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Alternative to Zyx Ultimate Airy

I just got a new Airy and have about 10 hours on it.  Sounds really good, and, as many of you know, the bug bit…”I wonder if there is a cartridge in roughly the same price rang new ($2500) with a similar sounds profile that has a bigger soundstage, better imaging, better timbre, etc.  

I am thinking about getting a second cartridge just to try out.  Nottingham spacedeck, sme 309 arm with VdH silver cable, JLTi phono stage, Cayin 300b integrated amp, Omega alnico single driver speakers.  
Any thoughts would be welcome.  I have thought about Dynavector, Lyra, Clearaudio.  I need to consider compatibility since the JLTi only allows for 47k ohm and 470 ohm loading.  Plenty of gain though.

oceanica
tablejockey
3,889 posts
 

New cart and still curious..

Not a good place.

The proposed $2500 could fund a " better" phono stage to further exploit the potential of whatever cart is used.

$2500 used=$5000 MSRP

pindac's avatar
pindac
2,864 posts
 

10 hours on a New Cart' does very little in my experiences to show the Cart' user, the overall qualities inherent to the Cart'. There will be snippets of insight to the Cart's capabilities from 50ish hours, at 100 hours the snippets should start to have gathered into a broader picture. At 150 hours there will have been a revelation, maybe this is the time to commence with an inquiry, about what can be offered b other Cart's. 

Two Tonearms with Different Carts, or One TA with changeable Headshells is another option seen to have alternative Cart' Options at hand and ready to use.       

jasonbourne71's avatar
jasonbourne71
1,173 posts
 

There's a Miyajima Carbon here on Audiogon for $2150. 

g4mobile
10 posts
 

I own the Zyx Ultimate Airy and am very happy with it. I have achieved all that you are looking for using SUT (Bob’s Devices SKY 20-S) and an Audio Research Reference 5SE preamp. I’m sure there’s a better cartridge out there, but this is a very good cart. 

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