Audio Technica VM540ML v. N97xe Jico SAS

AT is the one if you want a more open and detailed sound. Shure if you are looking for something richer and more rounded.

What tonearm are you using and what is the capacitance of your phono stage?

Not a complete answer to my question, but the AT would be a go for me.

They may be identical in price, but they are not identical in compliance. If you go the 150 route you will want to add mass at the headshell with the 1200.

....because the compliance is considerably lower....thought I already said that...


It might be instructive to look up the difference between tracking force and compliance as well.

Compliance is the stiffness of the suspension. The moving system of the tonearm/cartridge can be modeled as a weight on top of a spring. The weight being the effective mass of the moving system and the stiffness of the spring being the compliance of the cartridge suspension. Both the stifness of the suspension and the effective mass yielding the primary resonance of the moving system.

A cursory examination will reveal the the stiffness of the spring can be increased, or decreased, independently of the moving mass of the tonearm/cartridge system. The two parameters being uncorrelated and the tracking force being only very broadly correlated with compliance.

If you look at the published specs here:

https://www.lpgear.com/product/NAGAOKAMP150.html

and click on the “specs” tab here:

https://www.audio-technica.com/cms/cartridges/e7a3d4bc8b248b64/index.html

You will see see the difference.

Of equal interest, is that the AT uses a radical stylus profile, while the Nagaoka is a nude mounted elliptical. If all dimensional parameters can be adjusted to correctly align the stylus with the groove, the much larger contact area of the radical stylus will distribute the tracking force over a larger contact area increasing stylus life as well as decreasing groove wear. Of course, none of this will tell you which cartridge you will prefer; only an audition will do that.

There are, in fact, a large, and a small major radii Shibata cut stylus. The large cut has a 75um major radius, the same as the Microline. The minor dimension of the large Shibata is 6um vs just over 2um for a Microline. How could this possibly translate to a 2:1 better wear characteristic for the Microline vs the Shibata cut?

I would appreciate seeing the math that supports that conclusion. Wear is also changed by such things as stylus tracking force, quality of polish, cleanliness of records, etc, and I assume part of the assumption is that these factors are held constant. How do we get to this 2:1 wear figure with a smaller contact patch?


https://www.sound-smith.com/articles/stylus-shape-information