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MC cartridge from China

losthorizon

losthorizon

Well-Known Member
I see there are some MC cartridges for sale on eBay from China. They look impressive and are only £100 new. The thing is, there is no name on them, so it's impossible to find any reviews. Has anyone purchased one of these or knows anything about them?
 
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The thing about products from China is that they will put whatever name on them. Sometimes it seems like they just throw letters in a jar and then randomly pick them and that is what they call a product. And the product from one factory can have maybe five different names...
 
I see some of the oddest names that leave me wondering how they came up with that.

And of course, there is the serious issue of counterfeited electronic parts.
 
coonmanx said:
The thing about products from China is that they will put whatever name on them. Sometimes it seems like they just throw letters in a jar and then randomly pick them and that is what they call a product. And the product from one factory can have maybe five different names...
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What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? LOL
 
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losthorizon said:
I see there are some MC cartridges for sale on eBay from China. They look impressive and are only £100 new. The thing is, there is no name on them, so it's impossible to find any reviews. Has anyone purchased one of these or knows anything about them?
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With Ci-Fi gear its a hit or miss. The cart may be good or it may be crap, a review may tell you what someone thinks of one but wont tell you if it will be good for you or your set up.

What amp/speakers/table you using? Are you using a step up or a MC Preamp? Is this a LOMC or HOMC?

If you are running a vintage set up, maybe a 70s silver face receiver, and a nice TT Id put that money into a nice AT MM cart, the AT13EA is fantastic and you can find the body for low buck and buy a new tip for it.

If your running a dedicated Ch-Fi rig it may sound good. Either way, let us know if you like it if you end up buying one.

Also do you have a link showing the cart you are considering?

I do not have experience with China made carts but went down the Ch-iF road with there amps and other gear. Some of it is good, some of it is crap.

What table are you using, do you know the arm specs? And are you looking to run a MC preamp or Step up depending on if its a LO or HO?
 
jobrewer1983 said:
Ci-Fi…Ch-Fi…Ch-iF
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Ah ok, we know what you mean and those typos were very easy to do.

Chi-Fi is made to the quality level demanded by the company selling it. It can vary a good bit. I have no idea how to determine which is the good stuff without plugging it in a listening and I don’t really do that with products from china.
 
Blue Shadow said:
Ah ok, we know what you mean and those typos were very easy to do.

Chi-Fi is made to the quality level demanded by the company selling it. It can vary a good bit. I have no idea how to determine which is the good stuff without plugging it in a listening and I don’t really do that with products from china.
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I always thought it was called Ci-Fi like Hi-Fi, my mistake “Chi-Fi” and yea I get going fast so my auto correct may have tried to spell If instead of Fi.

I agree to an extent. I currently have a few nice sets from China, I like to tinker tho and will randomly order cheap gear from eBay every so often. An example would be cheap tube preamp I picked up a while back. Sounds great to me, I also have a little amplifier that’s actually well built inside and out. SQ is nice on it and I use it to test new gear often. Has ran well for over a decade.

I’m just open to trying all sorts of gear, for example I have a Fisher 500 mono connected to a set of JBL L-100s in series right now that I’m listening to some Dave Matthew’s “Crash” and it sounds fantastic to me, maybe not everyone’s style as it’s mono but when ran properly it can sound amazing.

I get just as much joy out of some China gear, maybe you should venture out a little. :)
 
losthorizon said:
I see there are some MC cartridges for sale on eBay from China.
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how did you find them? I searched "moving coil cartridge china" and nothing comes up at that price

losthorizon said:
They look impressive and are only £100 new.
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what makes them look impressive, the price?

losthorizon said:
The thing is, there is no name on them, so it's impossible to find any reviews. Has anyone purchased one of these or knows anything about them?
Click to expand...
maybe post a link so we can see what you're talking about
 
malden said:
how did you find them? I searched "moving coil cartridge china" and nothing comes up at that price


what makes them look impressive, the price?


maybe post a link so we can see what you're talking about
Click to expand...
I was curious and couldn't stop myself from looking, results below. Because links break often on Ali, I've shared the link + a screenshot of what I'm getting right now (and changed my location to USA for your convenience, because I normally see priced in €. How nice of me, right! ;P )

An interesting point that you will not get from my search results about the cheap one:
Price for you in the US: $217.63 + $37.16 = $254.79
Price for me in NL (the Netherlands): €159.69 + €6.54 = €166.23, current € to $ exchange rate is 1.12 = $186.17
You know who to thank for the difference.

My search 'method'
Not that it's a particularly good method, just for reference:
Google MC Cartridge Aliexpress > go to Google image results > Open a few that look interesting.
On the Ali page of the ones that look good, open one of the pictures and click the button IN the top right hand corner of the image, Aliexpress will subsequently show you the same and similar items offered at different prices on their platform.
Cheap MC Cart Aliexpress in USD Search.jpg

A cheap one
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256812985611308.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller.3.2673SlJ2SlJ2ul&gps-id=pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.40050.354490.0&scm_id=1007.40050.354490.0&scm-url=1007.40050.354490.0&pvid=96b152bd-bc4b-4067-9c9d-ac9967e3e376&_t=gps-id%3ApcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller%2Cscm-url%3A1007.40050.354490.0%2Cpvid%3A96b152bd-bc4b-4067-9c9d-ac9967e3e376%2Ctpp_buckets%3A668%232846%238111%231996&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%22-1%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%2C%22sceneId%22%3A%2230050%22%2C%22fromPage%22%3A%22recommend%22%7D&pdp_npi=6%40dis%21EUR%21325.90%21159.69%21%21%212392.80%211172.46%21%4021038db317912747862926700e1392%2112000060448758234%21rec%21NL%21%21ABX%211%210%21n_tag%3A-29910%3Bd%3Ab1dc786d%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895&utparam-url=scene%3ApcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller%7Cquery_from%3A%7Cx_object_id%3A1005013171926060%7C_p_origin_prod%3A&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt
Cheap MC Cart Aliexpress in USD.jpg

The cheapEST one, but there's a catch if you look at shipping cost.... ;)
CheapEST MC Cart Aliexpress in USD.jpg


P.s. I wouldn't buy one of these!
Read my previous post if you want to know why.
 
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