new cartridge; Ortofon Anna, first impressions

[Mike Lavigne]

the Ortofon Anna arrived Friday afternoon. Joel Durand was kind enough to offer to install it on my Telos yesterday afternoon. first we listened for awhile to the A90, which was sounding great. then the Anna.

http://www.ortofon.com/images/stories/cartridges/MC%20Anna/MCAnna%20Brochure%20webversion.pdf

the Ortofon Anna uses the same SLM (selective laser melting) to build the body as the A90 but it's now made of titanium instead of stainless. the 'Anna' is named after Anna Netrebko, the opera singer.

my previous taste of the Anna a few weeks ago in another system was not conclusive since we switched phono stages when the A90 was switched to the Anna. i could tell it was very special but the phono stage change was too extreme for any specific conclusions.

well; this time there was no place to hide. and as good as the A90 is and has been in my system, the Anna is now my reference cartridge.....and after listening for maybe 10 hours last night and this morning, i feel the Anna is not just a little bit better than the A90.

the Anna has some break-thru technology which i must admit i don't fully comprehend. as i understand it is more efficient at capturing energy and so is more linear and especially more dynamic. and what i hear is first an effortlessness and level of resolution that is startleing. this is from the first few seconds that it hits you as quite different. and there is quite a bit more texture and body, not any coloration or thickness or rounding, but just more life and organic color and richness.....even a sweetness. there is more spacial information, but also less 'noise' around images and more musically significant information. things are 'clean up and real'. you realize that distortion is lowered significantly.

it's better at all the things the A90 does well, that linearity and naturalness along with great transient snap and smooth extended highs and lows. then add in the sweetness on top of the Lyra Olympos SL, the attack and speed of the vdH Colibri, and the tonal richness and mid-range beauty of the Koetsu RSP without the rounding or carmel color. i've owned and enjoyed all those cartridges. the Anna does all those things, and also it has a special ability to bring more order and reality to the soundstage, and the music seems more of one piece and together. that little bit closer to real.

i'm blown away. bravo to Ortofon for having the vision to build such a great product.

the A90 is still a great cartridge; and the Anna is twice as expensive as an A90, so it should be better. i see the Anna as a natural next step for A90 owners who can afford it. it does pay homage to the attributes that attracted so many to the A90 while going to another level and adding strengths.

the Anna has .2mv output, the A90 .24mv output. i plugged it into the same set-up as my A90 had on my draTZeel NHB-18NS......it's loaded at 47k with 64db of gain. and the Anna had plenty of gain for my system.

i want to repeat the word 'effortless'. the Anna never breaks a sweat. i'm guessing that the technical advantages in efficency of this design is the secret of what it does.

i've not heard everything out there, but the Anna is easily the best of what i have heard. my only complaint is that my 60 year old eyes cannot see the stylus and cantiliver as easy to hit a specific groove.....i need my glasses for that now.

 

[U47]

I just returned from a listen to the 'Anna' at Mike's place and found
it an improvement over the a90. I always liked the A90, but I think I'm in
love with the Anna, both the person and cartridge.

The mono Miaybe was also quite amazing playing some old early
50s Lps.

Rich

 

[XV-1]

thanks for that Mike. It sounds like an awesome cart.

But, for me - I do not think I will ever buy another cartridge with such an extreme stylus as the Ortofon Replicant 100. My A90 sounded great, but it barely lasted 1000 hours. Confirmed by Ortofon that the Replicant 100 stylus is good for 800 - 1000 hours.

For me that longeivity is not enough to warrant the expenditure - which is a pity as the Anna sounds like a wonderful cartridge.

I am spending my money on a new dyna XV-1s and Lyra Atlas, which will both last for at least 3000 hours.

cheers

 

[flez007]

Congratulations Mike, your initial notes on the Anna sound encouraging - now, what are you going to do with your A90?

 

[microstrip]

Thanks for these great first impressions.
First the Aida, now the Anna. Can we see a line for 2012 high-end product naming?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

thanks for that Mike. It sounds like an awesome cart.

But, for me - I do not think I will ever buy another cartridge with such an extreme stylus as the Ortofon Replicant 100. My A90 sounded great, but it barely lasted 1000 hours. Confirmed by Ortofon that the Replicant 100 stylus is good for 800 - 1000 hours.

For me that longeivity is not enough to warrant the expenditure - which is a pity as the Anna sounds like a wonderful cartridge.

