The Songbird comes in at a much needed price point perfect for launching the part-time audiophile into some serious listening. As its name suggests this open-architecture moving coil cartridge excels at providing colorful and rich vocals and highlights the powerful low and mid-end of funk and rock. The long 7-micron stylus face will handle different cutting angles well and this cartridge is also great at providing some excitement to otherwise anemic classical system setups.