Analog Gear News

Can it be we’re just days away from High End Munich 2025? (That was a rhetorical question, mind you.) As we await Munich 2025’s official start later this week, we’ll be previewing some of the new gear that’s launching/debuting at the big show, including the Nagaoka MP-700 cartridge.

For starters, to commemorate their 85th anniversary, the respected Japanese company tells us that their new MP-700 cart will be available worldwide starting tomorrow, May 13, 2025, and it will launch officially in Munich. The MP-700 is further noted to be designated as the top-of-the-line model in Nagaoka’s esteemed MP series.

Nagaoka confirms that the MP-700 sports a Moving Permalloy (MP) design, which, compared to the conventional moving magnet (MM) type, utilizes a lightweight permalloy piece attached to the cantilever. This design is said to “significantly reduce” mass, allowing the stylus to “move with greater freedom and precision,” resulting in a “more refined and accurate sound reproduction.”

The MP-700 cart also boasts a boron cantilever paired with a new microridge nude diamond stylus that measures 0.12 x 0.3mil. This cart also incorporates the softest damper, which is said to enable “lighter” cantilever movement to improve responsiveness. While this can often lead to questions about instability, Nagaoka points out that the MP-700 addresses those concerns with a newly integrated suspension wire in the pivot system as a countermeasure. That suspension wire effectively controls the movement of both the cantilever and stylus, providing stability while preserving enhanced clarity, particularly in the treble range. As a result, Nagaoka adds, this feature “improves separation, increases clarity across all frequencies, and ensures accurate representation of bass tones and timbre.”

The MP-700 cart features a shielded case and cartridge frame crafted from ultra-duralumin, enhanced with a three-layer surface treatment — nickel plating, black tin plating, and an insulating coating. This treatment minimizes static interference, improves heat and wear resistance, and preserves the exterior’s longevity.

Specs for the MP-700 include output voltage given as 4mv (1khz, 5cm/sec), frequency response as 20-27,000Hz, channel separation as 30dB (1kHz), channel balance as 1.0dB or less (1kHz), recommended load impedance as 47kΩ, recommended load capacitance as 100µf, and vertical tracking force as 1.4g. The cartridge weight is given as 8.0g, or 26.3g including the headshell.

Finally, the SRPs are as follows: $1,499 for the MP-700H (cartridge with headshell); $1,399 for the MP-700 (cartridge); and $789 for the JN-P700 (replacement stylus).

For more about Nagaoka, go here.
To find an authorized Nagaoka distributor, go here.