Ok....once you get it, the Delos will show you what a very good cymbal and drum kit should sound like on the second side of the record on the tune "The song is you". (actually the entire record)Excellent fidelity!..... listen to all 3 musicians with the back and forth conversation . Its sad to think but no more new tunes from this trio because of Keith Jarrett's stroke and the recent passing of Gary Peacock. Grab all vinyl releases you can of this trio bro, and future albums when they are released....they are a worthy addition to your studio. And if anyone is wondering why I know about the Delos,...not being an owner...those in the know have said the Delos, Kleos, and Songbird , Starling are brothers from another mother. (Lyra and Sumiko.) Said to be very similar and close in what they all do only with a little different character.
hoping to get it this week, ordered that, a Brad Meldau record and an Art Pepper LP from my local record store guy.
I JUST today got my Delos to replace my AT33PTG/II. I'm so in love with this thing it's unreal!! It brings a resolution and transparency that is out of this world, and it has plenty of treble. I prefer carts with a fairly tipped up treble response so I'm good in that department. Things that I heard faintly become very obvious and clear as well as things I hadn't heard was there. Bass is very strong and powerful (what else do you expect with a subwoofer? Lol) And records where inner groove performance dropped noticeably all of a sudden were cleaned up. I couldn't be happier with this d**n thing and I'm so stoked about our journey together!!
care to post any needledrop samples at33ptg/2 vs Lyra Delos just changing the carts and leaving the components? OK, the settings such as Impedance can be optimized, but not the chain elements themselves.
I actually have no way of doing that. I don't have anything with a USB besides my old DD turntable which at only $449 is most likely not enough to get the best out of the Lyra. Now if you can tell me what you use to do this process, I'll look into doing comparisons at a later time period. I recently switched from a DJ Audio Technica turntable to the Mofi Studiodeck which was of course a big improvement
Ok, these are Lyra Etna needledrops but they do illustrate how the gear and cart EQ influences the outcome The first is the top-line Technics 1200 and the second is MF’s own Continuum. (Fast-forward to the halfway mark if you want to skip the story) Granted, if the 1200 had a better tonearm it might alter one’s views slightly, but perhaps not(!) Enjoy. :^)
I'd not touch any TT with USB with a barge pole. Any sound card in 24/96 would do. I can't recommend any specific one, since I am on Busman-modded Korg MR-1000 myself. What I'd do for comparisons like this would be calibrating the recording level between the tested cartridges using any test record record with a steady 1 kHz tone at say 5cm/sec and set it to show -20 dB Full Scale peak at the input of the recording device.
Interesting thread over on AK where a Delos is compared to a Denon DL-103 that I'm involved in. BillWojo
Update. I now have ~ 140 hours on the Delos and the sound is pure gold. A forever component in the chain (the does not last forever unfortunately)
I have now clocked nearly 1300 hrs on my Delos. Like some others here, I tend to get edgy at the 1200 hr mark but it has been an exemplary performer throughout its life. I recall Len Gregory’s (RIP) response to one of my emails regarding my MM3. He would recommend having carts inspected, re-tipped or replaced at a maximum of 1200 hrs regardless of the quality & finish of the diamond.
I have not heard a ton of high end MC's but the best I've heard is the Delos. Would love to own one someday, the 2k price tag is more than I really want to part with though. Never know though........
Kind of a silly thread, doesn't really have much to do with Lyra, not really anything in the way of comparisons, seems to be mostly arguing about what kind of tonearm the 103 needs. Kinda typical
Davey, go read that thread again, tonearm discussion comes in a bit later, Lot's of discussion on the sonic traits of the two. The same traits about the Lyra are brought up over and over in this thread. Any discussion about a particular cart should include a discussion of the tonearms that match it. A bad mis-match = lousy performance. And vise versa. BillWojo
Well I guess that means it's right at home on my Studiodeck! I'm buzzed so excuse my excitement lmbo.
@Heckto35, sounds like you have a great match up. Not sure what arm your deck uses but you might want to mention it as a reference point for others. When the synergy is real, it can not be denied. BillWojo
Never mind, I found the thread. Perhaps I missed it...but what loading and capacitance was used with the Delos? Lyra is very specific about the importance of capacitance if the best sound is to be obtained from their moving coil designs.
