@jollytinker
I'm sure Arthur's ultra hi-end system is better than mine, along with his ability to buy cartridges like ZYX Universe II. I have owned Zyx Airy 3 and later upgraded to Zyx premium 4D (thanks to mehran at sorasound). it was long time ago, but at that time i've bought dedicated Zyx headamp especially for my Zyx cartridge (based on Arthur's review when he praised so much this Zyx CPP-1 pre-preamp compared to many top SUTs). My ZYX Premium 4D SB2 was new and very nice from the start, i didn't noticed huge improvement in the first 50 hrs, can't remember how long i've been using my ZYX since then, but not so long unfortunately, later i have stupidly broke the cantilever! Luckily my back up cartridge was Audio-Technica ART-2000 Ltd. To be honest the price difference between $4500 Zyx (+ special Zyx CPP-1 headapm) and used $700 AT-ART2000 compared to the difference in sound quality between those carts, make me think the AT is a better cartridge.They are both high-resolution superb cartridges, but one can do everything (or a little less) just for 1/6 of the price of another, without hustle with sut or headamp.
Anyway, when some people prefer different sound than Audio-Technica's house sound, i can totaly understand that. For some reason my vintage Argent MC500HS high output MC with sapphire cantilever sounds much better to my ears than any other MCs i have tried, including the most expensive ZYX Premium 4D. Maybe i will change my opinion when i will find something better, who knows.
If you read Arthur Salvatore's description of the Zyx Universe II, he's nearly in tears on first listening to it because the cart sounds so awful. And yet by 50 hours it's the finest cartridge he has ever heard. that's a pretty radical difference. One may or not agree with him in general but he does have a ton of experience and a highly resolving system.
I'm sure Arthur's ultra hi-end system is better than mine, along with his ability to buy cartridges like ZYX Universe II. I have owned Zyx Airy 3 and later upgraded to Zyx premium 4D (thanks to mehran at sorasound). it was long time ago, but at that time i've bought dedicated Zyx headamp especially for my Zyx cartridge (based on Arthur's review when he praised so much this Zyx CPP-1 pre-preamp compared to many top SUTs). My ZYX Premium 4D SB2 was new and very nice from the start, i didn't noticed huge improvement in the first 50 hrs, can't remember how long i've been using my ZYX since then, but not so long unfortunately, later i have stupidly broke the cantilever! Luckily my back up cartridge was Audio-Technica ART-2000 Ltd. To be honest the price difference between $4500 Zyx (+ special Zyx CPP-1 headapm) and used $700 AT-ART2000 compared to the difference in sound quality between those carts, make me think the AT is a better cartridge.They are both high-resolution superb cartridges, but one can do everything (or a little less) just for 1/6 of the price of another, without hustle with sut or headamp.
Anyway, when some people prefer different sound than Audio-Technica's house sound, i can totaly understand that. For some reason my vintage Argent MC500HS high output MC with sapphire cantilever sounds much better to my ears than any other MCs i have tried, including the most expensive ZYX Premium 4D. Maybe i will change my opinion when i will find something better, who knows.