Excellent comparison. I wish you published the uncompressed wav files for us to experiment with. TH-camrs like you need to be commended for your time and effort. Thanks so much for doing this!!
The digitization, analog to digital conversion, and back to analog through my DAC has nullified almost all the differences in sound but even so, the Audio Technica sounds livelier than the others.
Comparing the Rega Exact to a Nagaoka MP-110 was a little unfair, in terms of equally priced cartridges. For what it’s worth, I replaced the Elys 2 on my Rega P3 with a Nagaoka MP-150 and the sound detail was a significant upgrade. Thanks for the comparison video and exposing us to a wide variety of cartridges and pricing options.
Both the Ortofon and the Nagakoa for the money, are pretty good. The Nagaoka is my budget choice, between the two. The Rega Exact has always been a good cartridge, but at only half of it's MSRP. The Audio Technica's likely my top choice, it has it all. Great video, thanks very much.
The Exact have ridiculous high output of 7 mV! Which actually is a pretty good thing for many MM phonostages. Say you have a low-medium quality phonostage with the typical 38 dB gain with no possibility of choosing other gain levels. 7 mV * 10 ^2 (38 dB gain / 20) That gives us 556 mV output which is low-ish. Had this been a Nagaoka mp500 with it's measly 3 mV output, we would only have 238 mV after 38 dB step-up. This is infact a very weak signal to pass on to your Pre-amp. Having higher signal strength at this point in the audio chain have strong benefits.
The Exact blew the others away although I might want to hear the AT more. The piano however on the AT didn't sound right while everything on the Exact sounded good. I have an Elys 2 maybe I am just used to the Rega sound but I think it's more musical.
I enjoyed the Exact. The Audio Technica was maybe a touch better, but costs a lot more. The worst was the Nagaoka on the inintial drum start, but still may sound fine in the real listening environment.
It would have been a much fairer comparison if you had used the Nagaoka MP - 200 cartridge. The Rega Exact costs three times as much as the Nagaoka MP - 110.
I wouldn’t buy the Ortofon, the Nagaoka has a very particular sound that you must like. The exact is the most balanced one, good quality-price. My favourite one is the audio-technica.
La Rega Exact a taglio Vital microscopico è la mia MM di riferimento. Fabioo '961 13/12/2021 h. 21,04 P.S: nell'elenco delle mm la Exact ha il prezzo di 320€. negli anni scorsi era venduta tra 450/500€. Sto aspettando l'annuario di "Suono", lo prendo dal 2007. Dove hai preso la notizia sui 320€ ? mi farebbe piacere fosse vero.. Fabioo '961 13/12/2021 h. 21,27
Question: I have my first turntable ever, bought new Rega-P3 with Exact cartridge, before I was playing music on CD and from my Mac laptop, I will not compare the sound between 3 mentioned..that's not my point and a different story, however loudness from the Rega Exact is like when Playing music on CD with volume turned up on 5 or with my laptop volume turned up on 6, same level of loudness is achieved with my turntable when volume is on like 2.5 - 3, is this normal?? I am using my Marantz PM-17 AMP internal phono stage, no external phono preamps. And sound doesn't distorts..max. volume I tried with my turntable is like 5.5 for a few seconds and I cut it out because my neighbors would probably call the cops
Not fair comparison! Rega exact is optimized to work with rega arm. Weight of the cartridge and compliance of the cantilever play a major role in the sound! Cartridge that is not suied to certain arm will play at its best! Cartridge/arm matching is important. So this comparison is useless for me unless you prove that each cartridge mach arm first
I thought I heard differences, but I'm really not sure. I think the god of synergy would guide me to pick the Rega cartridge with the Rega turntable and with a Rega fono amplifier. 😉 But thanks
I like the Rega the best but it is significantly more expensive than the other cartridges. Rega Elys would be a fairer comparison. AT is fatiguing after a while.
People are bemoaning the setup and that you can't tell over TH-cam, which is silly. We all should know this isn't a scientific effort, if you want that go to the store and listen in a proper listening room. Let's cut the channel owner some slack. That said, I'm surprised, but of these I preferred the Ortofon 2M Red. The others were much of a muchness.
You're never going to hear the real differences between these cartridges the way your system is set up. Most of the differences will be in the soundstage, the space between instruments, and the size of instruments. It's not possible to hear it the way your hifi is set up. You'll be more likely to hear tonal differences, start/stop of transients, distortion - the easy stuff.
You can't replace the stylus on the exact. I have a P3 (TAD Jubilee Edition 2022 which is the same as the current 50th Anniversary Edition except the colour which was light grey) with the exact2, and I like it very much with my Rega Elex Mk4. When the time comes I think I will go for another exact or give a try to an mc. Anyone here got experiences with Excalibur cartridges?
