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Cartridges: Complete Scam?

I’m very new to analog, and researching my options on forums I keep coming across the same sentiment: that past the ultra low-end cartridges, there is very little gains in actual sound quality and that all you’re getting are different styles and colorations to the sound.

So, for example, if I swapped out my $200 cartridge that came with my table for a Soundsmith, Dynavector, Oracle, etc, I may notice a small improvement in detail and dynamics, but I’m mostly just going to get a different flavor. Multiple people told me they perffered thier old vintage cartridges over modern laser-cut boron-necked diamonds.

It’s possible that these people are just desperately defending thier old junk and/or have never heard high end audio. But if what they’re saying is true, than the cartridge industry is a giant SCAM. If I blow 2.5k minimum on an Air Tight I better get a significant improvement over a $200 bundler — and if just all amounts to a different coloration, than that is a straight-up scam ripoff.

So guys — are these forums just BS-ing me here? Is it really a giant scam?
madavid0
claudebond
6 posts
 
Scam = selling a customer a $2000 cartridge for a $200 turntable, while knowing the the customer has 20 albums without much of a plan to increase said collection. Now selling the same 2k cartridge to a vinyl lover with a growing collection of albums and say a nice VPI TT, then that's a bargain. See, there are too many variables and budgets. If you have a pair of $1500 speakers, and you're happy with them, no plans of upgrading them, then a $400-500 cartridge might make better sense. Not an easy answer that can be answered with a simple yes or no that applies to all end users and situations. Makes sense to anyone? 
chayro
1,801 posts
 
Price/value analysis can be a tricky thing.  I have a friend who enjoys cognac, so I purchased a bottle of Hennesey Prestige for about $40 and it's fine.  Later on, I thought I would try a bottle of Hennesey XO at $125 and that it would be worlds better.  Tell the truth, for us it wasn't.   Head to head, I don't think I could tell the difference or whether the XO was just different but not better.  But I think it would be very ignorant of me to post publicly that XO is a scam because I couldn't taste the difference.  The only thing I proved is that I couldn't taste the difference.  And if I couldn't, I would wager that many people couldn't either.   But I'm certainly open to the possibility that there are many who could.  Maybe. 
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
838 posts
 
The variety of definitions being applied to the word 'scam' amaze me. 

Upselling a product to someone who doesn't need it is not a scam.

Expensive products that people willingly buy and work as described are not scams.

Putting a high end component into a mess of system and saying it doesn't work does not count as a scam.

A scam is knowingly deceiving someone either by getting them to pay for goods or services that they will not receive, or that are not, in good faith, what was agreed to or advertised.
uberwaltz's avatar
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uberwaltz
4,946 posts
 
Why is it that more and more threads lately are opened with a pretty antagonistic header, what exactly does the op hope to accomplish with that besides a number of equally antagonistic responses or outright derision and the possibility of not being taken seriously at all.

Now I know under current handle I have a low post count and join date of 2013 but aeons ago I was a member but lost all the info and just easier to start again.

Back even 10 years ago the forums ( and the world in general) was a much more civilised and nicer place to be, just go skim through some older threads to see the type of discussion and the general level of decency and politeness involved.
Nowadays I see way too much vitriol and a lot of self important people who come across as it all being about me, me, me, rather than actually wanting any real answers or even to hear partial truths.

Just my 5 cents worth and my opinion only.
timlub
1,649 posts
 
it is the same all over audio and many industries,  High performance comes at a price, but to get beyond that, the cost can be astronomical... 
 
You have a car that will run a 1/4 mile in 14 seconds, you drop $1000 in the engine and get it below 12 seconds,  you need to drop another $3000 to get it below 10 seconds.... how much to make it even faster?  
The tweaking and expertise to get better performance in a phono cartridge is no different.... 
a 12 second 1/4 mile car is fast, but is it worth an extra $3000 to get a 10 second car? 
Of course the numbers are just arbitrary,  but the concept remains true. 
So,  no, its not a scam, but minor differences in performance are expensive. 

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