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Review of the 'Quest 20' Ortofon/Digitrac

My Pro-Ject Debut recently suffered a cat related mis-hap that damaged the stylus.
I was looking for a cost effective upgrade and stumbled across Quest's post while googling for alternatives to the standard Ortofon replacements.
The ebay seller linked to in the other thread did not have any for sale when I looked but, thanks again Google, I think I have found the same sellers website where he sells these needles for the same price. There are also some other cartridges that may be of interest.

http://www.jettsales.com/electronics.html
 
I ordered a spare too, thanks for finding their web site. With this being an out-of-production item, now's the time to stock up.

I've been listening to my new double LP Waiting for the Siren's Call by New Order with my SuperOM/200NE the past few nights, and it sounds great. I need to shift back to my AT150MLX and see how they compare. I've also considered mounting my working Digitrac cart with the adaptor, and see how the stylus compares between the OM and Digitrac bodies. I've been quite busy with work lately and haven't had the time to play with my toys.
 
SA-708 said:
I ordered a spare too, thanks for finding their web site. With this being an out-of-production item, now's the time to stock up.

I've been listening to my new double LP Waiting for the Siren's Call by New Order with my SuperOM/200NE the past few nights, and it sounds great. I need to shift back to my AT150MLX and see how they compare. I've also considered mounting my working Digitrac cart with the adaptor, and see how the stylus compares between the OM and Digitrac bodies. I've been quite busy with work lately and haven't had the time to play with my toys.
Click to expand...

I'd be curious what you think because the stylus seemed to sound slightly better on the Digitrac body than the OM5E. Maybe it was just my imagination.
 
ChairSpud said:
I'd be curious what you think because the stylus seemed to sound slightly better on the Digitrac body than the OM5E. Maybe it was just my imagination.
Click to expand...

With the Digitrac it will sound a little louder than with the OM body. The Digitrac should more be considered to equal SuperOM. A louder signal will mostly be experienced as better.
/gusten
 
I'd give the SuperOM the slight edge, but that might have had more to do with my set-up (I put the heavier Digitrac/adapter on a heavier headshell, which is what I had available) than anything else. I'll probably keep the SuperOM 200NE in the rotation for my SL-1700Mk2 and save the Digitrac body for use on a p-mount turntable.
 
Honestly, I do not trust the cartridge but the stylus is charming. It has tight lows and does not compress highs, it works with many, and we know it is cheap. I believe the Digitrac cartridge has 0.5mV more output so that explains the louder sound. It fooled me at first.

Oh, nice detective work in finding the sellers web page! Boy, this community can sniff out bargains, I should order another. The parts are worth more then the whole.
 
I think you guys are right, it was the higher ouput 200NE body made me think it sounded better than the OM. I was only able to listen for a short time but hope to spend more time with it soon.

How about soundstage depth, has anyone noticed if the 'Qwest 20' opens up more or changes with break in?
 
SPAM said:
Finished my OMP hack job...
Click to expand...

I forgot to say that you did a very nice job on the fixing the P-mount. I thought you would be shaving the stylus which looks easier to do. Doing it your way makes a universal cartridge. Does the combo still sound good?
 
Quest said:
I forgot to say that you did a very nice job on the fixing the P-mount. I thought you would be shaving the stylus which looks easier to do. Doing it your way makes a universal cartridge. Does the combo still sound good?
Click to expand...
Thank you. If I had it to do over again I could probably do a neater job.
Was tempted to have another go when I spotted an OMP5e with $5 auction bid (at the time I saw it--dunno what it sold for.)
Luckily the voice of reason prevailed and I convinced my self I don't need two of them.
I will get a spare stylus soon (already would have done except my debit card is in overdraft protection LOL)

I first thought of shaving the stylus, as you did, but after examination it seemed I'd have to remove too much material which would compromise its structural integrity.

"still sound good" ?
Well the 10's tip had come unbonded before I got it last week, so I never heard the unmodified OMP with that stylus.
It sounds great with the NE fitted, but then again I've just had a big plinth upgrade. Gone from SL-BD2's lightweight plastic to QX200's subchasis suspended from alloy plinth. Probably a better arm too, adjustable at least.
Been sampling a few carts lately including RXP3(Shure) and AT122LP, and while everything sounds better on the new table 'P-Quest 20' is holding its own quite nicely against the others.

I wouldn't recommend if your T4P arm doesn't offer adjustable tracking force.
Still hoping somebody can weigh a stock OMP, as I'm curious how much mass I actually removed.
 
Update: Playing mine now on my Dual 506. I wanted to keep an OM cart on this table since the arm is made for it. With the Digitrac stylus, properly aligned, it's made this a pretty killer setup. Detail is wonderful with nice tonality and none of the mistracking of the OM 3 or even OM 10 that were previously on it. The output is considerably lower than the official OM styli, I'm assuming it's a weaker magnet? That's a good thing however IMO. I've considered putting one on my Music Hall mmf-5 in place of the AT 440mla that's there now, but I think I'll save it as a replacement for this table. Simply amazing what $20 did.
 
With the addition of a tube pre-amp and a little break-in, the Quest 20 is stunning. Just for comparison I did mount the OM5 stylus for a few songs, lost alot of detail but still pretty good. The only drawback I can see to the Quest 20 is some ocassional skipping. I have the VTF set to 1.25g, how about everyone else?
 
I’m cruising with 1 to 1.25 grams but I may be on the fringe; the tables I have use electronic Q-damping.

This thread is useless without sound. Got Apple QuickTime? It is in mono and I snipped off the last 30 seconds. The file give a good impression. The music was fed from the TT through the amp then directly to an iPod which recorded it as a big WMA file. To make things a manageable size, the file was converted to MP3. Sounds very sweet on my end. How are your speakers? :music:

http://www.box.net/shared/h56ayjcevd
 
Swapping out my Digitrac stylus last night for my OM5 to do some trouble shooting, I bent the cantilever:tears::tears::tears:. Everyone happy with jettsales.com?
 
I received my mail-order from jettsales.com yesterday. The outer packaging looks like the same carts as the two I bought via eBay. I got home quite late (about 1AM) following an Iron & Wine show so I have not yet checked the condition.
 
SA-708 said:
I received my mail-order from jettsales.com yesterday. The outer packaging looks like the same carts as the two I bought via eBay. I got home quite late (about 1AM) following an Iron & Wine show so I have not yet checked the condition.
Click to expand...

When you ordered did they process the Paypal payment right away? (that is of course if you used Paypal). For me it looks like they authorized the transaction but it's waiting to be processed by the site. Anyone else wait a few days before it went through?
 
I just tried to order two cartridges via paypal, their site would not work. The shipping kept comming up as free, and it kept telling me to select another method of payment.
 
They processed my order on Paypal the day I ordered (the 14th) and it arrived yesterday (the 20th).
 
eteller said:
I just tried to order two cartridges via paypal, their site would not work. The shipping kept comming up as free, and it kept telling me to select another method of payment.
Click to expand...

I don't know about the payment method thing, but the shipping is free, as it was for their eBay sales.
 
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