Skeptics believe:cartridge makes a HUGE difference

Zd,

What I meant to say and did not very clearly perhaps is that the fact that science and engineering is limited is not sufficient to justify trying things that cannot be explained because the odds of success applying engineering principles and techniques that are well supported scientifically are fairly high while the odds of success applying those that cannot are orders of magnitude less.

So the only rational approach is to first make sure one addresses principles thoroughly first. That alone can be quite an undertaking!

I always question anyone who dwells or is biased towards merits of highly unsubstantiated claims. That should be maybe 10% or less of the overall conversation, not the whole story itself.

Of course the cartridge makes a huge difference. This is where the interface from physical to electrical takes place in vinyl playback begins. This is the source component. Of course it makes a difference.

Zd542 - don't worry, I don't get it either.

Your point is very clear and a good one. Personally, I feel that a lot of the mystery that lies in between what we can currently measure and what we can only hear, should be dealt with using well conducted listening tests. I get a lot resistance with that one, though.

"Zd542 - don't worry, I don't get it either."

Well, no surprise there with Mr. Machina Dynamica, I must say.

"Your point is very clear and a good one. Personally, I feel that a lot of the mystery that lies in between what we can currently measure and what we can only hear, should be dealt with using well conducted listening tests. I get a lot resistance with that one, though. "

That's really the only practical way, though as is often pointed out, one must be careful about drawing cause and effect conclusions whenever something different is heard.

FOr example, I recently replaced some damaged standard issue power cords with other more costly ones from Pangea. I am pretty certain I heard differences immediately after each switch in terms of lower distortion levels, but they are subtle and I have to say that sometimes I am not certain, in that things sounded pretty good in this regard to start with. But they seemed to work well as designed and are well made products, so I have little reason to look back. I would probably do the same thing again for the same reasons if I had to.