The MP-110 has gained legendary status amongst audiophiles for its combination of price and performance.

One of the most overlooked upgrades for an entry-level hi-fi system, installing a new phono cartridge on your stock or old turntable can bring warmth, dynamics, and clarity to your listening experience. While phono cartridge prices can easily balloon upwards to thousands of dollars, there are many outstanding companies offering affordable entry-level products for those just starting out on their hi-fi journey including: Grado, Denon, Sumiko, Goldenring, and Nagaoka.

Japanese manufacturer, Nagaoka, has been manufacturing outstanding moving magnet phono cartridges and styli for almost 70 years. Their motto “Better Sound Forever” is a testament to their decades-long pursuit of reproducing the most accurate and true-to-the-original sound. “With Nagaoka cartridges you can experience the concert hall in the comfort of your home.” Over the years, the company has produced numerous cartridges that have earned the reputation of “masterpieces” from sound connoisseurs around the world.

No surprise then that the company’s entry-level MP-110 ($150) is the bestselling Japanese listening cartridge under $200. Part of the company’s high-performance MP (Moving Permalloy) series, the MP-110 has gained legendary status amongst audiophiles for its combination of price and performance, and is one of the top diamond stylus cartridges available. It has an excellent tracker digging into worn out grooves with authority and delivers a very open and detailed sounding presentation across the entire frequency spectrum.

Read the Nagaoka MP series brochure: https://www.hifistereo.nl/files/Arthur%20Smit/image/NagaokaBrochure.pdf

“These cartridges reproduce transparent sound with high clarity and a substantially improved magnetic circuit.”

Technical Specifications:

• Type: Moving Magnet
• Weight: 6.5kg
• Frequency Response: 20Hz-20kHz
• Output: 1kHz, 5cm/sec: 5mV
• Tracking force: 1.5 – 2.0g

Reviews:

“I have both the Nagaoka MP-110 and the MP-200. I have used them with a Pro-Ject Debut 3 and a Rega P3 (2016). The MP-110 has a warm, sweet sound and good dynamics. It plays everything well and tracks records wonderfully. It doesn’t have as much detail as the cooler MP-200, but it manages to sound just as pleasant. Moving from the AT-95E to the MP-110 is a big leap in sound. I think it’s one of the best cartridges under 200 euros.”

“I would recommend this to anybody starting or getting back into vinyl play as a -Start with this- cart. Very full sounding, but also decently resolving and wide range enough. Nagaoka describes it as Relaxed presentation.. which is very true. There are better spec carts for critical listening, including those higher up in the Nagaoka MP line, but this cart makes me want to listen to Keith Jarrett’s The Melody At Night, with You album on a Thursday night.”

“An excellent and affordable cartridge, with very detailed bass and mids, and silky treble. It tracks excellently and there’s significantly less surface noise than with my Denon DL110 and Audio Technica AT95e. I opted for the MP-110h variant which comes mounted in a good-quality headshell, strongly recommended. The headshell is quite heavy, but this seems to work very well with my Technics SL-1210 Mk2 and it’s easy to set the arm at 1,8g. I had to move the cart 3 mm forward as Nagaoka uses a mounting distance of 49mm (base of headshell stylus tip) while for the Technics 1200 this should be 52mm. The sound is very sweet, there’s no audible distortion and one can listen for hours and hours without fatigue.”

“For the money certainly a very good cartridge. I use it on my Project 6.1 (older version with plinth) at it does a really good job. Replacing a Ortofon 2M red it initially felt recessed and dull right out of the box. However with time to settle in it just sounds better and better, and I now prefer it to my other carts (2m red, Grado Gold and Roksan corus Black (bought it used, so maybe not a fair comparison). Sound is smooth with a good soundstage, tight bass, slightly recessed mid and detailed slightly pronounced treble. Best thing is how my albums now sound interesting and the music just seems to flow effortless: more focus on the music and less on the technicalities.”

Nagaoka MP-110 is available at Turntable Lab: https://www.turntablelab.com/products/nagaoka-mp-110-cartridge