Cartridge Replacement

Having now sold my Koetsu Rosewood and hopefully my MC3000MK2 will sell soon too. Admittedly the first three in the list would stretch my budget and I am not sure if I will get a significant improvement to justify the extra £700 to £1000 in cost ?

So what do I replace the Koetsu Rosewood with ?

Shortlist so far from recommendations is:

Koetsu Rosewood Signature
Hana Umami Red
Benz Micro LP-S
Koetsu Rosewood
Jasmine Audio Tiger
Hana Umami Blue

Any more suggestions welcome.

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So we are nearly there!

The auditions are nearly over, the cartridges are sold, Koetsu Rosewood and Ortofon MC3000mk2 that is, so decision time.

But which one ?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b06297b368.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8f19284bb7.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...39ba7f27b5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0fcd4ab467.jpg

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Benz Micro LP-S IMHO:D

and I just remembered this one

https://www.hifinews.com/content/she...rtridge-page-2

Well, I have given the Jasmine Audio Turtle plenty of challenging discs as well as many favourites too.

Overall at around £1,000 this has to be one of the best cartridges at its price point with levels of performance in some areas as good as anything twice the price.

So a star buy at £1,000, hell yes, better than the best at £2,000, well no, but more than capable of showing some of what the best at that price can do, particularly in the lower frequency and tracking ability.

So where am I ? Well I have to say the decision was made for me !

So what was considered ?

Well the promise of great things from the Jasmine Audio TIger remains just that, as there isn't one available to hear at this time, however, when there is, it will be undoubtedly be a definite audition. As for the Benz Micro LP-S, I have no doubt from the reviews and testimonials it is an outstanding cartridge in the £3,000 plus price point and no doubt a contender against cartridges at £4,000 and above including the Koetsu Rosewood Signature and possibly even the Urushi.

However, I set out to see, if at a budget of around £2,000, I could find a cartridge capable of equaling the Koetsu Rosewood. With the caveat if things were not looking good and something at around £3,000 blew me away I would bust the budget !

Well the decision has been made rather easy in reality.

The Phasemation PP-500 is an outstanding cartridge and one of the products that truly demonstrates the addeage that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts", I found my self playing both sides of an album and playing disc after disc after disc. Something I haven't done for a very long time!

So if you want the details on the sonic attributes of the PP-500 then the review below totally echoes my experience and I didn't find this review until after I had auditioned the cartridge but I could so easily have written every line.

https://positive-feedback.com/review...oil-cartridge/https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...35689bf2d8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...dd9b4f7889.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...c207062cb5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...65495df58b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1de8a5e1e0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...89ea6513f7.jpg

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not sure if the brand new model dynavector XX2a is any good...but may be worth consideration?