Subjective comments about "neutrality" and "detail" without measurements showing flat response don't make sense to me on a scientific forum.
First, no one is really doing a takedown of phono cartridges anymore. David Rich has done some excellent reviews of the old Shure and some current AT cartridges (at the
Secrets of Home Theater site). But the quantity of his reviewing output is like the quantity of voltage from most MC cartridges--very limited.
If you go through the back issues of
Stereo Review and
Audio, and look at the phono cartridge reports, reviewers often commented that FR measurements didn't always correlate with what might be expected, from a sonic standpoint. That is, sometimes cartridges with a rising high end didn't sound 'hot' as would be expected.
However it is, with phonograph playback there are so many variables (arm/cartridge resonance, tracking error problems associated with alignment, mistracking, diamond shape, cantilever materials and on and on) that a FR profile is just a beginning place to start.
Unlike the old days, it is very difficult to go to a stereo store and compare a half dozen cartridge brands. It used to be routine and really a trivial thing to do. I recall buying gear and the dealer throwing in (or selling at their cost) a phono cartridge. Shure, Stanton/Pickering, ADC, Ortofon, Sonus, AT/Signet, Empire, and others I can't recall off the top of my head. No one paid anything close to list for any of those. And each year you simply bought a new replacement stylus assembly.
The Japanese MC scene changed all that. When that took off it got ridiculous. The 'undergournd' magazines identified this month's cartridge that 'blew away' last month's top choice, and you could bet that in the next issue there would be another you'd never heard of that blew away the current top pick. They all had strange names, and were sold more like jewelry, or Swiss watches, than mere phono cartridges mean to play records. Prices rose like no tomorrow.
I gave up long ago on the idea that phono will ever measure (or sound) as good as digits done right. But records are fun, if you have them. If you don't I don't see the point in getting involved. Phono playback is really a hardware money funnel. If dollars are not an issue, then why not? It's just a hobby, after all.