For jazz and classical I could easily live the MP-200 and never feel the need to hear anything better. I’ve owned the MP-500 and don’t think it’s as good. I do like MP-300. I think the compliance number listed for the OMB-10 at turntableneedles.com is incorrect, but I can't find the offical Ortofon chart at the moment to verify that. The table is actually current connected to a DJ mixer (Pioneer DJM-800). Maybe this is a gain staging issue on the input? I will try lowering the gain, and turning up the master to see if that has any effect. Very hard to diagnose without knowing the state of your records. I would buy or borrow a record which is known to sound great and hear what happens then.

Re. the AT 440mlb , I tried one of those for a while and didn't really like the sound, I found it a bit 'bright' and tiring to listen to ... much the same as you. Many others around here loved it though, so we are all different in our perspectives ... I have been reading a lot of posts on this great forum since then, never dared posting as I could find most of the answers here, and was not knowledgeable enough to help I think. Vinyl Rega Planar 2, Incognito rewire, Deepgroove subplatter, ceramic bearing, Michell Technoweight, Rega 24V motor, TTPSU, FunkFirm Achroplat platter, Michael Lim top and bottom braces, 2 Rega feet and one RDC cones. Grado Sonata, Moon 110 LP phono. Detail subtleties are also dealt with proficiently, and the vocals on the Dixie Cups' Chapel of Love possess an insight that's great at this price level. Thanks 02audionoob! Your post are always helpful and have focused my search. So, i think i'll wait on the Nagaoka for a different table. As far as the Ortofon's, the 2M Red rated compliancy is 20, isn't that considered high? I remember your post of OM10 as well, which is essentially the reason why I was able to widdle down my options.top end and high midrange was noticably restricted,high treble in particular sounded muffled and generally absent...detail levels were low and the lumpy bloated bass was devoid of any real articulation... After proper alignment and setup, I set VTF to 1.9 and started listening to my N°1 favorite record for assessing sound: (Getz/Gilberto/Jobim).

Good advice, probably, to spend a little more and just get the Ortofon 2M Blue. But then, I wonder, what would the comparison be moving up to, say, the Nagaoka MP-150...etc. And then....getting into spending more money. But I think most people - me included - get cought to some YT vids and the praise for the Nagaoka MP-110 and the hype was there. Before the hype I didn't even know much about that brand Nagaoka, beides they make nice inner sleeves. Anyway, sounds good to me for now, time to spend some time listening to good records instead of playing with dip switches ;) ;)The most annoying part about this is that these records that I am playing are NM to VG+. These are not old records with various amounts of wear and tear. Also, these are new pressings, that sound absolutely fine on the Ortofon. Could an alignment issue be the cause of this issue? I've aligned it to the best of my ability, so even if it's not perfect, it shouldn't be causing this much popping/sounds. For AT, well, I like the VM95SH just a bit more than the ML, but neither are a pimple on a Nag to my ears. Both are real nice, but they just can’t match a MP-110. The MP-110 reveals a sweet midrange, although we'd like some more bass weight to support its light and breezy character. So the OP has now a lot of different opinions to choose from. Let us know which one you bought and if you like it. TT is a Denon DP23-F that I got a few months ago "almost new" for €40 in replacement of my AT-LP5 that I never really liked.