Lyra Delos A truth teller or what?

It really depends. Lyra cartridges certainly are truth tellers.

Great recordings will sound great, bad invariably will sound bad unless the rest of your system is appropriately voiced and full range.

If your system is slightly lean or you use small two way speakers that don’t really go low in the bass frequencies, Lyra will not be for you.

If you have a neutral or slightly warm system and want more detail, Lyra will probably be a revelation.

J Carr has voiced the Delos to have a slightly bright top end to match more warm systems that need some detail.

I own the Delos, Etna SL and Atlas SL and have owned the Kleos and Atlas over the last 7 years so they have many hours on them. All Lyra carts are good for at least 2500-3000 hours if looked after.

Personally I could not think of a worse sounding cartridge than a rolled off Benz - but some like that sound.

choice your poison and enjoy.

I can only go by what I am told as my friend has had a Delos and it sounds fantastic in his system.  He said it takes a while for the Lyra to settle in.   The dealer said the same thing.  One thing I know is it is definitely not rolled off thats for sure.  Older recordings on six eye, living stereo, Mercurys, Londons do not sound bright at all.  They sound amazing to say the least.  They sound spooky real through the Delos.  I still think it will settle in somewhat but after 50 hours I think I am clearly starting to hear the personality of this cartridge on my system.  If I had a collection of primarily newer releases, the Delos would not be my first choice.  I may look into some of the more neutral cartridges mentioned in this thread.

The bass is fine.  It was not originally.  The lower midrange is still not there.  Hoping it gets a little better. I am loading at 100 ohms.  Had it at 91 at first but it did not sound right.  100 seems like a good starting point

As a test. Try 250 or 500 ohms.  You may get a little more midrange there.   Delos does not have much weigh in the upper bsss/lower mids.

The Delos can be a great sounding cart you just need to make sure you have the loading right, it is sensitive to the cabling (not expense or expensive cabling but capacitance) . As was mentioned try 250-500 ohms. Mine is at 330 Ohms and sounds very big and expansive, mids and lows are weighty and authoritative. Upper mids and highs are very clear but not too bright. It's a revealing cart for sure. I listen to a lot of both new music as well as old 50's and 60's I don't think it plays favorites on recordings. It's a colored cart for sure, but most are, it's just definitely not a soft sounding or overly warm sounding cart.