I have a TNT jr with flywheel, ET 2.5 tonearm going into a Herron VTPH2a phono stage. I had a lyra Delos for a year, broke the cantilever and bought another based on how much I liked it. Overall I used Delos' for about 4 years. A year and a half ago I switched to a Soundsmith Zephyr. It took a lot of effort to get Azimuth and VTA dialed in, but once I did, I was hearing details I've never heard before, and also got that "Master tape" impression a term I've used myself in discussing its presentation. The Zephyr gets out of the way, virtually no mechanical artifacts. Perhaps that does bring it closer to digital, but I would think in a good way. Both cartridges were set up with the Feickert system FWIW. When the old body Paua's went on sale, I sprung for one of those, even though there are still plenty of hours left on the Zephyr. I've had the Paua for about a 6 weeks now and I'm still dialing it in. Resolution is astounding, the soundstage is bigger and more integrated, dynamics are scary good, but I'm still dealing with some minor frequency balance issues. Tube rolling is making a difference, I'm trying for a little more warmth.