I am spending my money on a new dyna XV-1s and Lyra Atlas, which will both last for at least 3000 hours.

cheers

Shane,

thanks.

so you are saying that your A90 was worn out at 1000 hours, and that you have experience that the Lyra and Dynavector last longer? or is that based on info from Lyra/Jonathan Carr or Dynavector?

i'm just trying to understand the actual information your perspective is based upon.

thanks.

 

[XV-1]

Shane,

thanks.

so you are saying that your A90 was worn out at 1000 hours, and that you have experience that the Lyra and Dynavector last longer? or is that based on info from Lyra/Jonathan Carr or Dynavector?

i'm just trying to understand the actual information your perspective is based upon.

thanks.

Hi Mike

yes, my A90 has about 1200 hours on it. I am not sure it is worn out as such, but it no longer tracks as well and does not sound as good as the first 1000 hours I had it. I will in the next 6 months probably send it back to Ortofon for a re-tip - but reading around on the net, one or two folks were disappointed with Ortofon's retip of their A90 - so hard to tell if correct or not. Do you know anyone who has had an A90 retip?

I have owned 2 dynavector XV-1's since 2000 and both have lasted for around 3000 hours before noticable deterioration in the sound. In fact I just received my new XV-1s last night and just dropped off the old XV-1 to the dealer. So dynavector opinion is based on first hand experience.

Lyra is based on what J Carr has said. He indicated at minimum 2500 hours and up to 3000 if looked after. I have no reason to doubt Jonathon. I have had a Kleos since June but have now returned it waiting on the Atlas. My own first hand experience on Lyra longevity will be some way off

How many hours have you gotten so far out of the Olympus

cheers.

BTW, I like to imagine that Ortofon named the Anna after Anna Ivanovic or Anna Kornikova. It allready sounds sexy

 

[MylesBAstor]

thanks for that Mike. It sounds like an awesome cart.

But, for me - I do not think I will ever buy another cartridge with such an extreme stylus as the Ortofon Replicant 100. My A90 sounded great, but it barely lasted 1000 hours. Confirmed by Ortofon that the Replicant 100 stylus is good for 800 - 1000 hours.

For me that longeivity is not enough to warrant the expenditure - which is a pity as the Anna sounds like a wonderful cartridge.

I am spending my money on a new dyna XV-1s and Lyra Atlas, which will both last for at least 3000 hours.

cheers

I'm with you on this one I don't care how good the cartridge is. It's ridiculous to pay $4000 for a cartridge that will last 800 hrs? And is that an average so some will last 600 hrs and others 1000 hrs? So you'll be perpetually worrying whether or not your cartridge is crapping out? My friend who 's retired and listens for 10 hrs a day would get less than 6 months out of that Ortofon. That's insane. I've had Lyras and they've lasted for four and five years. And now you can pay $10,000 for the privilege?

That's what gives high-end a bad name. Funky products. And it was interesting that not one of the reviews that I remember reading mentioned this rather short lifetime.

 

[JackD201]

Good thing my A90 isn't my go to Cart. It'll last a long time.

 

[microstrip]

It is one of the reasons I keep my Van den Hul Black Beauty Special-X (also because it sounds great!)

“Van den Hul believes that our cartridges are good investments in the long term,” Stanwick explained. “To begin with, we estimate stylus life at up to 3000 hours — about 50% greater
than is typical. But we also have affordable retipping charges: The Frog or the
Grasshopper can be totally refitted for about $500 for a standard repair.”

Quoted from the van den Hul Frog phono cartridge review in Stereophile by Wes Phillips

I have read that some USA people complain about poor service with VdH - living in Europe makes service much easier.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Hi Mike

yes, my A90 has about 1200 hours on it. I am not sure it is worn out as such, but it no longer tracks as well and does not sound as good as the first 1000 hours I had it. I will in the next 6 months probably send it back to Ortofon for a re-tip - but reading around on the net, one or two folks were disappointed with Ortofon's retip of their A90 - so hard to tell if correct or not. Do you know anyone who has had an A90 retip?

I have owned 2 dynavector XV-1's since 2000 and both have lasted for around 3000 hours before noticable deterioration in the sound. In fact I just received my new XV-1s last night and just dropped off the old XV-1 to the dealer. So dynavector opinion is based on first hand experience.

Lyra is based on what J Carr has said. He indicated at minimum 2500 hours and up to 3000 if looked after. I have no reason to doubt Jonathon. I have had a Kleos since June but have now returned it waiting on the Atlas. My own first hand experience on Lyra longevity will be some way off

How many hours have you gotten so far out of the Olympus

cheers.

