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Review of the 'Quest 20' Ortofon/Digitrac

This is a thread I've followed with interest, even before I had a functioning turntable in hand again. Now, it's piqued my interest for slightly different reasons than the original thrust of the thread. Tonight I bought a (very cheap) JVC L-L10 turntable with a functional Digitrac 280 E cartridge. I'm testing it on my QL-L2 in place of the Audio Technica cart with LC stylus that's usually on the L2. There is a bit more surface noise than with the LC stylus, but overall it's a very competent cartridge. My question is this - would the 200NE stylus be an upgrade, downgrade or basically a straight-up replacement for the 280E's stylus?

gusten said:
A short review of the Digitrac 300SE stylus on an OM body compaired to OM30.
Click to expand...

On the note above...where did you find the 300SE stylus? (edit: I found the SE stylus listing at turntableneedles, if that was your source)

I found a site that says that Ortofon styli will fit the Digitrac carts, but I'm not sure how that would work. The Digitrac styli I've seen have a locating ridge running down the back, in addition to that little plastic lump at the rear edge.
 
Sam Cogley said:
This is a thread I've followed with interest, even before I had a functioning turntable in hand again. Now, it's piqued my interest for slightly different reasons than the original thrust of the thread. Tonight I bought a (very cheap) JVC L-L10 turntable with a functional Digitrac 280 E cartridge. I'm testing it on my QL-L2 in place of the Audio Technica cart with LC stylus that's usually on the L2. There is a bit more surface noise than with the LC stylus, but overall it's a very competent cartridge. My question is this - would the 200NE stylus be an upgrade, downgrade or basically a straight-up replacement for the 280E's stylus?



On the note above...where did you find the 300SE stylus? (edit: I found the SE stylus listing at turntableneedles, if that was your source)

I found a site that says that Ortofon styli will fit the Digitrac carts, but I'm not sure how that would work. The Digitrac styli I've seen have a locating ridge running down the back, in addition to that little plastic lump at the rear edge.
Click to expand...

So far my experience is only with the SE stylus, which I bought, as You guessed, from turntableneedles.

I have during a couple of weeks tested this, and compaired it to other needles I have.
I like the SE very much, I actually find it a little better then OM30, more clean and neutral sounding with a better resolution, which tells a lot of the quality of the SE.

I believe the NE stylus to be a big upgrade from the E. The NE has a nude natural diamond with a round shank, where the E has a bonded diamond tip.
Usually real needle quality starts with a nude tip.
I will in time buy a couple of the NEs, hopefully one will get a P-mount that will work.
I haven´t seen the Digitrac´s housing, so I do not know if an OM stylus will fit.
/gusten
 
Just tried to insert the NE200 stylus onto an OM body and you are correct, the locating edge on the Digitrac body prevents the stylus from slipping on. Don't know for sure bit If necesary maybe you could sand down the locationg edge on the Digitrac body.
 
Yes, you will need to remove the tab on the back of the Digitrac stylus before it will fit on an OM body. I used toenail clippers and finished off with a nail file. The OM stylii will fit on the Digitrac body without modification.

Others have reported that the Digitrac stylus (tab removed) is "loose" on the Ortofon LM body (which was my experience with my LM-era Concorde 10 body) and that it took major surgery to fit it on a TM (p-mount) body.

I've been trying out an Ortofon X1-MCP moving-coil p-mount on my "new" Technics SL-M3 turntable, but a Digitrac 200NE is next up for a test run.
 
I think I'll order one of the NEs and see how it does on the 280 body. The SE stylus sounds interesting, but a bit more than I want to spend right now.
 
Hey guys, this is my first post on this site but I just wanted to thank Quest for this discovery because I'm a proud owner of several Digitrac 200 NE now. I ordered two initially just to see if I could improve on the OMB-5E needle but one of them ended up working so I had a cartridge too! Ain't that something?

