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Recommended Component 2025 – Stereophile
One of the Ten "Best Cartridges 2020" – What Hi-fi? Magazine
"A Full-Range, Highly Resolving Presentation"
Ortofon's 2M Blue moving magnet phono cartridge features a new, improved engine that provides an increased output of 5.5mV, an optimized sound reproduction, and a high level of sonic accuracy. The 2M Blue adds more dynamics and resolution, sounds more open and reproduces more details than its highly popular 'little brother,' the bestselling 2M Red cartridge.
"Recommended Component" Honors
Stereophile honored the Ortofon 2M Blue by awarding it the magazine's coveted Recommend Component status for 2025.
According to Stereophile, "BJR found that 'the transients and bloom of the string quartet were reproduced with no trace of coloration or smear. Superb transient articulation and dynamics. Competes with cartridges at double its price…'"
More "Best" Honors
Joe Svetlik in What Hi-fi? magazine featured the Black as one of the Ten Best Cartridges 2020. "This is a step up from the 2M Red in the number four slot in this list, and as such it's a little more pricey... So, sound? The Blue delivers a real sense of vitality to recordings, and brings a good sense of timing to proceedings… This is a very capable little cartridge indeed."
Part-Time Audiophile included the Black in its Best Phono Cartridges, Tonearms and Headshells, Buyers Guide 2022. "For many years, the high-output MM Ortofon 2M Blue has been the safe choice to recommend to your friends with simple analog rigs such as the lesser Regas, Pro-Jects and Fluances. The Blue might not be the last word in detail, and there is a bit of grain in the upper registers, but that’s only in comparison to cartridges that cost a lot more than the Blue. More than being one of the the best phono cartridges at its price. It’s easy to mount, easy to align and easy to listen to."
"With the 2M Blue ...you get the audiophile treatment: a full-range, highly resolving presentation that sounds neither stiff nor unforgiving," raves Mark Mickelson atThe Audio Beat. "In fact, the 2M Blue's balance, both tonally and in terms of overall resolution, may be its greatest feat. It's an easy cartridge to listen to…"
Elliptical Diamond Stylus
The 2M Blue Nude boasts an elliptical diamond stylus and split pole pins with a copper wire. Split pole pins are an invention that enables moving magnet cartridges to have a flat frequency response, as with a much higher-priced moving coil cartridge. Split pole pins were invented by Ortofon, and were originally presented in the 500 series and Super OM series.
Ortofon's 2M Series
The 2M Series is designed for precise and accurate retrieval of the information in the record groove. The 2M Series is developed in conjunction with the Danish Industrial designer Møller Jensen Design – the same designer who designed the award winning MC Jubilee and Kontrapunkt series. Inspired by the facets of a diamond, whose contours gracefully trace the grooves on a record’s surface, the 2M’s handsome elegance establishes a great combination of form and functionality.
The name 2M was selected from among several ideas. Ortofon wanted a modern name that would be easy to pronounce and remember, and therefore an alphanumerical name was chosen. 2M means MM, which is the abbreviation for moving magnet.
Of course the 2M isn’t just another pretty face. It has been engineered to the highest standards and is congruent with Ortofon’s unrelenting commitment to providing the most precise and accurate reproduction possible without coloration.
Easy Mounting
Ortofon has optimized the design for ease of mounting the cartridge, and the weight and size to fit the most common turntables on the market today. The 2M Series provides excellent compatibility when used in an assortment of playback systems and with a wide variety of phono preamps.
