Orotofon MC Anna Diamond cartridge

[Mike Lavigne]

on Thursday i received my new Ortofon MC Anna Diamond cartridge. tonight i finally found the time to mount it in my 2 month old Durand Tosca tone arm on my NVS turntable. from 2012 to 2016 the original MC Anna cartridge was my reference, finally supplanted 3 years ago by the Clearaudio GFS (Goldfinger Statement v2) which was on the Tosca arm until tonight.

https://www.ortofon.com/mc-anna-diamond-p-898

the new Anna Diamond was just released on July 31st, so mine is one of the first ones. and since i ordered it a review from Fremer appeared in the latest Stereophile on it that is pretty much a rave.

i've been listening for about 2 hours now and my first impressions are very positive. the words that come to mind are explosive, slam, detailed, textured, and flow. it seems to retain the refinement and harmonic richness of the old Anna, but adds Formula 1 like speed and energy.......with cat like fluidity and grace. the Anna D naturally separates things more naturally in the sound stage, and has an ease and control that makes it easy to relax into.

when i receive the arm boards for my new Saskia model two turntable, the Durand Tosca and Anna D will be moved to that turntable. hopefully sometime this next week.

more later......

 

[Ron Resnick]

Congratulations, Mike, and thank you for this preliminary report!

Well the Tosca be staying on the Saskia, or will you be getting a second Tosca for the NVS?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Congratulations, Mike, and thank you for this preliminary report!

Well the Tosca be staying on the Saskia, or will you be getting a second Tosca for the NVS?

thank you Ron.

my recent vinyl 'double-down' with the new Tosca, new/old Saskia, and now the new Anna Diamond is in full song, just waiting for those pesky arm boards to arrive. then i think i step back and enjoy things for some time and take a deep breath. just worry about the music and pressings to find and listen to. try to get the gear focus on the back burner.

another Tosca, another cartridge, or a different arm.......maybe later. i'll have to see whether i have the appetite to go down those roads. likely not. i feel like these additions bring my vinyl energies and fun-quotient up to where i wanted it to be.

 

[dminches]

Mike, once you have lived with the Diamond Anna for a while can you post a comparison to the GFS?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Mike, once you have lived with the Diamond Anna for a while can you post a comparison to the GFS?

for sure. quick take is........that this Anna D digs deeper into the music than the GFS.......you are closer to the essence. it's more explosive and separates things better. more expressive. but things like authority, ease and rendering space and scale will take more time to assess.

you have to forget what you thought about the old Anna with this one. it's a different animal. this one is very refined but it is also very exciting.

 

[jazdoc]

Got in a quick listen today at Mike's. Not broken in yet, but this is a really, really good cartridge.

 

[bazelio]

This new Anna sounds like a winner. From the description, it seems they've fixed all the reasons why I'd never taken to the previous Anna.

Enjoy, @Mike Lavigne .

 

[ack]

If I cannot repair my A90, this is also the one I would get

 

[PeterA]

Congratulations Mike. Excellent review in Stereophile. Enjoy!

 

[microstrip]

Nice to know that Ortofon has another winner in the race. Does any one know what is the Ortofon stylus replacement/ exchange policy for the Anna Diamond?

 

[kodomo]

Sounds very inviting! It looks like a perfect match for a 4 point, am I right? 18gr effective mass of 4 point, 16gr weight for Anna diamond and say 1 gr for screws makes a total 35grams. The dynamic compliance of Anna D. is 9 µm/mN so, the resonance would be 8.967hz. If these calculations are right and the cartridge is good sounding, it is definitely a contender for me. I will be asking for a quote from my dealer today. Thanks @Mike Lavigne

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Nice to know that Ortofon has another winner in the race. Does any one know what is the Ortofon stylus replacement/ exchange policy for the Anna Diamond?

https://www.ortofon.com/repair-mc-anna-diamond-p-907-n-3597

4250 Euro, 3 week turn around once received.

general cartridge care info from Ortofon;

https://www.ortofon.com/support/support-hifi/faq-installation

 

[jackelsson]

i've been listening for about 2 hours now and my first impressions are very positive. the words that come to mind are explosive, slam, detailed, textured, and flow. it seems to retain the refinement and harmonic richness of the old Anna, but adds Formula 1 like speed and energy.......with cat like fluidity and grace. the Anna D naturally separates things more naturally in the sound stage, and has an ease and control that makes it easy to relax into.

