Comparison ZYX Artisan against Tom Evans Groove ?

Dear Kha - Like Goatwuss & Sbank I am curiously await the result of the Klyne vs. Zyx.

You may want to also consider comparing the Zyx to the JLTI phonostage designed by Joe Rasmussen (from Australia) in collaboration with Allen Wright of Vacuum State. It had gain switch for MM/MC cartridges and cartridge loading rca connectors. The newer versions (with a more substantial external PS option) of this phonostage are now made in Switzerland (at a considerable price increase). The earlier version uses a wall wart PS unit are still available from Joe while supplies last.

Here is the link to Joe's website --> http://www.customanalogue.com/jlti_phono_stage.htm

I also heard the Groove and had in my system for a considerable time. However, I felt that the Whest convincingly outperformed it in a number of sonic performance categories while also being more user fiendly. I still have the Whest and, in a recent session, a few of my local audio club buddies and I unanimously concluded the earlier JLTI version bettered the Whest in two different systems. Furthermore, during the same listening session, we also preferred it to the EAR 324 and was surprisingly very competitive to the Ear 88pb, a tube unit which is quite good.

I just returned from KHA's home and we did made a comparison between a Klyne 7 Phono, Zyx Artisan and a Groove Plus, with a Phantom Arm on a Raven turntable and a Kuzma Airline on a Kuzma Reference Turntable. Both Arms were fitted with Zyx UNIverse ( his and mine ). We switched between the Arms and between the Phono Stages with the same records.
To make a long story short, you can adjust a Klyne, that it is far away from it's best and you can adjust it in a way that it blows everything away. At the end I was so dissapointed from the Groove Plus that I asked KHA: "Is it defect? Did we made a mistake with the connection?"
We made no mistake. And the Zyx Artisan is a good sounding unit.

Dear Thomasheisig & Kha - Very nice comaprison and thanks for sharing your findings.

Would you be so kind as to further detail the following:

a) the lps used for the comparisons
b) if you used ICs and speaker cables different from the XLO (IC) and Purist Audio Venustas (speaker cables), which are listed as part of Kha's system
c) all the changes/adjustments you made on the Klyne when compared against the Groove +
d) all the changes/adjustments you made on the Klyne when compared against the Artisan

TIA!

Very interesting. If the G+ sounds broken, one possibility is that there may actually be something wrong with the uni. Needless to say your finding is quite unusual. Which cart. was the G+ set up for, and was it run in and warmed up? I have heard the latest version (lithos 7) against quite a number of top contenders, and it usually has an extra layer of detail and speed. If one doesn't like that effect, then of course it all depends on personal taste. THe G+ not my personal favourite, but it is an incredible piece of equipment, and I know of a number of very experienced audiophiles with world class systems that have it as a key to the sound they produce. I certainly haven't heard anything that would make it sound broken.
Agree of course that matching to cartridge is critical. The Raven is an excellent turntable. I heard it in London with a Schroeder/Allaerts and was very impressed.

Ebarker,

Having owned a Groove my guess is that they couldn't adjust the Groove properly to match the cartridge. In the end that is why I sold mine. It will sound broken of the load is wrong, but so will any phono preamp.