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Outstanding Product 2019 – HiFi News
"Spectacular Sonic Performance," Raves Michael Fremer
Ortofon's MC Anna Diamond phono cartridge represents the highest level of moving coil cartridge design. As its name suggests, the MC Anna Diamond uses a Diamond cantilever that in combination with an Ortofon Replicant 100 diamond offers extreme transparency, speed, and responsiveness.
This state-of-the-art product featuring numerous Ortofon design elements and ideas is truly an example of the highest degree of performance possible in today's analog playback technology.
"It Never Left Me Wishing for More or Less of Anything"
Analog guru Michael Fremer praises the MC Anna Diamond for its "spectacular sonic performance" in his review for Stereophile, September 2019.
"The MC Anna Diamond is a cartridge for all musical genres. Its frequency balance is as neutral as I’ve heard. Its dynamic expression at the micro and macro levels (and in between) left nothing on the table, and its response at the frequency extremes was fully articulated."
"It could be raunchy when required, or silky smooth and refined. It never left me wishing for more or less of anything, whether I was playing symphonic music, small jazz combos, female vocals, or ’90s-era grunge"
"Almost Supernatural Soundstaging"
"Almost supernatural soundstaging is at the root of its appeal," notes England's HiFi News magazine, which honored the MC Anna Diamond with an Outstanding Product Award for 2019.
"Possessing a sound that can take your breath away, this beautifully engineered and built special MC cartridge can lay claim to being one of the best cartridges ever made."
High-end Materials and Performance Benefits
The MC Anna Diamond focuses on providing music in its entirety without compromise, offering an ideal balance of precision and musicality with fine attention to both micro and macro dynamics combined with fluid tonality and texture. Considering Ortofon’s world-class knowledge in analog sound reproduction, the new MC Anna Diamond will provide an astonishing listening experience, which has to be experienced to be believed.
The MC Anna Diamond employs a significant degree of control over vibrations by a way of a newly-improved wide-range armature damping system. Because the armature is extended beyond the coils, it can interface directly with the rubber dampers, which sandwich a small heavy disc of platinum. This offers more consistent movement, resulting in better stereo perspective and transient delineation. System resonances are damped by the use of the Thermo Plastic Elastomer (TPE) compound which comprises the bottom cover assembly.
The Replicant 100 Diamond
The MC Anna Diamond uses Ortofon’s Replicant 100 diamond, known for its thin and light profile and extraordinarily large contact surface. Since the Replicant 100 is closest to the shape of the cutting stylus, it can track with unparalleled accuracy. Special polishing of the diamond along with the use of a diamond cantilever provides the best possible interface between the stylus and armature, owing to its hardness and crystal structure.
High Efficiency Magnet System
The optimized geometry of the magnet system combined with choice materials like neodymium and iron-cobalt offers an unprecedented consistency of the flux density within the system’s air gap. Due to an increase of active material inside of the magnet system, the magnetic field strength is delivered more uniformly, allowing each coil to sense identical flux density regardless of its position. Because of this, dynamics and impulse linearity are preserved to an overwhelming extent.
The use of this optimized magnet system allows for the use of a lightweight, non-magnetic armature, which also provides noteworthy benefit to the dynamic capability of the MC Anna Diamond. The reason for this is that Ortofon's specially designed precision molded non-magnetic armature does not alter the magnetic field during movement. Hence when combined with ultrapure oxygen-free copper coil wire, it delivers perfect reproduction of the cantilever movements without compromise. The material applied for the armature has very high strength and rigidity.
The Perfect Partner for Most MC Phono Preamps and Step-Up Transformers
Output impedance of 6 ohm and a low-to-medium output voltage of 0.2 mV make the MC Anna Diamond the perfect partner for most MC phono preamps and step-up transformers, including the Ortofon ST-80 SE MC transformer. The cartridge is also ideal for a high-mass, high-precision tonearm with gimbaled bearing.
The Story Behind the MC Anna Cartridges
Ortofon has a long tradition of paying tribute to individuals who have been highly influential within the high-end audio culture and in music culture. In honor of these remarkable persons, Ortofon has introduced numerous products throughout the years, including the SPU Meister, MC Rohmann, Kontrapunkt series, and Windfeld cartridges.
Continuing this tradition with the MC Anna and the MC Anna Diamond, Ortofon dedicates these flagship cartridges to the operatic soprano Anna Netrebko, a virtuoso whose performance displays a formidable technical arsenal of endless versatility.
With the dedication of the MC Anna, Ortofon once again emphasizes the company’s unchanging commitment and devotion to the music and to the purest delivery of recorded sound. Much like Anna Netrebko, Ortofon aspires to provide the ultimate musical experience through a mixture of innovation and technical expertise, combined with inspiration that goes beyond mere thought to reveal true inner emotion.
