Top-7 Newest Cartridges for Vinyl – Summer 2025 Rating

Choosing a vinyl cartridge is a responsible matter, but our new rating will make the choice easier. The editors have collected for you seven of the most interesting and new models of sound cartridges – for every taste and budget.

7. Denon DL301II

Pros – excellent resolution

An updated version of the well-known DL-301 cartridge, Denon DL301II, will offer an affordable MC solution with an excellent level of detail and really deep bass. A special elliptical profile of the diamond stylus, an output voltage of 0.4 mV and an extended frequency range of up to 60,000 Hz – everything is good here.

6. Rega ND 7 ММ

Pros – dynamic and “groovy” sound

The Rega ND 7 pickup cartridge uses a diamond stylus of complex sharpening Fine Line Nude, thanks to which the cartridge guarantees precise tracking, extracts a lot of information and shows off impeccable dynamics. Although the head type is MM, in terms of detail the model is close to MC cartridges of this price group – all thanks to the use of the most powerful neodymium magnetic system N55 and parallel coils, manually wound with 1,275 turns of 38-micron wire.

5. MoFi Electronics STUDIOSILVER MC PHONO

Pros – “big picture” for affordable money

MoFi StudioSilver MC is a high-end cartridge that offers the company’s traditional precise and balanced sound with excellent scale and a sense of a real “wall of sound”. Everything is great here – from the boron cantilever (which is rare for this price sector) to the precision Nude MicroLinear diamond stylus.

4. Clearaudio Concept MC Signature

Pros – a flurry of details

The Clearaudio Concept MC Signature’s signature style is immediately noticeable – the cartridge offers very precise localization, a reliable timbre picture and a whole scattering of details. The model is equipped with a Micro Line diamond stylus mounted on a boron cantilever and has a channel matching of 0.5 dB; internal resistance of 11 Ohms, again, looks just great.

3. EAT JO N°8

Pros - flexible and refined sound

The EAT JO N°8 pickup cartridge sports a Nude Shibata stylus, a boron cantilever, a coil wound with 8N copper and a chic body made of stabilized solid chestnut wood and aluminum. EAT JO N°8 guarantees an amazing sense of rhythm and offers a fluid, ultra-fast sound that is hard not to fall in love with right away.

2. Ortofon SPU Royal N

Pros – full-bodied, realistic reproduction

The iconic Ortofon SPU cartridge is more than fifty years old – and all this time the model has not left the pages of specialized ratings. The modern version of the pickup cartridge, Ortofon SPU Royal N, is sold without an integrated shell, which allows installation on traditional tonearms. Among the features of the cartridge, it is impossible not to note the anti-resonance body made of composite wood, a coil wound with wire made of gold-silver alloy and a Nude Replicant 100 diamond stylus. In terms of sound, you are unlikely to find a better cartridge in this price list in terms of genre omnivorousness and resolution.

1. DS Audio Grand Master Extreme Cartridge

Pros – brilliance and gloss in every passage

DS Audio Grand Master Extreme Cartridge is sold at the price of a complete high-end audio system – but the game is worth the candle. The model provides truly magical sound quality, coloring each composition with a ton of previously unheard nuances and shades. The DS Audio Grand Master Extreme Cartridge pickup head is based on the optical design that has long been used by the company, but in this case the reading module has also been additionally modified - now a monolithic diamond plate with a thickness of 0.22 mm is used, covering the entire distance from the needle holder to the needle and fixed in a stainless steel system. The combination of such a seamless approach with the principle of photoelectric conversion made it possible to release a real engineering masterpiece.

Stas Ustenko