Lyra Delos vs Grado Statement Reference low output

While I would never describe a Lyra as "rich" sounding, I do enjoy them for their ability to extract details, superb speed and tracking ability. The Grado Statement 1 in my experience is no slouch, however, it is far from the Lyra in terms of personality. Ying and Yang, if you will.

While I echo Tomjoe's statement in regard to musicality over hyped treble and artificiality, because I have Grado as well; I can understand why many "audiophile's" don't like Grado. "Rock", to my ears is noise. The majority of Audiophiles here, like Rock. Without a doubt, Grado is the least preferred cartridge for anyone who likes Rock. Rock enthusiasts don't like, or appreciate the nuances of female jazz vocalists, they prefer what to my ears is "Boom Bada Boom", consequently they prefer "hard" sounding cartridges that they call "fast". The bottom line is the cartridge best for you, depends on what kind of music you like.

Amazing the number of people who can comment on things but have no first hand knowledge of what they actually sound like.

Whether the Delos is too bright or the Grado too bass heavy and dull is largely dependent on taste and system balancing. Because I listen a lot to digital sources, as well as vinyl, I require a cartridge/phonostage combination that is most nearly matched, in terms of basic tonal balance, to digital sources. If the two are far apart, there is no way that a change in any other part of the chain can improve the sound of one without detracting from the other.

I think it would be harder to match the Grado with a phonostage to achieve a similar overall balance with digital sources than any Lyra cartridge. If one starts with the Grado and selects downstreamcomponents to complement the Grado sound, most digital sources would end up sounding lean and harmonically threadbare.

I also really wonder. I certain notice that the newer design cartridge tends to have more extended top, more detail and I think overall,actually more neutral than the older design cartridge. Some like it, some accuse the new design of being more digital like! Personally, I think this more digital like quality is not a bad thing. If the record contains all of these high frequency signal, why not play it. I don't think anyone is accusing Lyra or Air Tight of having hard, edgy, bright or whatever other digititis quality associating with digital gear but is simply not as roll off as some of the other cartridges.