Excellent presentation and testing. Thank you so much for taking so much time and effort to test so thoroughly, rather than the standard listening tests which are so prevalent on RU-vid when comparing cartridges. Great job.
I was always wondering why my amplifiers phono stage was always sounding a bit bright. I looked at the schematics and it turned out it uses 100pF and a 68k resistor. The 100pF seem a bit high... Thanks for Your explanations and diagrams, showing what different resistor and capacitor values could do. That was really interesting.
Thanks, yeah I'd try remove that 100pF capacitor and lower the 68k to 47k and see if you like the sound better. It really can make a huge difference, but of course the phono stage RIAA equalization is also very important. Cheers, Jake
I totally agree with your comments concerning vinyl of the 70's & 80's sounding superior to their remastered CD equivalent. Personally I think this is due to the modern technology that is now being used including stuff like pro tools. However respected producer Mike Vernon did a great job with the Focus & original Fleetwood Mac CD remasters so it can be done!
John, I agree with the Reviewer's and your comments in part. When CDs first came out circa 1984ish. The first CD I purchased was Born in the USA (Springsteen) and played that against the LP I had. There was no contest from the CD....Tinny, unsubstantial. Over the course of the years I did purchase other CDs for sure. But, in a bit of defiance, when I purchased my first Remastered CD - Abraxis by Santana and played that against the LP , there was big difference in the dynamic and fullness - CDs had now come a long way. FTR, I played the LPs on a quality system including a Dual CS 5000 TT with a Shure and /or Ortofon cartridge.
Fantastic review, thank you so much, you really help the vinyl community make informed decisions 😀 I have several "budget" and "semi-budget" cartridges, and AT-95e has always been my elliptical favorite, along with AT-3600L for a super-budget great cartridge. I just got the Nagaoka MP-110 today, and it sounds great and better than the 95e, but they recommend a break-in period of 30 play hours. Were you able to confirm this will make a difference? And for better or worse?
Please consider a video in which you measure cartridge frequency response as a function of varied resistor loading. Perhaps placing a one mega-ohm 10 turn pot in parallel with the phono amp input, or even replacing the input resistor with the 10 turn pot, would give a finely variable load that's easy to measure. Back in the '70's many Grado cartridges needed a 10K load rather than 47K load to sound good. Stay safe and healthy! Auf wiedersehen, mein freund!
Thanks, that's a good suggestion, I was thinking of trying a few parallel resistors, but a pot would make it easier to adjust until the right value is found. I think I could just use a short Y splitter cable, then I don't have to modify the pre-amp. Should make for an interesting little video. Cheers, Jake
Nice work. Thanks for taking the time. Shure also made some great cartridges and styli. If viewers think that the distortion for cartridges is high, They should measure the THD of speakers, especially in a two or more driver system. A single loudspeaker tested on a measurement baffle is many times the distortion measured on these cartridges, and are much worse that that at lower frequencies. Speaker systems measured near the crossover frequency(ies) are typically well over 10% THD due to the phase shifts caused by the crossover network(s) and / or the physical mounting of the speaker drivers. When actually quantifying the performance using measurements by accurate measurements from the source to your ears, the input and output ends (microphone / cartridge, speaker systems) are pretty bad. That's why I find it laughable when "audiophiles" argue over 0.001% and 0.002% THD of an amplifier or "cheap" $100 vs "musical" >$300 speaker cables. Even the best "golden ears" are full of fecal excrement. I used to set up double blind A-B-X listening tests behind acoustically transparent curtains for these people in North Hollywood in the 60s and 70s. I never lost and none was ever right. Eventually they quit taking the challenge, because it was not at their accustomed listening room, and there were other people watching, so they were distracted by their stress and angst. It's great you still have those test records and they look like they are in pristine shape. If you have extras, play it over 500 times and measure the THD again for another big surprise. Hint: record's distortion increases with each playing.
Thanks, yeah there are many good cartridges around in the reasonably affordable category but also a few not so great ones. I agree a speaker in a normal room will have very high distortion (I always consider speakers the weakest link) with all the reverberation and everything, they perform best in anechoic chambers. I like double blind A-B-X tests, my only problem is that the human hearing (+brain) isn't a fine tuned instrument, it can take a long time for me to decide if I like A or B better, so I know it will take a lot more than the 5-10 x 30 seconds tests that were popular back in the day. Unless there is some standout issue with what I'm listening to then it usually take a few weeks for me to confidently decide if I like the sound of a better than b from just listening to music samples. But, yeah, arguing over distortion beyond 0.1% in home systems is not really productive, In a studio environment, yes, sure, you want to keep the source as clean as possible as it might pass through 100s of steps, but a few times 0.1% at home is unlikely to be detected by anyone. Cheers, Jake
the peak on the nagaoka is higher but I would much rather have +5db at what is effectively ultrasonic for anyone over the age of 30 than +2 db in the midrange.