Currently I've got a Quest 20 mounted on on an SL-1800 I got for free (I had the 200NE cartridge on it for a while, just testing the Quest combo out), plus a $40 TCC-750 preamp. This setup was dirt cheap and sounds great. I'm going to try it on my nicer table and all that but I'm really liking the sounds from this setup.
 
My 200NE showed up today. I didn't even try the 200 cart, I immediately swapped the E and NE styli. I have to say, the resulting 280NE one fine-sounding cartridge! I think I'm going to order another 200NE so I'll have a spare stylus around. The supply of NOS Digitrac styli has to be dwindling after 20+ years, and I'd hate to sideline this lovely cartridge.

I need to break in my X1-MCP a bit more. On some recordings it's giving me some high-frequency weirdness that I don't find with my Shibata-tipped AT or the 280NE.
 
well i was wondering as i have a 2m red and someone mentioned that they are basically the same as the om cartridges with extra plastic strapped on which got me thinking these might fit to that.

I ordered 2 anyway if one of the cartridges works great ill use that and keep the other needle as a spare, otherwise i might get a ortofon concorde or om cartridge to go with it.
 
i tried and it wont fit the ortofon 2m cart the metal part that the stylus slides onto is much longer on the 2m cartridges and thus the needle of the digitrac cant get a secure fit to the cartridge.

Luckily of the 4 digitrac 200ne cartriges i bought 2 of them work. i am currently happy with the digitrack 200ne carts and this stylus but i wonder if people have compared the om carts with this stylus to the digitrac ones themselves.

Is there a sonical gain from using a om cart in place of the digitrac one?
 
Finally tested the Digitrac 200 cart - it works fine. Right now it's wearing the 280's original "E" stylus, and the 280 has the 200's "NE" unit.
 
I think I get a better result (more detail, wider soundstage) with my 200NE stylus on a SuperOM body than the Digitrac body. Then again, I also have the SuperOM on a better headshell, and it doesn't have the complication of the p-mount adapter.
 
I don't have an OM body hanging around, rather surprisingly considering the number of dead-stylus cartridges I have now. The 280 body is definitely a step up from the 200.
 
i just made and impulse purchase and won an auction for a technics sl10 linear tracker.

I intend to try out these digitrac carts on that turntable when i get it hopefully it will sound good.

I intend to use it for vinyl rips mostly so ill post some samples for you guys to check out when i get it.
 
This place is just FILLED with good info!

I was wondering what to do with an OM cart body that came on my Dual, but had a folded cantilever. I had already bought a new Super OM 20, as well as an additional 30 stylus. So now, with the info here, I have just ordered the $20 Digitrac to make my "Quest 20". So, now I'll have my pick of:

Ortofon Super OM 20 and 30 (using on Dual CS-5000)
Ortofon OM "Quest 20"
Shure V15TypeIII original VN35E and Jico SAS VN35HE (using on Technics SL-D202)
Denon DL103D (will use on Thorens TD-160)

This was a GREAT thread...thanks all!
 
The Denon is not yet mounted. I've been incredibly lazy in finishing the mods to my TD-160, and building the new plinthe base. When I do finish and get the deck set up, I plan on running it straight thru my Yamaha CA-1000...hope not to need a step up.

By the way, I received my Digitrac in the mail today, so I'll get to clipping and slide that sucker on the OM body.
 
So I'm totally doing this. I've ordered a digitrac stylus, but I still need to get the OM cart. On fleabay, i found and OM 10 and an OMB 5 for comparable prices (the 5 a bit cheaper). Does it matter which one i pick, or are they identical since the stylus would be changed? I have a Technics 1200mk2 if that makes any difference.
 
Hey man, I saw you posted this on RM as well, just didn't get a chance to reply yet. From LPgear.com, they don't mention the OM5, but this should roughly answer

Upgradeable Performance
All Super OM models have the same body, construction, and magnetic circuitry. The only difference is the interchangeable stylus unit. Thus, when your level of musical sophistication improves, you can simply switch the existing stylus to the Ortofon Stylus 30 or for pinnacle performance the Ortofon Stylus 40. The Stylus 40 offers pinnacle performance for the most demanding listener.
 
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