DJ carts - Shure M35X v. Tonar Diabolic

Part of the fun of playing records, for me, is using different equipment and seeing - or rather hearing - if there are noticeable differences in sound quality. Turntables, pickup arms, phono amps can all have their effect on the sound, as can the smallest component in the reproduction chain - the pickup cartridge. Sometimes the differences are blindly obvious, sometimes they're so small as to be un-noticeable. For the geeky "audiophile" the search for audio nirvana is a quest that's doomed to failure, but fun while it lasts.

While it would be easy to produce a video using two wildly different cartridges at wildly different price points, there wouldn't be much point because one would be obviously superior. More relevant, to my mind, is to compare cartridges of a similar price aimed at the same market. And this is what we have here: two "DJ" cartridges.

Shure's M35X is probably the most well known of the two, and I've done a couple videos with this already - one with the same track, but on a different turntable, with a different phono amp, and with it's original plastic body; I replaced the body with the aluminium Paradox Pulse body you see here.

The Shure tracks at a reasonable 2.8gm VTF; it's output is 6mV - a bit on the high side for normal moving magnet cartridges.

The Tonar Diabolic E however is aptly named as it puts out a stonking 8mV (most MM carts are half this value), and it tracks at an eye-watering 4.5gm. (Note the Technics headshell weight needed to achieve this, as the counterbalance weight on the Kenwood turntable couldn't accommodate the required forward adjustment.)

The Tonar seems to be a version of the Nagaoka DJ03D cartridge, which itself is a high VTF version of the "hi-fi" MM321BE.

So what we have here is the track Jabdah by Koto played with the sound and visuals switched backwards and forwards between the two cartridges. Are there any differences? Is one better than another?

Cartridge: Shure M35X (Paradox Pulse), Tonar Diabolic E

Phono amp: Graham Slee Accession

Turntable: Kenwood KD7010 direct drive