Retip for zyx

@roscoeiii ,I too am interested in hearing from people that have farmed out the rebuild or retip from an outside source and their impressions of the results. To get started I will list my take on the few I have done. All of these have been Soundsmith 2nd or 3rd level saphire/ruby rebuilds. She!ter 501, level 2, sounded slightly better than stock, Koetsu Goldline Black, level 2, sounded lot better than stock, Lyra Helkon, level 2, WOW, Shelter 901, level 3, another WOW, Dynavector DRT XV1s, level 3, this was a lateral move at best, when I do the DRT XV1s that I run now in another arm wand I will still use Soundsmith but use a retip instead. Am just waiting on my ZYX Universe to show distress and will be sending it to Soundsmith for a retip which I will consult with the owner. Will report back here after done and broken in.

Soundsmith did a great job on my Transfiguration Spirit.  I recall that when I replaced the Spirit with an Orpheus, I remembered a big step up in sound quality.  When I installed the Spirit after it came back, I was expecting a big downgrade, but it wasn't.  Sounded absolutely fine, even compared to the Orpehus.  Could be that the Spirit was worn when I upgraded, so an improvement is easily heard, or just that Soundsmith actually improved the sound of the original.  I don't know and I don't really care why.  I just know I'm happy with the cartridge and I paid $500, not $5000, so it's cool.  Enjoy. 

@chayro, yea the $ spent versus the quality of sound that you receive from the retip/rebuild is so wide that I would never be able to afford replacing the carts that I have now, just need to be informed if possible on the right way to go, as in my DRT XV1s it was still the second best cart I had owned at the time with the rebuid and that was compared to itself in stock form. I hope to have as much success with the Universe, it is such a special cart.

FWIW, I just received notice from Soundsmith that they have completed the work on my ZYX Universe and it is on its way back to me, sent in for a retip but Peter said the original cantilever would not allow for the pressing of a new stylus through it so he replaced with his boron cantilever with the OLC stylus to best mimic the original parts. Will post impressions as I get the cart settled in for those who might be curious. Can't wait to get it up and running and after putting over 2200 hours on it before the work done I should be able to detect any differences to the sound character of the newly rebuilt Universe.