We're coming to the break in point with this cart as its really starting to make music. It performs well on the inner grooves, runs pretty quiet on noisy/crackly records, punchy, dynamic, and detailed without being in your face. I spun a brand new 180g reissue of The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour, fantastic all the way through, also spun my well worn original issue of The Doors LA Woman (side B) no inner groove distortion heard, just sounded great.
TL;DR can't beat it with a stick for $50 Freedom bux ($75 Maple syrups?)
And the LP Gear 78 stylus for the AT3600 is great too for you guys who like to hear shellac. Sounds awesome in the Rega tonearm with a dime on the headshell tracking at 4-ish grams.
Equipment used in test: Rek-O-Kut Rondine B-12H, Rega RB-300 tonearm (bog stock), Wyn Palmer Proto-Pyxi Phono Preamp @36dB, MiniDSP 4x10HD, WOPL 400 Series 1, WOPL 700B, Altec 807-8A (GPA Diaphragms)/811 horns, Altec 422-8Zs/in Altec 1202 cabs, JBL Northridge 12" Sub