They didn't state loading and capacitance but two of those members that have that cartridge are well versed in cartridge loading. I would trust that they had the cartridge optimized. I'm not in anyway putting the Lyra cartridges down, I'm sure they are very good but most folks on here will never every spend that kind of money on a cartridge. That includes me as well. I was just interested in the comparison to a cartridge that I really like that is 15% of it's cost. And when the cheaper cartridge is worn out it can be upgraded to be competitive with the Lyra cartridge at less than 25% of the cost of the Lyra. When Steve at VAS Audio rebuilt mine he told me that when he listened to it, it sounded like a 2K cartridge, I thought it was hyperbole, apparently not. High end cartridges are out of reach for most folks if they even know about them. But to be able to have a cartridge that gives you a taste of that with a modest investment and one that sounds so musical as well is a good thing to know about. It's not uncommon to see the Denon DL-103 being used at audio shows with super high end gear. And more than one audiophile has made the rounds with various MC carts and came back to the first one he tried, the Denon. I'm sure that there are other carts that beat it, hands down. Not saying that it's the best, I know it's not, it's just one of the most popular MC cartridges made, has a cult like following and has been in continuous production since 1962 when it was designed for the broadcast industry. Still a bargain at it's current price. BillWojo
I am NOT a Lyra owner, so I am not here to argue whether the Denon 103 comes “X” close to a Lyra Delos in sound quality. However, I do have some input to share for anyone considering a phono cartridge purchase. I’ve owned several phono cartridges (many from Denon) throughout my audiophile life: Denon DL-160, DL-110, DL-103, DL-304 Shelter 501 Nagaoka MP-500 Audio-Technica AT33EV, AT33PTG/II Sumiko Blackbird Lo (latest iteration) Many of these cartridges have been used on three different tables with four different arms and several phono stages. As my tables, arms and equipment have changed/improved, I found it easier to hear and distinguish the differences offered by the various makes/models of cartridges in my stable. If set-up correctly, phono cartridges with more exotic stylus tips (Shibata, line contact, micro ridge) track better than cartridges with more traditional shapes (elliptical, spherical, conical). This, of course, is my own opinion based on listening results from use of such stylus. However, it often takes a lot time and effort to get these specimens dialed in to perform optimally. I’ve noticed an improvement in my analog system playback each time I have stepped-up in terms of the stylus used. In pretty much every case, this meant paying more for a cartridge with a better stylus. Before I acquired my latest cartridge (a Sumiko Blackbird Lo) I considered offerings from both Benz Micro and Lyra. Benz was in a distribution nightmare here in the U.S. and had just discontinued the model I was looking at (Glider). As it turns out, the Blackbird was also being discontinued (but easily available), and I was able to snag one for a nicely discounted price. The original Blackbird had an elliptical stylus mounted to an aluminum cantilever. A couple of years ago, Sumiko changed the Blackbird to incorporate a nude line-contact stylus and boron cantilever. They didn’t bother to make much noise about this, which was probably a large factor causing them to discontinue it. To date, the Sumiko Blackbird Lo is the finest performing AND sounding cartridge I have ever used…it’s also the most expensive. By performance I mean its tracking ability. I use my analog system mainly to rip vinyl. This means I have headphones on when cleaning-up and finalizing my rips. It’s amazing how much better this cartridge tracks than any of the others I have owned. The Blackbird also is revealing in a way that no other cartridge I have owned has been. It’s often a shock when I hear an album I have ripped before and I think, “I don’t ever recall THAT being there!”. Its sonic signature is quite beautiful – neutral in character but with detail at both frequency extremes. Interestingly, I found this cartridge was actually easier to mount and dial-in than others I have owned. While overhang has always been fairly easy to achieve, aligning the cantilever to the set-up grid markings is not. The exposed cantilever helps greatly here. These open body designs make it much easier to set this aspect of the cartridge - assuming one has the appropriate set-up tools and knowledge of what they are doing. Lots of talk about the Blackbird in a Lyra Delos thread…so what exactly is my point? It’s this. Every cartridge I have listed here has been enjoyed and sounded fine in its own right. I was happy with the various Denons until I switched to the Shelter. I was happy with the Shelter until I moved to the Nagaoka. The Nagaoka suited me better until I tried the EV. The EV was very good until I heard the PTGII. I lived with the PTGII for quite some time going back and forth between it and the EV and MP500. Once the Blackbird arrived and was properly broken in, it made me permanently retire my PTG/II. Sometimes less is more, but for phono cartridges I believe more often gets you more – in my case, a lot more. I will close by saying that those who are impressed with the Denon 103 in relation to a Delos should really try an Audio-Technica AT33PTG/II (if your tonearm will work with it). The 103 and PTG/II are in a similar price range, and I feel the PTG/II is both a better performing and better sounding cartridge than the 103.
nice history and comments, good progession. from your point of view i could not imagine that the Denon compares at all to the Delos unless people prefer less detail and a smooth broad brush sound. since you greatly prefer the AT33, my comparison to the Delos is the AT ART9, which reportedly is a decent step up over the AT33. Regardless, the ART9 cannot compete with the Delos, and I love the ART9. Delos vs. Denon? Cannot get on that train.
