Lyra Titan i and Olympos SL

With regard to the Titan i and it's ability to perform well. I personally think it is one of the most balanced cartridges available. I've listened to this cartridge in many systems and it is definitely a top performer.

With Skala owners mentioning, and reviews reporting, that it is significantly better than the Helikon in terms of how it scales and its refinement. Having listened to many very well regarded cartridges and believing that the Skala tended to be more balanced from top to bottom than many of the others. That's not to say that some of those cartridges did some things better. However, as stated before, the Skala was more balanced overall. Especially in the bass response and it's ability to portray what's on the recording in the low registers.

I mentioned all this to come to my thoughts on the Titan i. The Titan i, from my experience, is above the Skala (which is better than the Helikon IMO) in terms of refinement and detail retrieval. Of all the cartridges I've listened to, it has outpaced the other cartridges I've listened to for overall performance and refinement. However, the cartridge setup is very important with the Titan i. To get the most from this cartridge, there must be a good amount of care in setup. This is no different for any line contact cartridge although some are more forgiving than others. The Titan i is an extremely dynamic cartridge, there is a great deal of detail and refinement from this cartridge as well. IMO, every type of music seams to flow from this cartridge with ease.

Based on Jcarr's posts, my personal observations, and the posts of others above, I believe the Olympos to be I bit sweeter or slightly on the romantic side. This would be very slightly.

From my perspective with experience and knowledge gained I'd classify the Titan i as truthful, revealing, and very refined. I'd classify the Olympos as being the same, only providing a more favorable version of the truth.

In closing, I think it's very easy to not like the truth, or to not prefer the cartridge/arm/phonostage performance and attribute it to one device, or to not like the combination paired with downstream components that don't play well together, or a host of other things. As with any cartridge, the bottom line many be that the cartridge may not be a good match for the system.

Hope this helps,
Dre

Jonathan Carr once mentioned a Lyra Titan I SL. I know this exists in Mono. From what I understand this would surpass the Titan I but I tried to source one in Stereo to no avail. If that can be found it would be amazing. By the way, SL stands for single layer (of coils) or lower output. I assume slightly faster w. more detail but you need a better phono stage for the reduced output. And having owned tons of cartridges (about 10 in the same price range) it is currently my favorite and not in the least bit cool. If you set it up wrong it will be cool though. Actually, it is warmer than some others and warmer than the Skala for sure. It is very neutral but the Olympus leans to the Koetsu side of things ever so slightly. I find the Titan I a true bargain in comparison to many cartridges out there. I know it isn't cheap but I don't think more money will get you much better, just different. A lot of the best rooms at RMAF were using either a Skala, Titan or Titan I. On a Graham Phantom I am able to get a perfect resonant frequency of 10 hz vertical & horizontal which is quite impressive. But.. putting it on my SQ just brought up the level of performance to something special. It for me is a very well made cartridge that is reference grade. I prefered it to my ZYX Universe as it was more natural & musical sounding w. better bass & dynamics in my setup. The ZYX had a touch more detail and better microdynamics (not macro). But I do miss my ZYX for that last bit of detail. So if a Titan I SL could exist then wow. The detail w. it all. If your system is full or thin then the Titan I won't be the best choice.

Mosin may have misread my response, or else I miswrote it.

The Olympos is not the finest cartridge I've heard and I did not say so. I said it sounds "glorious" and then asked the OP to consider whether that's what he's seeking. In short, I agree with Dre and Dgad regarding its sound.

Whether one wants a glorious sounding cartridge is a personal question. IME not all recorded music is well served by "a brush of mink". For my ears, recorded music is served best when reproduced as accurately as possible. The Olympos is certainly good at that, better than 90% of the cartridges out there, but compared to the very best its "glorious-ness" means that it's less than (or maybe more than) honest. Your choice whether that's what you want.

I would never describe the best turntable I've heard (Mosin's own Saskia) as sounding "glorious", since that would be an insult which it did nothing to earn. What his table sounds like, more than any other I've heard, is no table at all. I rarely pay audio compliments, preferring descriptors instead, but "nothing" would be the highest compliment I know.

The OP didn't ask about other cartridges, but if he had I'd have said what Halcro did, assuming well matched components and a willingness to do the work that a UNIverse requires to give its best. IME no other cartridge, including an Olympos or a Titan, is quite as demanding of (or responsive to) exacting setup and fine tuning.

Dear Tora: As always the quality performance in cartridges is system dependent especially on tonearm and Phonolinepreamp.

It is system dependent because every single home audio system is different from others due ( mainly ) to owner priorities that in the best cases are good priorities due to owner in deep know-how on audio and music but normally is not in this way and several audio systems are really with out synergy and heavy colored and that's why there are big differences in the individual opinions.

I heard the Titan-i in at least five systems ( including mine ) and I like what I heard only in two of them where IMHO the systems have real/true synergy, what I heard?: a natural performance with very good tonal balance top to bottom with no frequency range superior to other fast attack/transients and with transparency all over the frequency spectrum, it is perfect: no, nothing is and you can detect that the Titan is not the best tracker and time t time you can hear tracking distortion that can give to the high frequency range a false spark that heard like over-detailed.

The Olympos is totally different ( very low output say to start against the Titan. ) and here as important as is the tonearm the Phonolinepreamp has to be first rate nothing less.
The Olympos IMHO is way better performer than any of the other cartridges named here ( I already heard all them ), when you listen the very first recording notes you know with out any doubt that everything is right on target forget about the cartridge and all the hardware and start to enjoy the music alone, this fact makes that the Olympos is on other level than the Titan that when you are hearing it you know is a cartridge/hardware because its performance remind you it is a cartridge what you are hearing,instead with the Olympos you are inside the music.

The Olympos is very near/nearest I can say almost there to the best 2-3 MM quality performers including: no tracking ( or very low ) distortion.

Tora, btw which is your analog rig? are you prepared for the Olympos needs? or the Titan needs? Why don't you share with us your system components and what you are looking for on cartridges, as a fact there are several and very good alternatives about.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

I would like to thank Dougdeacon, Halcro, Mosin, Dre j, Dgad and rauliruegas for their replies. They are all very helpful to give me an idea of what to expect from the sonic differences of these two cartridges, especially in relation to the Lyra Olympos. Here in U. K. it is almost impossible to be able to hear these two fine cartridges in an A-B comparison in a hi-end shop. Hence I seek for advice from members of Audiogon. I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year... and as they said,'keep those black discs spinning!'