Munich 2025

Our High End Munich 2025 coverage continues, so let’s get right to it!

Nagaoka, the 85-year-old Japanese phono cartridge and accessories makers, showed their latest cartridge, the MP-700, at the big show. We had previewed it A HREF=" https://www.analogplanet.com/content/nagaoka-mp-700-cartridge-high-end-munich-2025-preview">here on AP back on May 12, 2025, but now we finally had the chance to actually experience it in person and share more details about it.

The Nagaoka MP-700 cart is a new flagship for the company’s long-established MP cartridge range of six other models (plus two MP-Mono versions) that are neither MC nor MM but closer to MM in principle, load resistance (47kohms), and output. That said, they’re more similar to Moving Iron cartridges overall, according to Nagaoka.

The “MP” stands for Moving Permalloy, Nagaoka’s proprietary method of power generation: A thin, very-low-mass “super” permalloy element is wrapped around the boron cantilever. (Boron cantilevers are used in the MP lineup’s top three cartridge models, plus the new MP-700; the other three MP models use aluminum alloy.) A samarium cobalt magnet magnetizes the permalloy, a method that Nagaoka claims “enhances the freedom of the vibration system, enabling more faithful sound reproduction.”

In addition to the MP-700’s new magnetic circuitry, its Microridge naked diamond stylus — the first in the MP series of that design type — and suspension wires are reported to improve the cart’s tracking abilities and way with musical detail. An insulated coating on the cartridge body’s interior is said to block electromagnetic interference. The MP-700, priced at $1,399 (or $1,499 for the MP-700H, including headshell), is spec’d to output 4mV, putting it in the ballpark of MM carts and easing amplification requirements.

The MP-700 cart was presented on a classic Technics turntable with its signal wired into a Blue Amp Model Fughetta MC MM phono preamp that was connected to Technics integrated stereo amp powering a pair of Audio Physic speakers. The demo system was setup in one of the big, busy show “halls” (specifically, Halle 3), so proper listening wasn’t actually possible at this time.

Nagaoka also is known for their broad range of made-in-Japan phono accessories for record cleaning and care, including record cleaning kits, brushes, fluids, label protectors, and more. Their clear plastic record sleeves are ubiquitous in many markets worldwide.

Nagaoka products generally appear to be affordable. One example: the Argento Ultra Fine record-cleaning brush (for cleaning with fluid) with attachable case made with ultra-fine, 0.01mm thick fiberglass fibers. It has an SRP of about $42.

Elsewhere in Halle 3, Korf introduced a new tonearm, the TA-CF9 reference tonearm (from €5,900). The Korf TA-CF9 features a monocrystallic sapphire arm tube with a full ceramic headshell and ceramic vertical bearings that have very low friction characteristics. The monocrystalline material is said to be approximately one-third stronger than polycrystalline (which is used in other companies’ arm tubes).

Korf’s Director of Development and Technologies Alexey Korf (a.k.a. Kornienkov) explained that they switched the arm’s pillar from aluminum to steel for better bass foundation — per requests from customers who wanted to hear more bass presence in their full-range systems. The new arm also embodies some cosmetic changes. Available in 9in and 10in versions, the TA-CF9 uses Cardas Litz wiring and gold-plated contact pins, according to information from Korf.

Korf also showed their TA-SF9R Series II tonearm (from €2,600), a 9in model with steel arm tube and included replaceable ceramic headshell with Cardas Litz wiring. Now in its third version, the replaceable “industry standard” headshell is now slimmer with a more rigid connection, and is reported to be more suitable for use on Technics turntables, among others. (Prior iterations had been too “tall” for use with some Technics turntables, for instance.)

Part 4 of my Munich 2025 show report is coming soon!

Author bio: Julie Mullins, a lifelong music lover and record collector since age 10 who takes after her audiophile father, is also a contributing editor and reviewer on our sister site, Stereophile, for whom she also writes the monthly Re-Tales column. A former fulltime staffer at Cincinnati’s long-running alt-weekly CityBeat, she programs and hosts a weekly radio show on WAIF called On the Pulse.

For even more High End Munich 2025 coverage, go here on our sister site Stereophile.