signal output from the cartridge. We tend to perceive louder as sounding better. All I hear is greater gain. Unless you're dealing with an older turntable the effective mass of the arm will likely be below the 30 grams recommended by the manufacturer.
 
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