I use shure, ortofon, grado, audio-technica, grace, denon, vestax, and micro-acustic phono cartridges.

it's crisp sonic quality and clean audio output

I use mine in my tiny production room at the public radio station where I work and get quite a lot of clear, crisp audio from it, but only because I have the proper board and wiring to pull that sound... and, even still, it's a monitor, not a surround setup