"this is how cartridge A sounds" Do you people realize that any minute change in VTA, VTF alignment, effective mass etc; Any minute change, will make a cart sound completely different. It takes months to perfectly dial in a cartridge. These carts exhibiting completely different height measurements, were just slapped on a Rega arm with no VTA compensation You're not hearing what these carts actually sounds like. *And even if he did use spacers for VTA adjustments, (which isn't the case here)* *It could hardly be considered VTA compensation only being able to adjust it in 1mm increments* But i guess if you opted for a Rega table, you didn't care about sound in the first place.
The Exact has 3 holes in its top surface, and is supplied with 3 screws that are intended to be used with the Rega tonearm. As well, Rega intends that the hex bolt is at the top of the cartridge in the headshell slot, not at the bottom. Using an Exact or any Rega cartridge with only 2 screws is like driving a 4 cylinder motor in a car and only having 3 cylinders firing because you only have 3 spark plugs. This was not a valid or correct way to listen to a Rega Exact.
Yeah but no. All three screws in .cart is slid to front. Just like on my p3, becept the cantlever i broke off a few a month after i bought it BECAUSE I SUCK
@@donmacalister9323 ya but it's weird as I remember I DID do that before? with a $50 AT95E . With this though I just kinda felt this moment was much different. The pain was much more ,IDK , Id descrine it as the FUK x10 'pain" thus moment. Also thus denial that happed seemed to not want to ķick in even though I knew lasted like a 75 second minute long minute. During this maybe 97 second long munute.I clearly kept thinking, while I was physically looking at my Akai BT500 thinking this whole machine I payed $150 less than what I just broke. I mean I've seen feathers land like a bunker buster compared to this. then look at my akai thinking " I know I can't just slip on a new Stylus or even the 4 New AT95Ex right in their box which cost $60 and is $10000 ASTONISHINGLY better sounding .In fact so much better, that even also buying the new ATV series and Every cartridge And it series all the way up to the $120 I believe ATV M couldn't match. I even went and boughtA second head Shell so I couldQuickly unscrew the assemblyAnd always have a nice EXThe only oneThe V series didn't have a comparable Version Of. So this 2nd "moment" is one of those clever psychological words that are the devil that always get more Evil because you keep éxplaing down 'the Rabbit hole' EXmple The only dude that Isn't fake Who is Calmer than Bob Ross isn't Mr Rodgers most people just use his last name , but in full its Jeffrey Dahmer.i'm looking at A nice walnut Turn table with maybe a 100 hours of play 3 cartridges 2 head ShillsAnd about 8And about 8Style II could just pop in It be good to go for the same price as this Little yellow piece of metal that of course Is one long attached Peace that II couldn't just screw another or head show on And That R3 tonearm is no quick thing Especially with those Uber thin Wires and leads. Yeah I'm pretty sure it was the $650And 2 albums Of play That I somehow morbidly Hope You are momentWas more like that. Kind of likeTalking to another guy that lost his arm rather thanA guy telling you about his past broken armAs I'm looking at my nub. Sorry. It's one of those terrible human being Trades where you need to Feel super terrible for me to feel good . Well better anyways. But fear notI made sure toPut myself in a worse situation then I'm sureI could have you mutuallyFeel. Because I ended upReplacing it with an audio quest 3 Which was 1200 bucks sorry 1375 bucks And while I was at it I just thought I threw a couple more grand down and get a audio quest phono stage for a couple grand As well. I'm not a Hi FI Guy But I think I've just Crossed the line God I Figure out if I broke this But I do the exact That my Following cartridge would be a head shell. That's because it wouldn't be audio equipment it would beOne of thoseCartridges that youPut into a Glock 40. And it wouldn't be because I couldn't afford it it would be because I clearly would be in the upper echelon Of idiots that Would never learn my lesson. I can work with wood I can remodel houses I houses I can work on my motorcycle My old old cars But stereo equipment I can watch somebody do itNo I've done things just as tedious ButI'm cursed. I haveTwice as much practiceAs everything else Yet It's all made out of kryptonite. I am not a jealous person I could be terrible at something and super excited for someone else And just be content that I suck But not this. I read all of your comments and I did watch videos and everything But All of you guys can really p*** me off Because It's music and that seems to be more important than Most everything You know that stuff I can Seem to do. I had my work done at sounds uniqueIn Campbell California by a gentleman that gentlemen that has been working on UN high Fidelity equipment for 50 years SoThat explainsWhy I went with this cartridgeAnd I don't really think I've even ever heard of the brandAlone somebody putting it on an r3 . And thanks for listening to my rant and I can assure you that's probably going to be the only one because because well like I said I suck at stereo equipment ha Oh yeah and my phone sucks at translating voice to text so detect so pardon that if that happens to come I'm too lazy to read it right now ha Jay
First of all dude terrible terrible. Take your desk cover totally off the table when you’re playing it. Vibrations affected big time shows you what you know when you’re gonna audition anything get your damn turn table cover off we all know there’s a big negative with it on learn, from an audio file with years of experience.
