LYRA DELOS CARTRIDGE TOO BRIGHT, THIN AND SHRILL SOUNDING

Before you give up on this cartridge, unless you already have given up on it, I recommend that you send it to SoundSmith or any retipper who offers an inspection service. As someone else said, these devices are made by humans, and it is quite possible that there is a fault in the construction of your particular sample. For the nominal cost of inspection, it is well worth it to make sure you do not have a defective cartridge. Typically such defects can be easily and cheaply corrected.Alternatively, send it to Lyra for inspection. Surely there is no one more qualified.

The Delos is real fast sounding and not particularly romantic, I can see how some might not like it.  I thought it was a ton of fun.

That said it's a bugger to get set up properly, if you aren't aligned correctly it'll let you know for sure.  The alignment, VTA and VTF have to be dialled in to hear what this cartridge can really do.  

If you're 100% confident it's set up correctly and you don't like it after the requisite 100 hours time to move on...

When I heard a Demo of the Delos it was on an all tube system.  Mine is solid state. There is the problem. I would not recommend this cartridge to anyone unless you have tubes which roll of highs and add body and warmth to the sound. 

What tube gear ?

@jeffvegas
If the Delos hasn't been modified or retipped by a non-Lyra company, and you suspect that there may be something wrong with it, you are welcome to send it back to us (Lyra) via the dealer that you purchased the cartridge from, so that we can check it over, verify that everything is in good shape, correct anything that is not, or let you know if something has been damaged.

Alternatively (if the original dealer has quit or moved), you can send the cartridge to the distributor in your country, and explain that you want to have us check it over.

We request that you include a short note telling us what you find wrong with the cartridge, being as specific as possible. And perhaps a list of the partnering equipment (turntable, tonearm, tonearm cable, stepup device, phono stage) so that we can decipher if there is an obvious mismatch.

We do this as standard policy; it shouldn't cost you anything other than getting the cartridge to the dealer or sending it to the national distributor.

We won't be able to correct anything if the issue is with your setup, or if the issue is personal preference, but at least we can make sure that the cartridge works well and sounds good (to us).

I will add that your description of the Delos is quite atypical of the feedback that we get from the vast majority of people who have used it (including those with solid-stage phono stages - tubes or semiconductors shouldn't be an issue as long as the phono stage was designed intelligently).

kind regards, jonathan carr