Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Good enough? Leave it alone!

The Fosi ZA3 monobloc amps ($300 for 2) sure opened my eyes. I have some nose bleed expensive equipment, a system in every room, and the ZA3s (even better with Sparkos 3602 opamp upgrades) are just wonderful.

$300 amps, a Pure Audio Lotus5 DAC, $850 used, a pair of Dahlquist DQM905 speakers, $60, and this is one terrific sounding system.

Always looking for something better. So, I have a system with Harbeth 30.2 ($7000) speakers, a Line Magnetic 845ia integrated amp ($4900) a Denon DP45f turntable ($300 used) with a $169 Goldring E3 cartridge. Sounded great. Looked great.


OK, so I was willing to pay a bit for improved sound quality. Bought a Hana ML mc cartridge. ($1200) Couldn't adjust the tonearm height, so it didn't fit. Didn't want to return the cart, so I bought a Technics 1210G, fitted the Hana.




Does it sound better than the $300 Denon and $169 Goldring cartridge? Maybe a little, not sure.

I wish I had left good enough alone!

As to the Fosi amps, what an eye opener. I could have saved a boatload of money on the amps and put all that money in speakers, or DAC, etc.

When my grandfather passed away, I inherited a bunch of cartridges in a box. I tried the salvageable ones out, none which were better than the original JVC cartridge, most were much worse.

I didn't have an integrated amp capable of toggling between moving magnet and moving coil, so they didn't get a fair test at the time to see which was better. I eventually just went to Radio Shack and bought a Shure cartridge and sapphire needle, and it was the best of the bunch.

Manufacturing precision has probably improved greatly since then, so maybe there's not as much variation in sound quality between cartridges and needles nowadays?

Oh, some needles could fit cartridges of another brand in the 70's and 80's, I don't know if it's true now.

I gave a bunch of Shure V15s with Jiko styling. Shures are great moving magnet carts.