Nagaoka is right there with the high dollar Rega. I think the ride cymbal gets covered up twords the end on the Rega, not so with the Nagaoka. For the money Nagaoka is the clear winner IMHO. Check out the Nagaoka MP-200 it's a very high end sounding cartridge for under 500.00
The Rega was still playing music in the runout. Now that's a truly amazing cartridge to be able to do that !!
That just disqualified this whole videeoo!
😂😂😂
Excellent comparison. I wish you published the uncompressed wav files for us to experiment with. TH-camrs like you need to be commended for your time and effort. Thanks so much for doing this!!
The digitization, analog to digital conversion, and back to analog through my DAC has nullified almost all the differences in sound but even so, the Audio Technica sounds livelier than the others.
Comparing the Rega Exact to a Nagaoka MP-110 was a little unfair, in terms of equally priced cartridges. For what it’s worth, I replaced the Elys 2 on my Rega P3 with a Nagaoka MP-150 and the sound detail was a significant upgrade. Thanks for the comparison video and exposing us to a wide variety of cartridges and pricing options.
Why do people cheap out here, just get the mp200...
It's the wrong money you're trying to spare.
Both the Ortofon and the Nagakoa for the money, are pretty good. The Nagaoka is my budget choice, between the two. The Rega Exact has always been a good cartridge, but at only half of it's MSRP. The Audio Technica's likely my top choice, it has it all. Great video, thanks very much.
The Exact have ridiculous high output of 7 mV! Which actually is a pretty good thing for many MM phonostages.
Say you have a low-medium quality phonostage with the typical 38 dB gain with no possibility of choosing other gain levels.
7 mV * 10 ^2 (38 dB gain / 20)
That gives us 556 mV output which is low-ish.
Had this been a Nagaoka mp500 with it's measly 3 mV output, we would only have 238 mV after 38 dB step-up.
This is infact a very weak signal to pass on to your Pre-amp.
Having higher signal strength at this point in the audio chain have strong benefits.
The Exact blew the others away although I might want to hear the AT more. The piano however on the AT didn't sound right while everything on the Exact sounded good. I have an Elys 2 maybe I am just used to the Rega sound but I think it's more musical.
I enjoyed the Exact. The Audio Technica was maybe a touch better, but costs a lot more. The worst was the Nagaoka on the inintial drum start, but still may sound fine in the real listening environment.
I liked the Ortofon best. The AT 2nd. AT was smoother and a little more meaty but still gave the details.
Rega!👍🏼
It would have been a much fairer comparison if you had used the Nagaoka MP - 200 cartridge. The Rega Exact costs three times as much as the Nagaoka MP - 110.
What does cost of turntable and cartridge have to do with anything
Awesome comparison. Which one is your favorite? I just got the exact on my rega RP3 and liking it so far.
I wouldn’t buy the Ortofon, the Nagaoka has a very particular sound that you must like. The exact is the most balanced one, good quality-price. My favourite one is the audio-technica.
I also have the P3 with the Exact cartridge. Sounds sublime.
I like the sound of the Audio Technica & Rega Exact Cartridges the Best.
Yes! The sound of Rega exact is very neutral. It is often well rated in the comparisons
Needs to be a direct feed for any real comparison...
La Rega Exact a taglio Vital microscopico è la mia MM di riferimento.
Fabioo '961 13/12/2021 h. 21,04
P.S: nell'elenco delle mm la Exact ha il prezzo di 320€. negli anni scorsi era
venduta tra 450/500€. Sto aspettando l'annuario di "Suono", lo prendo
dal 2007. Dove hai preso la notizia sui 320€ ? mi farebbe piacere fosse vero..
Fabioo '961 13/12/2021 h. 21,27
I thought the Ortofon Red sounded the best.
Question:
I have my first turntable ever, bought new Rega-P3 with Exact cartridge, before I was playing music on CD and from my Mac laptop, I will not compare the sound between 3 mentioned..that's not my point and a different story, however loudness from the Rega Exact is like when Playing music on CD with volume turned up on 5 or with my laptop volume turned up on 6, same level of loudness is achieved with my turntable when volume is on like 2.5 - 3, is this normal??