The Anna Diamond sounds like a worthwile upgrade to the original MC Anna, congratulations. It seems to be close to the MC Century sound wise the way you describe it. Do you still have your old MC Anna to make a direct comparison?

One thing I'm wondering about though is the fragility of a diamond cantilever compared to a normal boron cantilever. I would expect a diamond cantilever to be much less flexible than any kind of metal rod or tube, and maybe even somewhat brittle, and therefore maybe more vulnerable to any kind of blow it gets? Does anybody have experience in regard to this, e.g. from comparisons of Koetsu cartridges?

 

[rockitman]

Diamond cantilever's regardless of brand (only a few) up the game over their boron counterparts based on my experience with boron and diamond cantilevers on Koetsu Coralstones ( i own both). MC Century and now Anna. Ortofon is on it !

 

[mulveling]

One thing I'm wondering about though is the fragility of a diamond cantilever compared to a normal boron cantilever. I would expect a diamond cantilever to be much less flexible than any kind of metal rod or tube, and maybe even somewhat brittle, and therefore maybe more vulnerable to any kind of blow it gets? Does anybody have experience in regard to this, e.g. from comparisons of Koetsu cartridges?

I too was nervous about the diamond cantilever's potential fragility, but after running Koetsu Diamond since March I've relaxed a whole lot about that. No experience with "blows" to diamond, but I'm not sure boron models have much of a practical advantage there. The only accident I've had with a Koetsu (getting slammed into the spinning record and bounding across it) was an Onyx boron; the stylus popped right out, never to be seen again, with the cantilever visibly unharmed - so any hypothetical strength advantage of the boron was for naught in that case.

The only downside is that they tend to be a little shorter and harder to see/align with the naked eye (tough on a SMARTractor; Mint LP should still be good). It absolutely raises the level of performance of the cartridge, as Christian writes, and it's pretty striking. Much better than boron.

 

[bazelio]

Sounds very inviting! It looks like a perfect match for a 4 point, am I right? 18gr effective mass of 4 point, 16gr weight for Anna diamond and say 1 gr for screws makes a total 35grams. The dynamic compliance of Anna D. is 9 µm/mN so, the resonance would be 8.967hz. If these calculations are right and the cartridge is good sounding, it is definitely a contender for me. I will be asking for a quote from my dealer today. Thanks @Mike Lavigne

Yes, in fact it's designed for heftier arms (of course the 4 point isn't gimbaled, but that doesn't matter):

"The cartridge is a perfect match for a high-mass, high-precision tonearm with gimbaled bearing." (link)

See also the MSL Platinum Signature, which will resonate at about 9.3Hz on a 4 point, assuming they're properly specifying compliance.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

i need to sell either my Ortofon Anna Diamond (had 5 months), with 20-30 hours on it, or my Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement (had 2 years), with 90-100 hours on it, to fund some other acquisitions. i am the original owner of each and bought both new.

i love both cartridges, but the wife says i have to do this. and so i'm doing it. :-(

trying to avoid posting an ad if i can.

once i sell one of them, i will keep the other one. please PM me for a price or questions.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Dear Mike,
Purely out of curiosity are you agnostic as to which one your sell and which one you keep?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Dear Mike,
Purely out of curiosity are you agnostic as to which one your sell and which one you keep?

i can make a case for keeping either. and selling neither. but the wife has a veto on that second thought.

the GFS is my long term trusty reference, the Anna D. is the new kid on the block. i'll miss whichever goes. the higher output of the GFS has it's benefits. the Anna D. really likes my new Durand Tosca tonearm. i love how both sound......they are top of the heap cartridges.

before i offered both for sale i tried to decide, but realized i could not. so i figured the fickle finger of fate would decide.

sigh. double-sigh.

 

[Tango]

i can make a case for keeping either. and selling neither. but the wife has a veto on that second thought.

the GFS is my long term trusty reference, the Anna D. is the new kid on the block. i'll miss whichever goes. the higher output of the GFS has it's benefits. the Anna D. really likes my new Durand Tosca tonearm. i love how both sound......they are top of the heap cartridges.

before i offered both for sale i tried to decide, but realized i could not. so i figured the fickle finger of fate would decide.

sigh. double-sigh.

I will buy either Mike if it comes with your championship 3-D sound stage.

Tang