Zyx vs. Van Den Hul

ZYX sounds more like music. It does not sound like the old Monster even though it is made by the same company. Natural, fun, balanced. VDH more etched (and that's not intended to be a positive), more unit to unit variation, fragile. I sell neither, have no affiliation with either.

Hey Frogman, I would have thought that you would have gone for a VDH Frog and not the MC1S :-)

The ZYX output figures are based on a different velocity (I think that's the parameter). Not sure about the technical details, but it results in a real world output that is quite a bit higher than the spec would suggest. You may want to talk to Mehran @ Sorasound who will give you the "skinny" on that. In the $2K range, you might be surprised at how far up the ZYX line he can get you. Disclaimer- Never heard a VDH cart.

Agree that Mehran at Sorasound is great to work with. He also often has ZYX carts from folks who have traded up. And he has these inspected by ZYX before reselling them, so you can buy with confidence.

I had a VDH Condor XGM for sometime. As someone has suggested, it has a very etched sound with a typical thin rising high frequency. Not at all to my taste. I had a ZYX and it was much more musical.