Agree, and to be honest I didn't notice the Nagaoka peak while listening, probably because most records don't have much content that high in frequency and my hearing is no longer very sensitive that high up.
Superb video and very well presented! One of the few who actually mentions capacitive loading which when reviewing a MM cartridge really is essential! Also using actual measurements to backup your findings vs some hyperbole written in a magazine?! What is this vooddoo! hahah I had a Nagaoka MP-200 which I couldn't stand because of that high end peak and I found it had some weird distortion in the midrange especially auditable on male vocals, at the time I couldn't easily adjust the load so I just got rid of it. Since then I've been running a AT-150MLx into about 120pf @ 47k and it's sublime. I run a Ortofon Pro and OM-10 for DJ work and been considering a MP-100 but then again the Ortofon is almost ruler flat so meh
Nice and thorough review. Thank you. While searching for a new cartridge, I stumbled upon an audio technica at3600l from AliExpress and prefer the tonal signature over the at95e. It only costs 10 to 15 $. Give it a tryif you need a new stylus
It seems to me the Nagaoka MP-110 performed more accurately than the 95E (which I own). I currently run a AT VM95ML with my SL1200 MKII and really enjoy it's sound signature, however, I was very curious about the MP-110 so I went ahead and purchased one, I mean, why not? I tried an Ortofon 2M Blue and for me at least, it was steps below my 95ML in almost every way. I returned the 2M blue, needless to say. It just didn't "do it for me" like the 95ML. To be fair I run my Sl1200 MKII through a pair of Klipsch r-51 PM and a Klipsch R120SW. So perhaps not having passive speakers with a dedicated amp with eq adjustment may be the reason why I felt the 2M Blue didn't live up to it's potential. But I am very excited to give the MP-110 a go, I've read a lot of postive reviews on that particular cartridge. With it being a MI or whatever it is, I have read that the sound signature is similar in some ways to a moving coil, but that may just be internet lore. Either way, I'm sure it will be a pleasure to listen to.
I use a couple of test records with various sweeps, then I wrote some python scripts to process the data and export to Libre Office to plot the charts shown in the video. Cheers, Jake
Sure, if you want to get really technical then it's a moving permalloy. But for all intents and purposes it performs like a moving magnet and its most often advertised as such to not confuse people whether it will work with their phono preamp. Cheers, Jake
@@TheStuffMade from my experience there seems to be a difference in sound between the moving magnet and moving iron (permalloy) . I've used both types and have always ended up with the moving iron type as the favorite and doesn't seem to relate much to the brand but did as to the type. I've got 4 different brands of moving iron (permalloy) in my favored selection and all of the moving magnet ones don't get used that doesn't stack up to coincidence. The main thing is the sound stage created with the moving iron cartridges is fuller and three dimensional. The result is the record has a notable live presentation when played back with moving iron cartridges . Wish I had bought a dozen replacement styli for my Stanton 681 the steriohedron tip was unlike any thing else it sounded superb and it was very easy with the surface of the record. I could play a beat up used record with it and it would sound decent again. There's a good reason why so many FM stations used that Stanton 681 back then.
@@TheStuffMade Point taken, but would you (or anybody) call a High Output MC just because it can be used like an MM cartridge? Educating viewers about the difference (which I do believe contributes to what the Nagaokas do so well) so one day the term MI (or MP for that matter) will be just as well known as HO MC. :) One more question: Isn't a value of 2 mH too high an assumption for a 1.2 m run of interconnect cable? It probably won't matter much anyway because of the much higher inductance of the pickup's coils.
It would be interesting to compare elliptical with hyperelliptical I think. Because I feel like hyperelliptical styli are more forgiving with distortion.
I agree, in general, in my experience, the more extreme stylus types will have less distortion in the high frequencies, but the downside is they will wear your records a lot faster.
Kind of review I search n search for then I think iTunes AI flashed this. Request a comparison of Nagaoka 200 vs Audio Technica vm740sl. Im ordering a test record after I type this.
Thanks, I tried many different types of audio processing software, but in the end I had to write scripts in python and .net to process the samples to get correct results. so the whole process went like this: 1. Record audio in Audacity, 24 bits. 192ksps. 2. Export as 32 bit wave file 3. Import and resample wave file to 960ksps 4. Apply high pass filter 30hz to get rid of rumble. 5. Apply 6dB/octave slope filter to compensate for the constant velocity of the Ortofon record sweep 6. Run variable window size DFT on sweep to get accurate samples (most audio processing software fails here because they will use FFT with fixed window size and that doesn't work with a sweep) 7. Generate csv file with the data. 8. Create charts in Libreoffice calc using the csv data. So, yeah, quite a lot of work.. I might clean up and release the processing scripts if anyone is interested, but they are specifically written to be used with the Ortofon test record's sweeps. For the distortion measurements I used the Digilent/NI Waveforms software. Hope this helps, Cheers, Jake
Well, you're almost correct, but it's actually a moving permalloy if you want to be pedantic. However people get confused by this and that's why you see it sold as a moving magnet as for all intent and purpose it performs like a MM.
