Highest detail cartridges

An ART-9 just came up for sale on Audio Asylum Trader. No knowledge of the seller, not an endorsement, etc., etc.

@bimasta - How can you tell?  Maybe it is just a mediocre performance.  I prefer accuracy over distortion.

How do you determine accuracy? Were you there when the recordings were being made, or is “accuracy” a subjective assessment?

I think this a more than fair question as, in the last 50 years, I have been able to determine gross colorations, but past that, I really don’t know what criteria would qualify a piece of gear as being “accurate”.

Ill go a little further. For the sake of illustration, two amps measure the same, except one has .2% more 7th harmonic distortion and the other has 1% more 2nd harmonic distortion. Objectively, the later amp has an order greater distortion and is the less accurate. However we also know from the work of Hiraga, et al, that higher, odd order, distortion is much more jarring to the ear. The higher quantity of distortion in the second amp will be more consonant with the fabric of the music and thus more accurate. This is also why small amounts of IM distortion are subjectively worse than harmonic distortion, as IM is not correlated with the musical signal, whereas harmonic distortion is.

@viridian I listen to 99%+ classical music.  Instrument timbre can expose the accuracy of the recording.  And I've been a part of blind listening sessions that used two components that were identical except for a 3 millibel difference in frequency response.  The same component could be consistently identified during the tests.  

I prefer components with a vanishingly low amount of distortion to any distortion including even order distortion.  It is why I use one particular electronics manufacturer.

@bimasta

"Is "closer to the music" a more accurate reproduction of what is in the groove or a "romantic" rewrite?"

It is more involving reproduction of music on vinyl media. May be caused by synergy of the arm + cartridge and all components. The moment when you’re there with a smile on your face, when everything is damn good.

Victor Direct Couple MC-1 is very dynamic cartridge in my system.
I was aware of the sweetness of Shibata profile on Beryllium cantilever, becuase i have tried many Victor MM cartridges before. But i think Direct Couple principle is something special in this MC design. Never tried Decca or Ikeda cantilever-less models.