I am using my Marantz PM-17 AMP internal phono stage, no external phono preamps. And sound doesn't distorts..max. volume I tried with my turntable is like 5.5 for a few seconds and I cut it out because my neighbors would probably call the cops
Not fair comparison!
Rega exact is optimized to work with rega arm.
Weight of the cartridge and compliance of the cantilever play a major role in the sound!
Cartridge that is not suied to certain arm will play at its best!
Cartridge/arm matching is important.
So this comparison is useless for me unless you prove that each cartridge mach arm first
What's the track? I'm not much of a jazz person but this is really funky. Great playing!!!
Thank you!
I thought I heard differences, but I'm really not sure. I think the god of synergy would guide me to pick the Rega cartridge with the Rega turntable and with a Rega fono amplifier. 😉 But thanks
Winner, Rega Exact
Worse, Ortofon Red
I like the Rega the best but it is significantly more expensive than the other cartridges. Rega Elys would be a fairer comparison. AT is fatiguing after a while.
for me Exact is fatiguing after a while :-)
People are bemoaning the setup and that you can't tell over TH-cam, which is silly. We all should know this isn't a scientific effort, if you want that go to the store and listen in a proper listening room. Let's cut the channel owner some slack.
That said, I'm surprised, but of these I preferred the Ortofon 2M Red. The others were much of a muchness.
la 540ml a 260 euros la meilleure a moins de 400 euros
is vta adjustment needed for all these carts on this table?
You're never going to hear the real differences between these cartridges the way your system is set up. Most of the differences will be in the soundstage, the space between instruments, and the size of instruments. It's not possible to hear it the way your hifi is set up. You'll be more likely to hear tonal differences, start/stop of transients, distortion - the easy stuff.
is that because theres no toe in? and no gap from the wall to the outside of the speaker?
Can you replace the stylus when needed on the exact? Or you need to buy the complete set every time?
You can't replace the stylus on the exact. I have a P3 (TAD Jubilee Edition 2022 which is the same as the current 50th Anniversary Edition except the colour which was light grey) with the exact2, and I like it very much with my Rega Elex Mk4. When the time comes I think I will go for another exact or give a try to an mc. Anyone here got experiences with Excalibur cartridges?
Using RB 300 tonearm?
Who's that playing on the turntable?
Ortofon, Rega, Nagaoka, AT worst to best Nagaoka is like NAD, natural unsounded
Is this a microphone experience, or is output to recording program?
It was recorded with a Tascam DR40X
Any cartridge will sound good on these types of mainstream audiograde LPs.. Try something more taxing and less predictable
Rega is # 1 and for sure cost more.
"this is how cartridge A sounds"
Do you people realize that any minute change in VTA, VTF alignment, effective mass etc;
Any minute change, will make a cart sound completely different.
It takes months to perfectly dial in a cartridge.
These carts exhibiting completely different height measurements, were just slapped on a Rega arm with no VTA compensation
You're not hearing what these carts actually sounds like.
*And even if he did use spacers for VTA adjustments, (which isn't the case here)*
*It could hardly be considered VTA compensation only being able to adjust it in 1mm increments*
But i guess if you opted for a Rega table, you didn't care about sound in the first place.
😮
Exact is not on the same price level.....I love it a lot....but it is not fair
I love the exact but
Its price is to high for
Personaly i hate the ortafon 2m red
If you got a rega just put a rega cart on it they all sound about the same at the same price bracket
1 rega exact 2 audio TECHNICA 3 nagaoka 4 Ortofon
A 2M Red is a total mismatch to the Rega P6. Its like putting cheap tires on a performance car.
To my ear they all sound pretty much the same 🤷🏻♂️
I think the rega is way overpriced for what it is.. Although it's a good cart.
I have one and I would agree. I bought it when I was working at a Rega dealer. I would not have otherwise.
The Exact has 3 holes in its top surface, and is supplied with 3 screws that are intended to be used with the Rega tonearm. As well, Rega intends that the hex bolt is at the top of the cartridge in the headshell slot, not at the bottom. Using an Exact or any Rega cartridge with only 2 screws is like driving a 4 cylinder motor in a car and only having 3 cylinders firing because you only have 3 spark plugs. This was not a valid or correct way to listen to a Rega Exact.
I would entirely agree if the Exact had been installed with only 2 screws. However, as can be clearly seen it was installed using all 3 screws.
Yeah but no. All three screws in .cart is slid to front. Just like on my p3, becept the cantlever i broke off a few a month after i bought it BECAUSE I SUCK
@@jaykaay9346 Ah, sorry Jey, we all have those moments!