BTW, I like to imagine that Ortofon named the Anna after Anna Ivanovic or Anna Kornikova. It allready sounds sexy

Shane,

thanks for the details. i can understand your perspective more clearly. and it's Anna Netrebko that it's named after.....not exactly 'un' sexy i think.

i have a different perspective.

1000 hours is 10 hours a week for 100 weeks; 2 years, without missing a week. 2500 hours is 10 hours a week for 250 weeks, 5 years....without missing a week.

for those of us with multiple arms, cartridges, and tt's.......and other formats.....digital, tape, etc......how many hours do we really put on a cartridge? to get to 1000, or 2500 hours, would take quite a bit of very consistent use.

personally my original A90 has about 250 hours after a little over 3 years of ownership. part of that time my Olympos was my main cartridge as it was on the Rockport. i sold that Olympos in the package deal on the Rockport. i also had a second A90 on another arm as well as a mono cartridge on the Garrard 301.

i had a vdH Colibri that was my main cartridge on the Rockport for 5 years, 2002 to 2007, and it still did not have 750 hours when i snaged the cantiliver on a cleaning rag.

so my point is how long do cartridges last really?

based on Karma's post on the thread on this forum, which i have read on other forums too, all stylus's start to show wear after approx 1000 hours based on simple friction in the goove. facets get worn in the diamond and begin to wear your records. and according to his observations, it does not really matter the shape of the stylus to begin with, friction will do it's job. the variable is the precision of alignment and how evenly the facets are worn. maybe somehow Dyna's and Lyra's are immune to that?

now i will say that suspensions on cartridges do vary with how long they stay in correct shape. i know that Koetsu's are notorius for short lives in that area.

anyway; your experience carries more weight with me than my ideas above. your comment about Jonathan is interesting. last night i spent an hour reading his posts on Audiogon trying to find any mention of cartridge life. i never found one reference to it. i looked at the Lyra website, no mention.

the only A90 i'm aware of that has possibly approached life end is one that Joel Durand uses; but of course, he uses his many hours a day in his work with his arms, and when he brought it over to directly compare it to my lower hour one and they sounded the same as i recall.

as far as the comments of Ortofon about cartridge life, it's important to understand that Ortofon is relatively a much larger company than Dyna or Lyra and therefore deal with this issue from a bit different perspective. in other words, lawyers are involved. so whether their comments reflect actual differences in life expectancy, or more a business decision, is a question.

 

[rockitman]

are we really sure that the A90 is dead after 1000 hrs ? Ortofon may say so, but they have a vested interest for you to replace the cart or get a rebuild. If it really is true that the A90 is toast after 1000 hours, I find it unfortunate. I have two of them, one of which will stay sealed until I can no longer get my used A90 rebuilt when it eventually craps out. I'm averaging at least 3 hours per day on the table. Perhaps as I get more R2R tapes, the turntable time will lessen. Does anyone have an A90 with well over a 1000 hours who finds no issues with it's sound quality ? I keep track of my sides played via a hand clicker so I can calculate a reasonable accurate hours played figure.

edit:

Having read the other post on stylus life, perhaps 1000 hrs is getting toward the end on all carts ?

 

[XV-1]

Shane,

thanks for the details. i can understand your perspective more clearly. and it's Anna Netrebko that it's named after.....not exactly 'un' sexy i think.

i have a different perspective.

1000 hours is 10 hours a week for 100 weeks; 2 years, without missing a week. 2500 hours is 10 hours a week for 250 weeks, 5 years....without missing a week.

for those of us with multiple arms, cartridges, and tt's.......and other formats.....digital, tape, etc......how many hours do we really put on a cartridge? to get to 1000, or 2500 hours, would take quite a bit of very consistent use.

personally my original A90 has about 250 hours after a little over 3 years of ownership. part of that time my Olympos was my main cartridge as it was on the Rockport. i sold that Olympos in the package deal on the Rockport. i also had a second A90 on another arm as well as a mono cartridge on the Garrard 301.

i had a vdH Colibri that was my main cartridge on the Rockport for 5 years, 2002 to 2007, and it still did not have 750 hours when i snaged the cantiliver on a cleaning rag.

so my point is how long do cartridges last really?

based on Karma's post on the thread on this forum, which i have read on other forums too, all stylus's start to show wear after approx 1000 hours based on simple friction in the goove. facets get worn in the diamond and begin to wear your records. and according to his observations, it does not really matter the shape of the stylus to begin with, friction will do it's job. the variable is the precision of alignment and how evenly the facets are worn. maybe somehow Dyna's and Lyra's are immune to that?

now i will say that suspensions on cartridges do vary with how long they stay in correct shape. i know that Koetsu's are notorius for short lives in that area.

