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Stereo Sound cart rankings

Here’s Stereo Sound’s 2008 cart rankings, regardless of price range. The 103R still in TOP 10 after all these years!!!

14pts = Phase Tech P3G = 115,000yen
11pts = Lyra Skala = 320,000yen
10pts = Ortofon SPU Synergy = 170,000yen
9pts = My Sonic Hyper Eminent = 460,000yen
8pts = My Sonic Eminent = 300,000yen
8pts = Ortofon Winfield = 400,000yen
5pts = Phase Tech P3 = 85,000yen
5pts = Audiocraft AC03 = 160,0000yen
4pts = Denon 103R = 33,000yen
4pts = Lyra Helikon = 220,000yen
4pts = Benz-Micro Ruby = 300,000yen
3pts = Ortofon Jubilee = 220,000yen
3pts = Benz-Micro LP Ebony = 380,000yen
3pts = Lyra Titan = 450,000yen
2pts = AT-33 mono, Ikeda 9C-V, Denon DL-S1, Phase Tech P1, Audiocraft AC03 mono, Benz Ref. 3 silver, EMT JSD5
1pt = Denon DL-102, Yamamoto YC03S, Lyra Dorian, Clearaudio Symphony, Ikeda 9 Supremo, My Sonic Eminent Solo, Haniwa HCTR-01, Audio Note IO-M
cmk
lewm
6,770 posts
 
Cmk, I'd be very interested to know which among some of those esoteric brands of cartridge are worth further consideration, e.g., what about Phase Tech and MySonic? From my several visits to Tokyo in 2007, I came to believe that the Japanese (at least the affluent ones who live in Tokyo) are on average more "into" things audio than we are.
cmk OP
397 posts
 
Lewn
Frankly I'd like to find some gem myself. A friend, who's ears I trust, mentioned that the Phase Tech P3 was special. At the price point its worth just buying to try, or just go for the P3G.
mordante
511 posts
 
Hmmmm no mention of Jan allaerts. This list fails.
jcarr
341 posts
 
FWIW, I've listened to nearly every cartridge listed as a favorite by contributors to this thread, and I'm pretty sure that at least some of the cartridges on the Stereo Sound list are better than anything that most of you may have experienced (and not necessarily my own designs, either).

So no, the Stereo Sound list is not a failure, rather a different culture, different environment, different sonics likes and dislikes, and different product experiences. And if anything, it is good to be exposed to the opinions of other cultures, especially when you consider that Japan is the home of Air Tight, Dynavector, Koetsu, Miyabi, ZYX and other highly esteemed cartridge brands (^-^).

regards, jonathan carr
pedrillo
560 posts
 
On my system starting to realize 103r is amazing.
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