Denon DL-103 Moving Coil Turntable Cartridge for Vinyl Player, 20Hz - 40,000Hz, 40 Ohms, 0.3mV Output - Black

This cartridge may be an old design dating to the 1960s but it remains in production for a good reason. Its sound quality. I bought one whist waiting for issues with my new Rega Ania to be resolved and I’m not sure if I don’t actually prefer the Denon. It’s not quite up to the standard of my old Denon DL-304 but it’s not that far off and for £200 I’m really pleased with my purchase.

Product is an upgrade on my high output version.However there was a small problem a s there were no tools in the box to assist with setting up. After finding some kit fromm a previous cartridge setting up was simple. Not yet run in so will return to this review a little later.

This cartridge sounds very pleasant on my Project RPM1 carbon turntable. Installed it with a Isokinetik 8 gram weight and a bigger counter weight (084) to add mass. Loading at 1000 ohm.

its a very good cartridge but ill mis my old London super guld cartrigesbut fore the money this is a wonderful produkt

This is a good cartridge. I always thought that 'run in' was a bit of nonsense but this definitely calmed down from a slightly gauche, bassy presentation after 100 hours or so. I would also STRONGLY recommend playing about with the tracking weight a bit - makes a big difference to the sound. The best will be subjective.Did not regret buying at all, but when it starts to get tired I will probably try something different.

Analogue sound systems are ‘lossy’, once lost information cannot be recovered, only corrupted or conserved. Logic suggests the most critical element in the chain of transmission must be the first. So looking for improvements within a limited budget I opted to replace the cartridge with one that on paper seemed excessive for my simple Rega Planar 1. Against a battalion of on-line advice I chose a Denon DL103 – the cheapest respectable MC I could find (look around!), looks right, with an unrivaled heritage.Fitting was straightforward. The only minor snag was the terminals on the arm-wiring didn’t grip as tightly as I’d have liked on the cartridge pins.I’ve experienced no problems with compatibility with the basic Rega RB110 arm. All the vital parameters seem fine in practice, if not in theory. I set VTF at 2.7g, the weightier end of the recommended limit.The difference from the supplied cartridge is most impressive. I’d describe it as a change from a vague ‘idea’ of the music to the music itself, in all its aspects: its logic, articulation, phrasing, dynamics, instrumental timbre, transients, pace, rhythm – all are ‘there’ in a way they weren’t before – with finesse and reduced surface noise.Is a Rega Planar 1 with RB 110 arm and a Denon DL103 a workable combination? Yes, it is!

Superb moving coil cartridge for the price. Try this cartridge it's Brilliant.