Correction: "ONE of the best at any price". Realistically though, do you think everyone can afford to try ALL MM cartridges available? I'd rather collect LP's than cartridges, and I've found one that sounds great and does what I want after trying some others that should have performed better than their reputation or price would indicate. I've found the level of inner groove distortion on these unacceptable and no better than the generic cartridge that came with my table!
At $179 the AT-440MLa is not cheap in my opinion, but worth it. After that price level it starts moving into MC territory, which then becomes a different story and is where most of the attention is. I think any gains in performance from a $500 or $3000 MM over this one would be very minimal at best, and at that level most audiophiles wouldn't even consider looking at a MM anyway.
So I think it's fair to say this is one of the best MM's at any price.
At $179 the AT-440MLa is not cheap in my opinion, but worth it. After that price level it starts moving into MC territory, which then becomes a different story and is where most of the attention is. I think any gains in performance from a $500 or $3000 MM over this one would be very minimal at best, and at that level most audiophiles wouldn't even consider looking at a MM anyway.
So I think it's fair to say this is one of the best MM's at any price.