Back in the 70's and 80's I was a beer budget audiophile. I designed and built my own speakers and shuffled speakers and phono cartidges a lot since they made real differences you could hear. If I tried, I could hear the difference between a MOSFET and a regular transistor amp. I had three expensive (to me) cartridges: Shure V15 type IV, Ortofon OM 30 and a Stanton 881S. These were the top three I ever owned, and I still have them packed away for the someday I get my LPs that are currently 6000 miles away... The Stanton was my favorite. The sound of the Shure was less open, more 'gritty'. The Ortofon was less 'musical'. I always thought the superior transient response of the Stanton is what made it sound better. It used Stanton/Pickering's quadrophonic design to extend the frequency response to 40 KHz. This required a more compliant stylus with good transient response.