Ortofon Hi-Fi MC Verismo Moving Coil Cartridge

The Ortofon Exclusives Series of highest performing Moving Coil cartridges has now been expanded to include a new premier model – the MC Verismo

The Ortofon Exclusives series cartridges are widely acknowledged as being some of the best Moving Coil cartridges on the market, and we are continuously working on expanding the Exclusives range to offer music lovers even more opportunities to experience the supreme quality, precision, impact and dynamics that a highend reference cartridge conveys.

The MC Verismo has been developed based on our extensive knowledge of vibration properties, different shapes and materials characteristics, as well as competences in magnetism, mechanical design and technologies. The MC Verismo will undoubtedly provide sound which simply has to be experienced.

The story behind the name

The name Verismo is derived from the Italian “vero”, meaning “true” and is the Italian for "realism". Versimo was a post-Romantic operatic genre, that had its origins in an Italian literary movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Verismo's operatic tradition is associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini, who sought to portray the world with greater realism.

At Ortofon, our ultimate purpose is to continually raise the bar for true, faithful and accurate reproduction of the recorded sound. It is to provide the ultimate musical experience through a mixture of innovation and technical expertise, creating unique value for all listeners by allowing them to reveal music’s true inner emotions.

Review quotes & Awards

May 2023
MC Verismo wins Diapason d’Or Award by the French hi-fi magazine Diapason.

the absolute sound
Golden Ear Awards 2022 
September 2022
www.theabsolutesound.com
By Andre Jennings

"...The MC Verismo offers up the most truthful evenhandedness and musical transparency that I can recall from this manufacturer..."

HiFi News
January 2022
www.hifinews.co.uk
By Ken Kessler

Precision manufacturing, state-of-the-art materials and magnet technologies combine in this new addition to the ‘Exclusives’ MC range – the ultimate blend of art and science?

"...it (the MC Verismo - red.) is nothing short of sensational.

...The MC Verismo, too, is the coolestlooking cartridge I’ve seen

...Bless ’em: there was no doubt from the moment the stylus settled into the groove that I was in the presence of something not just special but memorable.

...Thus the MC Verismo ticked another box, if convincing portrayal is the ultimate objective: there was absolutely no element which sounded inconsistent with the rest of the sonic picture. Textures were so believable that I am sure seasoned musicians would be able to identify the makers of the instruments being played.

...the MC Verismo was responsible for one of the once-ayear-if-you’re-lucky moments..."

HiFi Test, Germany
January 2022
www.hifitest.de
By Holger Barske

"...It (the MC Verismo - red.) reveals such a disembodied lightness, such a successful detachment of the sound image from the speakers, as I have rarely experienced. I find the tonality perfectly straight, without even the slightest favoritism to any frequency region.

...The outstanding Ortofon Verismo is definitely one of the best cartridges of our time and sounds incredibly natural, delicate, balanced, and natural."

Read the full review here: HiFi Test

www.stereophile.com
December 2021
By Michael Fremer

"...the Verismo revealed its basic sonic character to be more similar to that of the Anna Diamond than the Windfeld Ti, with an overall "faster" sound featuring sharper, more finely drawn high-frequency transients yet with a lush and generous midrange and a somewhat tighter, nimbler, better-controlled bottom end—knit together into a coherent sonic package.

...It (the MC Verismo - red.) sings in a timbrally neutral voice that doesn't call attention to itself. On the finest true stereophonic recordings, the Verismo—like the Anna Diamond—deftly places well-focused, three-dimensional images in a natural-sounding space."

Read the full review here: Stereophile

www.hifistatement.net
October 2021
By Dirk Sommer

"...The Verismo is in the best Ortofon tradition: It plays tonally balanced and coherently conveys a realistic illusion of space and spoils with a lot of details... the Ortofon Verismo, succeeds in combining harmony, details and feelings. And the Replicant 100 (diamond - red.) cut of the Verismo makes an old record sound like new: an absolute pleasure... the Verismo clearly shows the differences.

...The Verismo has all the positive features that you would expect from a high-end cartridge from Ortofon, including absolutely balanced frequency response, attention to detail, strong timbres, a widely extended spatial representation and good compatibility with quite different tonearms. In addition, the Verismo plays incredibly exciting and emotional. And then this speed – fantastic!

Design elements and high-end materials

The housing of the Verismo cartridge is made in Titanium with the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technique pioneered by Ortofon. This technique allows for precise control of the density of the body material, allowing for extremely high internal damping.
The MC Verismo makes use of Ortofon’s Replicant 100 diamond. This Line Contact type stylus distinguishes itself by having a narrow and long contact surface, which is as close as possible to the original cutting stylus. This ensures the most accurate reproduction, lowest distortion and extended frequency range.
The addition of a solid Diamond cantilever provides the best possible interface between the stylus and armature, owing to its hardness and crystal structure. The improvements found in the use of a Diamond cantilever have redefined the boundaries of analogue reproduction, presenting greater inner detail, subtlety, and depth like never before.

Performance with a range of compatibility

In the MC Verismo the cartridge’s contact with the tonearm takes place through three well-defined contact points placed on the top side of the cartridge. This means that the mechanical integration of the cartridge and the tonearm arm is always absolutely perfect and will result in a significant and breathtaking increase in dynamics, resolution, and richness in detail.

With optimized weight and moderate compliance to suit the majority of modern tonearms, the MC Verismo is easily compatible with an endless array of contemporary high-end turntable equipment.

Output voltage at 1 kHz, 5cm/sec.

0.2 mV

Channel balance at 1 kHz

0.5 dB

Channel separation at 1 kHz

25 dB

Channel separation at 15 kHz

20 dB

Frequency response

20 Hz-20 kHz +2 dB/- 1 dB

Tracking ability at 315 Hz at recommended tracking force

80 µm

Compliance, dynamic, lateral

13 µm/mN

Stylus type

Special polished Nude Ortofon Replicant 100 on  Diamond Cantilever

Stylus tip radius

r/R 5/100 µm

Tracking force range 

2.5-2.8 g (25-28 mN)

Tracking force, recommended

2.6 g (26 mN)

Tracking angle

23°

Internal impedance, DC resistance

7 Ohm

Recommended load impedance  

> 10 Ohm

Coil wire material

Aucurum, gold-plated, 6NX oxygen free copper

Cartridge body material

SLM Titanium

Cartridge colour

Silver

Cartidge weight

9.5 g

User Reviews

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