Try ebay, I had a look at they are selling for around $50, but it can depend on where in the world you live also be aware there was a new version released recently called the AT-WM95E. I believe they only changed the body to look a bit more modern. Cheers, Jake
@@TheStuffMade The specs of the ATVM95E are slightly better too. The most important thing is, that the cartridge body also accepts microline and shibata styli, so it has more upgrade potential.
@@QoraxAudio The upgradability is a good point, however I'm not sure how popular it will be to have cartridges from $40 up to $200 using the same body. It might have been a better choice to do body tiers like Ortofon does with their Red and Blue plus Bronze and Black. Cheers, Jake
@@TheStuffMade Well there's a lot of praise for the AT-VM95ML... I think the stylus shape, cantilever and suspension are by far the most important for an MM cartridge, as long as the transducer performs just fine.
Did you measure or determine the input capacitance of the Mani? I contacted Schiit, and they said the Mani has 100pF of input capacitance (which would put your total at 230pF instead of 150pF). Also, the MP-110 has an inductance of 810mH, which is quite high, and at any normal levels of input capacitance, has that resonant peak squarely in the audible band.
Yes I've measured the input capacitance, the Mani got around 15pF on the input, don't know why they would say it's 100pF, that is not correct. There is no capacitor on the input, it's all residual capacitance. I guess it's possible older versions had 100pF on the input, looking at pictures of the boards of the different versions they have changed a lot since v1.00. The version I have is 1.20, as far as I know that is the latest version. Cheers, Jake
@@TheStuffMade How do you measure the input capacitance? I'd like to verify the input capacitance on several of my older amps and home theater receivers. I'm in the market for a new phono pre-amp and just got the reply from Schiit yesterday specifying the 100pF. Odd the discrepancy.
@@oryandunn I use an impedance analyzer to measure the input capacitance, I can guarantee it does not have 100pF on the input, but as I mentioned, it could be a version thing. I'm only familiar with the latest version. Also if you look at their specs page they don't specify the input capacitance, which is also odd as they are very detailed with the rest of the specs. Cheers, Jake
@@TheStuffMade Ah, so not something a hobbyist would be able to pick up for under $100. I looked on ebay and those analyzers are quite expensive, even used. I asked if they could add that to the specs page, as it is somewhat conspicuous with it's absence. I'm currently borrowing my Dad's Mani, which is a version 1.20. The site doesn't mention versions at all, I assume they must consider these internal revisions without any external differences.
@@oryandunn yeah, it's a very specialized instrument. You might be able to get a measurement using a high end LCR meter that allows you to specify the test frequency and voltage, that would be cheaper than an impedance analyzer but it would still cost a lot more than $100. I had a look at the Mani web page, the circuit board they show is v1.10 and it clearly uses different op-amps in the input stage. Anyway, if you have a v1.20 then I can guarantee the input impedance is only around 15pF, but keep in mind every meter of cable between the cartridge and the phono stage will add something like 100-150pF. Cheers, Jake
@Declin_RO - Unfortunately that's almost impossible to reach as just the cable capacitance of pretty much every commercially available record player is in the 100 - 150 pF range. This adds to the phono stage input capacitance, no way around it. Many cheaper integrated amps or even AVR nowadays come with a phono input again, but input capacitance can be as high as 500 or even 800 pF! It makes the input less prone to RF interference but it's fatal for frequency response.
@@naibafabdulkobor4301 right, but 100+150 gets us at 250, and since most operate at 250 as well(if i am not mistaken) where do we have the issue? I genially don't understand. Personally i am using a dj mixers with nagaoka mp-110 and would like to see what i can improve
I wrote some python scrips to process the recordings and extract the data then plot the graphs using LibreOffice. But it's a bit of a slow process with many steps as it is now. I might clean it up at some point and include it in my Audio Analyzer Suite. Cheers, Jake
Fantastic review, thank you so much, you really help the vinyl community make informed decisions 😀 I have several "budget" and "semi-budget" cartridges, and AT-95e has always been my elliptical favorite, along with AT-3600L for a super-budget great cartridge. I just got the Nagaoka MP-110 today, and it sounds great and better than the 95e, but they recommend a break-in period of 30 play hours. Were you able to confirm this will make a difference? And for better or worse?
Joe, I had an AT VMN 95E Cartridge the standard Cartridge which came with the new AT - LP120XTBT-USB TT in 2021. I purchased the Nakaoka MP 110H months ago. I never until today used the Nakaoka cartridge, Played Born in the USA LP as a test ... The Nakaoka Blew the AT away; more fullness, Rich sounding with great detail.