anyway; your experience carries more weight with me than my ideas above. your comment about Jonathan is interesting. last night i spent an hour reading his posts on Audiogon trying to find any mention of cartridge life. i never found one reference to it. i looked at the Lyra website, no mention.

the only A90 i'm aware of that has possibly approached life end is one that Joel Durand uses; but of course, he uses his many hours a day in his work with his arms, and when he brought it over to directly compare it to my lower hour one and they sounded the same as i recall.

as far as the comments of Ortofon about cartridge life, it's important to understand that Ortofon is relatively a much larger company than Dyna or Lyra and therefore deal with this issue from a bit different perspective. in other words, lawyers are involved. so whether their comments reflect actual differences in life expectancy, or more a business decision, is a question.

Hi Mike

I listen to my tables at least 20 hours per week, hence my A90 getting to 1200 hours. I play lots of music, so sq and longeivity is important to me. Even thou I have multiple carts, over the two year period it received 95% of the use.

Regarding cartridge life. The replicant 100 stylus on the A90/Anna has an extreme stylus profile, that is the main reason why its life is lower than others in the Ortofon range.
Both the lyra and dyna high end carts use an Ongaru microline PF stylus, although Lyra's is their own design/version.

You will not find J Carr commenting on audiogon re stylus age. This was email correspondance when I was asking questions about the Atlas cartridge.

In reference to stylus life in general. I am sure all carts have some wear at 1000 hours, however the specific design and stylus type will dictate how long they will function correctly. Obviously correct setup, clean lp's etc will certainly help the carts life expectancy. I will rather put the trust in what the manufacturer says than any guy on the internet - me included. That it matches my listening experience is proof enough for me.

Anyway, I did not mean to railroad your thread. One thing for certain is, if the Anna sounds great iyo, it must sound wonderful.
Enjoy the cart Mike

Cheers

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Hi Mike

I listen to my tables at least 20 hours per week, hence my A90 getting to 1200 hours. I play lots of music, so sq and longeivity is important to me. Even thou I have multiple carts, over the two year period it received 95% of the use.

Regarding cartridge life. The replicant 100 stylus on the A90/Anna has an extreme stylus profile, that is the main reason why its life is lower than others in the Ortofon range.
Both the lyra and dyna high end carts use an Ongaru microline PF stylus, although Lyra's is their own design/version.

You will not find J Carr commenting on audiogon re stylus age. This was email correspondance when I was asking questions about the Atlas cartridge.

In reference to stylus life in general. I am sure all carts have some wear at 1000 hours, however the specific design and stylus type will dictate how long they will function correctly. Obviously correct setup, clean lp's etc will certainly help the carts life expectancy. I will rather put the trust in what the manufacturer says than any guy on the internet - me included. That it matches my listening experience is proof enough for me.

Anyway, I did not mean to railroad your thread. One thing for certain is, if the Anna sounds great iyo, it must sound wonderful.
Enjoy the cart Mike

Cheers

thanks. lots of things to consider. i can understand why Jonathan would only say about stylus wear privately. i can tell you that Ortofon says exactly the same thing.....privately.

i would like to clarify one issue. and that is that Ortofon does not represent that the Replicant 100 stylus has a shorter life. i am curious where you got that idea to begin with. what their FAQ says is;

1.2. Stylus lifetime
If normal attention has been paid on cleaning record as well as stylus as mentioned, we find that 600 hours up to 1000 hours is possible without degradation of performance. However, concerning PRO systems used for "scratching" and "back cuing", we have experienced stylus lifetime to be substantially less because of their unique application. As a consequence DJ`s will have to consider about 500 hours at the most.

this is a general comment about all (of their) cartridges. and when you consider the comments from Karma about stylus wear and the faceting it is consistent for all cartridges. i'd also repeat my comment that this FAQ stylus wear comment relates more to how Ortofon has decided to conduct business and cover their ass than any relative lack of cartridge life of Ortofon cartridges .

i do respect your personal observations with longer life of other brands as a counterpoint to the above. and if i've missed some Ortofon comments that do somehow indicate a lower life for the Replicant 100 stylus then please point me to them. it might be interesting to compare your 1200 hour A90 to a low hour A90 and determine just what is what. as i mentioned when i did that with Joel Durand's high hour A90 it sounded the same as my low hour one.

