Ortofon A90 or Air Tight PC-1

Being a later comer to the discussion, I read most but not all of the comments. I am running the A90 with the Reed tonearm and with Pass Labs Xono Phono Stage (shall be writing a review of the A90 and Reed arm soon). The A90 to me is a near-perfect piece of engineering that is squeezing the maximum out of the LP and feed it through the tonearm to a phone stage. That is why there are so many opinions because people have different phono stages and hence different component synergy. My comments may be not directly related to the discussion but could not help but chime in.

Harry pearson reviewed ZYX Omega, Kubotech Haniwa, My Sonic Labs Eminent, Miyajima Shilabe, Dynavector XV-1T, Clearaudio Goldfinger V2 and Benz LP 5-MR. His review, " It is immediately apparent that the Goldfinger stands alone. It is like the turntable for which it was designed, a statement." I personally concur. I have been on the up grade train for many yrs and never before did one item make such a drastic(in a great way) difference. It, the golgfinger V2, is the best money I have ever spent on audio equipment. I can not image, even though clearaudio claims an upgrade is comming, any cart. sounding better!

My last 4 cart. because I can not rember before, were Dynavector XV-1s, shelter 9000, PC-1 and now Goldfinger V2. The 9000 I did not like. Took a long time to break in and never really sounded right. The XV-1s and PC-1, to my ear, were very close. If I had to choose between them I would take the PC-1. The XV-1s cantilever is to easily broken and very expensive to replace. As far as the A90 I have not heard, but I have spoken to people whose ears I trust, mostly(all) negative. One such person called it "hype". Again, this for me, is second hand. But, the fact that it was excluded from the review does not bode well for it. Time will tell. Now I am where I wish to be(audio wise) and have no plans to change. The Goldfinger V2 is a final purchase for me as long as it lasts.

Anyone (preferably with personal experience) care to describe the similarities/differences between the A90 with the ZYX UNIverse?

TIA, John

The A90 was, without a doubt, setup incorrectly.

It's no secret that the Replicant 100 is an extremely demanding stylus profile in terms of setup. Those who are willing to spend a little time and patience, especially with the SRA, will be rewarded.

It also has not been excluded from the review, so please do not manipulate the facts. The review will appear in issue 208 (as was mentioned as the second half of the sentence - the part that you chose not to quote).

Louis/Ortofon