DenonDL-110 High Output Moving Coil Cartridge [Electronics]

Why did you pick this product vs others?:My first MC and I won’t be going back!Luckily this still works with my MM Phono Stage. Absolutely beautiful cartridge! Incredibly more depth and detail than I’ve ever heard before and I’ve had many Ortofon and Rega and others MMs

Absolutely loving the Denon DL-110 on my SL-1300G with the stock headshell. It tracks perfectly with no IGD, great channel separation, and a clean frequency response. Mids and highs are nicely forward without any fatigue, and the bass has a solid punch. What really stands out is how quiet it is. Low surface noise and no background hum, unlike the 540ML which picked up a lot of interference in my apartment. To me, it sounds better than the 540ML and is well worth it.

Cartridge sounds very nice for the price. Definitely would recommend.

Phono preamp is the Cambridge Alva Duo and I paired it with this cartridge on MM setting.Wowzers. For this price it's the gateway to one heck of a sound stage with clarity and dynamics...gush. Just get it for this price. Correct set up is crucial! Included pink sheet says 17.6 for VTA. I'm just a hair + that on my Technics.

This is a good cartridge. And I've put about 100 hours on it now and can finally give some feedback on this.I have a vintage setup using a 1965 HH Scott LK-60 transistor amplifier and a 1962 Empire 298 Turntable with 980 Tonearm. Previously, I was using a Stanton 500.V3 for almost a decade and I was pretty satisfied with it's performance, but it always seemed to get some sibilance on newer titles, especially with the inner grooves. New stylus did not correct the problem and there were a few that adjusting the VTA/tonearm height did help with the issue, but either way I was finally at a point in my life where I can start experimenting with more expensive cartridges.I'm not a fan of Audio Technica cartridges. I can't speak for their $100 and up range of cartridges, but 70s and 80s AT carts that were complimented with the turntables of the era always had a very flat and boring sound. They're very neutral, almost muffled sounding. I have heard some of their newer budget range carts and they have the same sound character. I debated Grado carts for a while, but was unwilling to guinea pig it because of their hum potential. The Shure M97XE "audiophile" cart sounded like a potential winner, but I was interested in something a little more exotic. So after much debate I decided to try out a DL-110.Getting this cart was sort of a gamble as it's not exactly matched to my arm. I get about 8hz resonance with test records, but I don't have problems with warbly bass or annoying sweep sounds on slightly warped records. So, if you have an older Empire turntable and are curious if this will work with it, the answer is yes but recognize that it's not the ideal match.The cart was very bright for the first 10-20 hours or so. It was also very good at masking moderate surface noise (think newer or well cared for vinyls), it did nothing for beat up records regarding surface noise. The bass response was a bit lower than what I was expecting but I am unsure if this is because of the tonearm match or because this is a sacrifice of the high-output with moving coils. Nevertheless, during this time I also noticed the cart was very unforgiving with anti-skate and azimuth. I assumed that this was because I was upgrading from spherical stylus to an elliptical. Something I've never done before. So, I got a test record, got it dialed in and was pretty satisfied beyond the brightness. The stereo imaging was a bit exaggerated during this time too and I found myself tweaking the balance dial quite often. It wasn't so bad with loudspeakers, but headphones would make it obvious and difficult to listen to.This all may sound like bad things, but at some point I'd say anywhere around 20-40 hours (I can't give a specific number, sorry) I noticed that I didn't need to defeat the treble as much. Somewhere around this time I also ran the test record again, readjusted the antiskate and checked the tracking torture tests to make sure tracking weight good. Around the same time, a cold solder joint on a diode popped a fuse on my amp and also took out the one channel so I decided now was a good time to test it with my ~1965 (specific year unknown) Trio/Kenwood W45 Tube amp.The DL-110 did not match very well at all with the tube amp. Bass response was so low that even almost maxed out sometimes it would feel that it wasn't enough and really annoyed me. The tube amp wasn't as loud as the scott transistor amp either so I couldn't really crank it up.Fast forward a week later, got my transistors, got my fuse, wired it all back and much better! The sound has mellowed out that I can have the treble tone controls at the 12 oclock position and enjoy it. I did some recordings with the Stanton 500 and the DL-110 and even compared them to the CD version of the songs. The DL-110 is actually much more accurate in recreating the sound, but the Stanton 500 does colour things a bit to be a little brighter and to have a bit more boom on the bass. The DL-110 still is slightly weak in the bass, but I only have to bump it up slightly on the tone controls to get at a level I am comfortable with. Again, I can't say if this is from the DL-110 itself or the tonearm match. But, I do suspect it may be a little bit of both.It doesn't mask the surface noise as well as it did in the beginning, but it still does a better job than the Stanton did. But, it really does excel at eliminating sibilance. I haven't heard shrilly "sssss" sounds from vocals or cymbal crashes since I've owned this cart and my wife heard this versus a low end AT cart and the Stanton and she likes how this has a wider sound to it. She thought the AT sounded flat and compressed sounding. But she also did notice that the bass response isn't as intense.So overall, some of this may sound negative. But I am impressed. I became more impressed with it when I was able to see that the rips I did compared to the CD versions the Denon was very accurate in recreating that stuff. So, it's not going to artificially impress like the Stanton does, but sometimes I do enjoy that type of sound for some rock records so I will keep both but I've been exclusively using the Denon DL-110 ever since. I also noticed that after the break-in period it's not as picky about azimuth or anti-skating being compromises and this was something I was able to verify with a test record. It's also never been very picky about VTA/arm height. I tried experimenting with stacking an extra slipmat or two on the platter to see if the sound quality changed and I couldn't tell a difference. The Stanton was very picky about that with some newer heavy weight records; otherwise with the Stanton the sibilance was terrible.If only the bass response was just a little higher then I couldn't complain so much. I did build a DIY SUT and experimenting with different capacitors and resistor loading values and couldn't get the bass dialed in where I wanted it with that.

I own moving coil cartridges 3 and 4 times more expensive, but I seem to come back to this old favorite. One thing I've learned through trial and error is, it's very finicky when it comes to tonearm height adjustment. If your arm is up too high, it becomes very bright. Adjusted low or even level it can be too bassy. The sweet spot is just a touch above level. Meaning, if I level out the tonearm, and add about a millimeter of height, it dials in perfectly. I go with the recommended 1.8g of tracking force, 47db, and adjusted anti-skate. This cart is very energetic and lively. It pairs well with classic, prog, and heavy metal rock. It also works well with acoustic, Americana and folk music. Pop and electronic music also sound great. It definitely has a unique sound signature, that produces solid punchy bass, clean mids, and sparkling clear highs. Unless you are strictly listening to jazz, there's not much this cart can't do. It's probably the best value in HOMC carts still on the market today.

I needed a medium to high output moving coil cartridge to replace a failed Rega unit in my Rega 6 turntable. It was easy to set up and the performance is superb at a price point half of the cartridge it replaced. Recommended!