 

[MylesBAstor]

1.2. Stylus lifetime
If normal attention has been paid on cleaning record as well as stylus as mentioned, we find that 600 hours up to 1000 hours is possible without degradation of performance. However, concerning PRO systems used for "scratching" and "back cuing", we have experienced stylus lifetime to be substantially less because of their unique application. As a consequence DJ`s will have to consider about 500 hours at the most.
this is a general comment about all (of their) cartridges. and when you consider the comments from Karma about stylus wear and the faceting it is consistent for all cartridges. i'd also repeat my comment that this FAQ stylus wear comment relates more to how Ortofon has decided to conduct business and cover their ass than any relative lack of cartridge life of Ortofon cartridges .

i do respect your personal observations with longer life of other brands as a counterpoint to the above. and if i've missed some Ortofon comments that do somehow indicate a lower life for the Replicant 100 stylus then please point me to them. it might be interesting to compare your 1200 hour A90 to a low hour A90 and determine just what is what. as i mentioned when i did that with Joel Durand's high hour A90 it sounded the same as my low hour one.

Mike, what DJ do you know could afford the Anna, much less an A90, much less use one

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Mike, what DJ do you know could afford the Anna, much less an A90, much less use one

i assume your comment is to demonstrate how general that FAQ comment was; it's obviously not pointed at the higher end Ortofon cartridges....and in fact, is pointed at their entry level products to provide minimum expections. without reading too much into it; it is logical that their top tier cartridges will last longer than their bottom tier. more expensive parts, better suspensions, higher quality build process, better quality control. with thousands of cartridges sold a year, Ortofon has different challenges than other High End cartridge manufacturers.

 

[XV-1]

thanks. lots of things to consider. i can understand why Jonathan would only say about stylus wear privately. i can tell you that Ortofon says exactly the same thing.....privately.

i would like to clarify one issue. and that is that Ortofon does not represent that the Replicant 100 stylus has a shorter life. i am curious where you got that idea to begin with. what their FAQ says is;

this is a general comment about all (of their) cartridges. and when you consider the comments from Karma about stylus wear and the faceting it is consistent for all cartridges. i'd also repeat my comment that this FAQ stylus wear comment relates more to how Ortofon has decided to conduct business and cover their ass than any relative lack of cartridge life of Ortofon cartridges .

i do respect your personal observations with longer life of other brands as a counterpoint to the above. and if i've missed some Ortofon comments that do somehow indicate a lower life for the Replicant 100 stylus then please point me to them. it might be interesting to compare your 1200 hour A90 to a low hour A90 and determine just what is what. as i mentioned when i did that with Joel Durand's high hour A90 it sounded the same as my low hour one.

Hi Mike

the Ortofon replicant 100 cartridge life specifically came when someone asked Ortofon on email and posted their response - I think it was in audiogon but no time to go searching ATM. maybe the weekend.

I should post you my A90 so you can compare

cheers

 

[MylesBAstor]

i assume your comment is to demonstrate how general that FAQ comment was; it's obviously not pointed at the higher end Ortofon cartridges....and in fact, is pointed at their entry level products to provide minimum expections. without reading too much into it; it is logical that their top tier cartridges will last longer than their bottom tier. more expensive parts, better suspensions, higher quality build process, better quality control. with thousands of cartridges sold a year, Ortofon has different challenges than other High End cartridge manufacturers.

Yes couldn't get that picture out of my mind

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Hi Mike

the Ortofon replicant 100 cartridge life specifically came when someone asked Ortofon on email and posted their response - I think it was in audiogon but no time to go searching ATM. maybe the weekend.

I should post you my A90 so you can compare

cheers

thanks.

i just did spend some time doing some searches for related things to Ortofon, Replicant 100, A90, hours, and cartridge life. came up with zero hits regarding direct Ortofon communication related to life span, infact; zero hits on any Ortofon life span posts except here on WBF. but i'm not that good at the on-line detective thing. it would be nice to pin down the genesis of this idea.

regarding your A90, there must be someone on your side of the pond with a low hour A90 that you might work something out with. or not. lets see where this goes. i do know there is lots of interest in used A90's. and if yours sounds closer to a low hour one than you think that could be money in your pocket....although i know you are more a keeper than a seller.

 

[cjfrbw]

Artificial diamond wears faster than natural diamond. I would imagine the same doping that causes artificial diamond to be "softer" than natural diamond and the control of the size of the crystals during growth would also make it easier to shape the needle into specific forms with artificial diamond.

A needle made of natural diamond is supposed to last a lot longer than one of artificially synthesized diamond, don't ask me why.

Whether the manufacturer will own up to using one or the other, I also don't know, the cartridge manufacturers seem to get their diamonds and styluses from a very few sources and don't talk much about it.