Nagaoka MP-700H Phono Cartridge with Headshell

Nagaoka's flagship, factory-mounted on their solid aluminum headshell. Read the setup note below before you order — this one has a genuine compatibility catch, and we'd rather tell you now than after it arrives.

The MP-700 landed in May 2025 as the first new flagship the MP series had seen in roughly fifteen years, timed to Nagaoka's 85th anniversary. It isn't a refresh. There's a nude micro-ridge diamond cut to 0.12 x 0.3 mil on a boron cantilever, riding the softest damper in the entire range — with a new suspension-wire pivot structure added to keep that soft damper under control. Nagaoka also added a magnetic flux induction plate inside the cartridge to improve the efficiency of the magnetic circuit. The body is ultra-duralumin under a three-layer treatment of nickel plating, black tin, and an insulating coat that cuts static buildup and resists heat and wear.

The numbers that come out: 30dB channel separation, response to 27kHz, clean tracking at just 1.4 grams. Hi-Fi News measured class-leading distortion and found it corrects the gentle treble rolloff of the MP-500 outright. Several reviewers suspect Nagaoka's published figures are conservative. And all of it runs into an ordinary 47k MM input at 4mV — no step-up, no gain hunting, no loading experiments — with a user-replaceable JN-P700 stylus instead of a factory retip.

The setup note, and please read it. The MP-700H's aluminum headshell is substantial: 26.3 grams total with the cartridge, against roughly 16 grams for the MP-110H. That is heavy. One reviewer mounting it on a Technics SL-1200M7L had to add an auxiliary counterweight just to balance the arm at all. Hi-Fi News flagged the same issue and swapped to a lighter Technics headshell on an SL-1200GR2 — because the MP-700's very high compliance paired with a heavy shell can push the arm/cartridge resonance down into record-warp territory.

So here's our honest advice. If your arm has the counterweight range and you want a beautifully finished shell with the cartridge already aligned, this package is a pleasure. If you're on a lighter arm, or you already own a good low-mass headshell, buy the bare MP-700 instead — at 8 grams it mounts to almost anything. If you're not sure which camp you're in, call us or come in with your turntable model. This is exactly the question we're here for, and it's a lot cheaper to answer before the box is open.

Last thing: this is a micro-ridge profile, so VTA/SRA adjustment matters more here than anywhere else in the line. If your arm has it, spend an evening on it. The payoff is real.

• Nagaoka's flagship MP-700, factory pre-mounted on a solid aluminum Nagaoka headshell
• Launched 2025 for the company's 85th anniversary — first new flagship in roughly fifteen years
• Nude micro-ridge diamond stylus, 0.12 x 0.3 mil
• Low-mass, high-strength boron cantilever
• Softest damper in the MP range with new suspension-wire pivot structure
• Magnetic flux induction plate for improved magnetic circuit efficiency
• Ultra-duralumin body with three-layer nickel, black tin, and insulating treatment
• 30dB channel separation, response to 27kHz, class-leading distortion figures
• Tracks cleanly at just 1.4g
• 4mV output into any standard MM phono stage — no step-up required
• Replaceable JN-P700 stylus assembly
• Hand-assembled and individually tested in Higashine, Japan
• Heavy headshell: confirm your tonearm's counterweight range before ordering