Review on 🎶 Enhance Your Vinyl Experience with Denon DL-301MK2 Moving Coil Phono Cartridge by Heather Jackson

Phenomenal cartridge, absolutely. For the cost, or lack thereof [compared to many moving coil carts] this is a bargain. Surface noise is heavily attenuated by the mysterious "special" diamond stylus (perhaps a line contact?), and a slight background hum becomes similar to reel-to-reel analogue tape hiss. In other words, surface noise becomes harmless on a great vinyl. In comparison, the 2M Blue from Ortofon, which is only a third (!) smaller, simply cannot handle noise and high-frequency information like this MC. As others have pointed out, this cart has refined looks and is as smooth as it gets at this price point. What feels soft on the MM-Wagen, the DL-301 conveys as clear instrumental differentiation and realistic timbres (i.e. live or not). This is the car that made me an MC in general and I'm not looking back. I got my car from Revain for $279(!). Note that the low 0.4mV output of this car requires an MC phono stage or step-up transformer connected to the input of the MM phono stage using the familiar red and white RCA leads. Most vintage receivers and preamps didn't have an MC stage until the late 1970s, and many similar integrated amps today only have a moving magnet phono input (the Ortofon mentioned above lets you plug a turntable directly into the amp). The best [budget] option if you decide to try this Denon DL-301mkII, or a variant of the legendary DL-103, is to find a vintage Denon step-up transformer. These can be purchased online for a small fee, and paired with the DL-301mkII the humble vinyl really sings. Unless the unit actually looks ruined, you don't have to worry about bad capacitors or the age of vintage boosters in general either, since they don't have active amplification or need to plug them into an outlet. Conclusion: This MC trolley is highly recommended!