ZYX "House" Sound

I, too would be interested in more discussion of the ZYX house sound and especially any comparison to other brands. I have read a user of an Ultimate Omega describe it as 'jarring' compared to his Koetsu Urushi. 

Having owned ZYX airy 3, Ultimate 1000, and Ultimate Omega, I can subscribe to the notion that there is a house sound to the brand: neutral and even handed. However, I also have an Audio Tekne and a Transfiguration Proteus, and I would say that these two cartridges exhibit the same sonic characteristics as Ultimate Omega, with different levels of resolution and dynamics. I assume that Koetsu and Miyajima would be on the warm side of ZYX while lower level Lyras' would be on the 'lean' side. 

But even within the ZYX range that is the 'normal' Ultimate, and now the Exceed range, and in the US the Universe range. How does the old Universe ii, say, compare to the Ultimate Omega? How does the TOTL Ultimate ( or Exceed ) Astro compare to the Universe Optimal? Two different house sounds or ......? 

Looking forward to answers.

Thought I would pick this up as having recently purchased the ZYX Ultimate Exceed Omega and running it in, and believe  me if you doubt break in process is real this will make you a believer, I would say for me, in my system, the Omega is a goldilocks performer

 Lean, warm whatever, the cartridge has presence. Bass is there, voices to die for. Best "they are here" heard in my system to date and I've been chasing this just like most of you. ET2 arm and as to resonances non existence. My previous experience is somewhat limited, Fuuga, Airtight Supreme, Krell 100 ( Miyabi). Will be checking out the Allnic Amber to compare once Brian Walsh makes it by next month to set up a new Kuzma arm. JMO of course.

@dentdog I too am familiar with the impact of the Break In Process on both Phonostages and Cartridges.

I find a 100 Hours is where the magic happens, and for a period following this, there is a final structuring to the sonic being produced.

No matter what is said by those that don't endorse the notion, there is a optimisation for the properties of certain components/materials used for an interface, resulting with a Sweet Spot that reveals itself.

Ignore the comments on the DD40.  Its a wonderful table/arm and sounds great using a Monster Sigma Genesis 2000 and other cartridges.  Denon 103R too but the cartridge lacks detail no matter what combo i tried it on.  Its a valued player in my table / cartridge collection and can keep up with more expensive tables.  my experience its the setup and matching, including the cable.  YMMV.

@linnlp12 Thanks for the good words about the DD-40!

I measured all the tables I had a few months ago using an app that measures and reports RPM and WOW and Flutter. One can quibble about absolute accuracy, but comparisons among tables does indicate which tables have lower W&F.

The DD-40 came out # 3 of 4. The Technics SL-1200G and Denon DL-57L were the best. By a big margin, the worst table was my Acoustic Signature WOW XXL. Its W&F was about 5x worse than the Denon.and Technics (0.1% vs 0.02%) I've since sold this table.

And I really love the MA-505 arm. I have three and one long verrsion.