@@donmacalister9323 ya but it's weird as I remember I DID do that before? with a $50 AT95E . With this though I just kinda felt this moment was much different. The pain was much more ,IDK , Id descrine it as the FUK x10 'pain" thus moment.
Also thus denial that happed seemed to not want to ķick in even though I knew lasted like a 75 second minute long minute. During this maybe 97 second long munute.I clearly kept thinking, while I was physically looking at my Akai BT500 thinking this whole machine I payed $150 less than what I just broke. I mean I've seen feathers land like a bunker buster compared to this. then look at my akai thinking " I know I can't just slip on a new Stylus or even the 4 New AT95Ex right in their box which cost $60 and is $10000 ASTONISHINGLY better sounding .In fact so much better, that even also buying the new ATV series and Every cartridge And it series all the way up to the $120 I believe ATV M couldn't match. I even went and boughtA second head Shell so I couldQuickly unscrew the assemblyAnd always have a nice EXThe only oneThe V series didn't have a comparable Version Of. So this 2nd "moment" is one of those clever psychological words that are the devil that always get more Evil because you keep éxplaing down 'the Rabbit hole'
EXmple The only dude that Isn't fake Who is Calmer than Bob Ross isn't Mr Rodgers most people just use his last name , but in full its Jeffrey Dahmer.i'm looking at A nice walnut Turn table with maybe a 100 hours of play 3 cartridges 2 head ShillsAnd about 8And about 8Style II could just pop in It be good to go for the same price as this Little yellow piece of metal that of course Is one long attached Peace that II couldn't just screw another or head show on And That R3 tonearm is no quick thing Especially with those Uber thin Wires and leads. Yeah I'm pretty sure it was the $650And 2 albums Of play That I somehow morbidly Hope You are momentWas more like that. Kind of likeTalking to another guy that lost his arm rather thanA guy telling you about his past broken armAs I'm looking at my nub. Sorry. It's one of those terrible human being Trades where you need to Feel super terrible for me to feel good .
Well better anyways. But fear notI made sure toPut myself in a worse situation then I'm sureI could have you mutuallyFeel. Because I ended upReplacing it with an audio quest 3 Which was 1200 bucks sorry 1375 bucks And while I was at it I just thought I threw a couple more grand down and get a audio quest phono stage for a couple grand As well. I'm not a Hi FI Guy But I think I've just Crossed the line God I Figure out if I broke this But I do the exact That my Following cartridge would be a head shell. That's because it wouldn't be audio equipment it would beOne of thoseCartridges that youPut into a Glock 40. And it wouldn't be because I couldn't afford it it would be because I clearly would be in the upper echelon Of idiots that Would never learn my lesson. I can work with wood I can remodel houses I houses I can work on my motorcycle My old old cars But stereo equipment I can watch somebody do itNo I've done things just as tedious ButI'm cursed. I haveTwice as much practiceAs everything else Yet It's all made out of kryptonite. I am not a jealous person I could be terrible at something and super excited for someone else And just be content that I suck But not this. I read all of your comments and I did watch videos and everything But All of you guys can really p*** me off Because It's music and that seems to be more important than Most everything You know that stuff I can Seem to do. I had my work done at sounds uniqueIn Campbell California by a gentleman that gentlemen that has been working on UN high Fidelity equipment for 50 years SoThat explainsWhy I went with this cartridgeAnd I don't really think I've even ever heard of the brandAlone somebody putting it on an r3 . And thanks for listening to my rant and I can assure you that's probably going to be the only one because because well like I said I suck at stereo equipment ha
Oh yeah and my phone sucks at translating voice to text so detect so pardon that if that happens to come I'm too lazy to read it right now ha
Jay
What the hell are you smoking?
1 nagaoka 2 audiotechnica 3 rega 4 ortofon
First of all dude terrible terrible. Take your desk cover totally off the table when you’re playing it. Vibrations affected big time shows you what you know when you’re gonna audition anything get your damn turn table cover off we all know there’s a big negative with it on learn, from an audio file with years of experience.
ortofon....
Can't tell the difference on you tube, so pointless exercise
just put headphones and you will listen. Pointless your comment.
Thanks for commenting. It is true that youtube descends the quality, but you can tell the difference by using headphones
Nagaoka is right there with the high dollar Rega. I think the ride cymbal gets covered up twords the end on the Rega, not so with the Nagaoka. For the money Nagaoka is the clear winner IMHO. Check out the Nagaoka MP-200 it's a very high end sounding cartridge for under 500.00
@@alexisrodriguez6976 what headphones and amp should I use ?