Has anyone heard the Denon 103-SA?

The Denon DL-103 were used by advanced/experienced audiophiles through out Europe and Japan for a long time. I'm using mine since year 2000. It is a super sounding cartridge. I also using a Denon DL-102(mono) in my mono system with great result.

Hype is not always untrue ;-). The extra $500 is for the colour "blue", and well worth it in my estimation, as it will lend the 103 a tad more coolness to temper it's fiery character :-).

The 103-SA costs money 'cause it's a limited-edition, numbered, wooden box type deal (personalized with your name on a plaque) to commemorate Denon having shipped 500,000 units of the 103 cartridge.

The extra weight is probably due to the blue fibreglass casing.

Note: the cartridge itself is really a 103R, with 6-nines copper in the coil and an internal impedance of 14 ohms instead of the regular 103's 40.

Also notable is the presence of tapped holes for the screws.

Patrick

I have installed one hour ago the DL 103SA to replace my 9 years old DL 103 ...

well big difference, more details especially in high frequencies, more macro dynamic and micro dynamic, everything sounds more lively

bad side, I hear also more white noise when the LP is not perfect

Clavil,

The differences you describe might be due more to replacing an old cart/stylus with a fresh on more so than any inherent differences in design/sound perhaps? Styli in particular require replacing from time to time with normal use.

The 103R (acquired from audiocubes a while back)is the best sounding cart I've used in my Linn rig in the last 25 years. Vinyl performance in my rig compres favorably to most anything I have heard around of late. I will probably buy a second at some point. I may look into one of Soundsmith's upgrades for that and also get my current 103R retipped by same as a spare.