I have used various lower cost cartridges such as the Shure M97XE, Denon MC, various Grados, Audio Technica 120E. Funny thing is perhaps I am just a little to easy going as I have yet to meet a cartridge I didn't like. I thought all of them had great sonic attributes. Am now using an Grado MCZ that I like a lot and will probably stick with for a long while. It certainly seems to do the trick!