Lyra or ZYX ?

Well I would recommend the ZYX, but the best fit for you could depend on the rest of your system. True, the ZYX and Lyra are very agile, detailed and lively, but in my system, with my ears I preferred the ZYX Airy 3 over the Lyra Helikon. I wound up getting a UNIverse later, but that's another story.

Now if your system is a bit too ripe and you are looking for serious speed and resolution, the Lyra just may be for you. I have not heard a faster, more transparent cartridge than the Helikon, but what it reveals may not please you. I find the Lyra works better on warmer tables like VPI, Nottingham, etc. The ZYX will not give you that last ounce of detail, but will sound more natural. That's just my $0.02, take it for what it's worth.

I own and use a Lyra Delos and for me, is the most natural sounding cartridge I have owned. I would rate it better than my Monster Cable cartridges, which are now ZYX. Just more open and detailed without any strain or emphasis on any one part of the music.

This is not easy I suppose. Helikon is traditionally known to be fast and lean and I am not really looking for that kind of sound. I am looking for something that is naturally detailed. I read some good things about Delos so considering it.

I also remember reading somewhere that ZYX cant do rock and pop well. How far is that true ? 30-40% of my consumption is classic rock and blues.

The Zyx R100 is indeed a good deal. Good sound, uncritical to Arms, makes life easy. The Delos is a cartridge which is probably one of the best ever made. It has enormous reserves and the better the System gets, the Delos will go with it. Some "upgrade" to Kleos because they think, spending more money atomically will give better results. The typical audiophile mistake in analog. Delos is in a way a perfect balanced cartridge, through the whole Frequency area. But it NEEDS a good Hardware to shine.

Pani,

When discussing cartridges it's critical to know which tonearm will be used. No one can give reliable information about a cartridge without knowing that. It wouldn't hurt to mention the phono stage either.

Take those statements about how ZYX's don't rock with a grain of salt. Anyone who makes such simplistic claims without providing their system context lacks a certain breadth of experience. How well a Yatra or most other ZYX's rock depends to a great extent on the tonearm, particularly its effective mass. On an arm with an effective mass of 18g or a little above, a Yatra will rock the house while also providing natural detail and tonality. On lighter arms the singing detail will still be there but you will indeed get less rockin'. My guess is that those who claim ZYX's don't rock have only used tonearms of 15g effective mass or below, perhaps much below. The devil is in the details.

The best ZYX for rock/pop is the 4D, which rocks as well as any cartridge I've heard, even on an 11g TriPlanar. That's a different design from the R100 series and well beyond your price point, but it heartily disproves any foolish notion that "ZYX's don't rock". Read our review of the 4D (Atmos) beneath my signature for a discussion of why/how some ZYX's rock better than others.

I defer to Syntax on the Delos, which I'm unfamiliar with. He seems to know what he's talking about there, as usual.