Ultimately, the smaller the playing radius of the stylus and the lower its effective mass, the more potential it has to correctly extract the signal recorded in the record groove. All Goldring cartridges are designed to have a flat frequency response and low distortion, so they all sound natural – there is no artificial emphasis on any particular frequency band, but the shape and mass of the stylus can compromise this to a greater or lesser extent. Of course, the more refined the stylus shape, the more expensive it is to produce. As an example, here are a few different options in order of size and effective mass:

E3, 2100, 2200, 2400 and 1042

This ranks them in price order also, which should come as no surprise. The main thing you will notice as you move up the range is that the sibilance on vocal “s” sounds for instance, although good on the E3, is banished completely on the 1042. Also, tracking distortion at the inner grooves will be markedly better on the 1042 than on the E3. You will find that the E3, 2100 and 2200 are all pretty similar in these respects but you will notice a very large improvement with 2400 and 1042. In between these two extremes are the 2300 and 1012 which should also be considered.

However it all depends on the your turntable; if this is not of very high quality, it will be more difficult for the subtle improvements of the higher end cartridge to shine through. For example, the 1042 is very sensitive to proper set up. If there is not proper adjustment for VTA, HTA and fine bias correction as well as playing weight and overhang, then you won't get the best out of it. If you get these parameters perfect however, it is probably the best MM cartridge that you can buy.

Assuming that your turntable has all of these adjustments, we would recommend the 1042. If you are worried however, we would recommend the 1022 because it still has a very refined stylus, but is much easier to set up than the 1042, and will be forgiving of a less then perfect adjustment.