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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

Showing 3 responses by lewm

lewm
6,770 posts
 
Who is Stereo Sound and why does their editorial opinion matter any more than does that of S'phile and TAS or any other mag? It seems highly unlikely that any one person on the staff of SS could have carefully evaluated this many cartridges, not to mention all the other products they apparently rated,so what we must have here is a kind of group-think result. Of interest to me however is that they rate highly a few cartridges that I never knew existed.
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.
lewm
6,770 posts
 
Dear JCarr, During my visits to Tokyo, it is always surprising to me that the average Japanese audio salesperson has barely any knowledge of the Koetsu line, especially since they are made right there. (This knowledge was gained by having my son present to interpret for me. He is quite fluent in Japanese.) To buy a Koetsu in Tokyo, one must order it and wait a couple of weeks for delivery. Similarly, I have never seen a Miyabi cartridge in even the highest of high end stores. On the other hand, Dynavectors and ZYXs and of course Denons are commonplace. You probably know much more about the whys and wherefores of this situation than I; what's the deal?
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