Lyra Delos A truth teller or what?

I am also noticing that the Delos likes silver wiring.  I installed some silver headshell wire and it has made a difference for the better.  To these ears at least

I use a basic Denon 103r for checking the tone and timbre of my system. If my system sounds fine (tonally balanced and musically right) with the 103/103r then I proceed to change carts or cables to take it to the next level. In that respect the Delos has always sounded bright and thin in my system where the 103r sounds nice and balanced. Denon does not have the refinement and outright resolution of the Delos but in terms of getting a studio like tone, it does the job very well.

Having said that I like the Delos when playing classical music. Its dynamics standout and that makes it exciting for the classical.

It's good to have a stable, neutral reference.

I recommend using your digital rig for this purpose.  Digital has given us several gifts - rock solid "speed stability" along with the fact it's repeatable - no tracking force, VTA/SRA, and azimuth to doubt yourself over.

Once you get to know your digital rig I think it's the quickest, most dependable means of assessing the overall tonality of your analog rig.

The added benefit (assuming that your digital source is reasonably competent) is that you'll voice your system to not favor one source over the other.  Considering the object is to be able to enjoy as many of your recordings as possible, this is not a trivial point - at least to me.

I am also noticing that the Delos likes silver wiring.  I installed some silver headshell wire and it has made a difference for the better.  To these ears at least.

Silver wire gets a bad rap - blame the messenger and all that.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design

I recommend using your digital rig for this purpose. Digital has given us several gifts - rock solid "speed stability" along with the fact it's repeatable - no tracking force, VTA/SRA, and azimuth to doubt yourself over.

While I get your point, a digital source will not allow me judge the tonality of my TT, tonearm, phonostage and tonearm cable combination. Whether I am judging a turntable, cartridge, tonearm, phonostage or tonearm cable, a 103r gives me a great baseline of where things are. I will not use a Delos to do that simply because it is voiced. I have heard a Linn Kandid and that sounded very good.

By the way, I had a decent Naim CDP for sometime. While it did give some idea about the rest of the system’s voicing, the difference in dynamics, resolution and transparency that a quality analog rig (with a good phonostage) brings in even with a lowly 103r is so tremendous that I stopped making any comparison. I still agree that for measuring speed stability and transient response a good digital rig can come in handy, except that you may not know which element of the analog rig is at fault.

Indeed, we listen to vinyl for a reason, but I didn't have to tell you that ;-)

Digital can be useful for raw frequency response comparisons, but of course, the harmonic structure of most digital and vinyl is worlds apart. 

With a bit of familiarization, you can make some mental translations which can sometimes be helpful in diagnosis.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design