Moving coil with a bit less leading edge

This is a common problem since most high end modern moving coils seem voiced to make vinyl sound like CD. Two suggestions in addition to the excellent & affordable Zu103 already mentioned: 47 Labs MC Bee and at much more cash, the Koetsu Vermillion.

Phil

The fact that Lyra has a particularly (abnormally) sizzling
lacking body treble (most obvious in sounds of Cymbals) is very apparent. I
have not heard anything like that in other cartridges.

The Lyra carts are designed to move all their energy from tracking into their
body and from that one into the Headshell from the Arm. When a Arm is used
which is simply inferior (and there are more of them out there than most will
believe) in that energy transfer - or has weak bearings - you get a lot of high
frequency problems while listening. It is not the cartridge, it is the Arm (+
Turntable, depending how the Arm mount was designed).
Zyx carts for example are exactly the opposite. They run well in ANY Arm, they
move no, or nearly no energy into the Arm. They make life much easier.
Lyra carts can show huge differences in Performance (Titan i is very famous for
that) , they CAN show, how good your System really is. Maybe there is one or
the other exception, but the Delos is not among them.
Arms are a special chapter, everyone thinks, when such a unit is ready to buy, it
is perfect and will solve all problems. Did you never ask yourself why some of
the most weak designs - technically - use wood? :-)

Jeff, I briefly owned a Airy 3, but most of my ZYX experience is with a silver coil UNIverse and a copper coil 4D. The copper 4D had great bass, it reminded me quite a bit like the Dynavector XV-1s that I had. The silver coiled UNIverse was not as dynamic and powerful in the bass as the 4D or XV-1s. I'm not trying to push a ZYX on you, I just had mentioned a silver ZYX as an option with my other previous recommendations. I also thought when you complained about the high's on a ZYX Airy 3, that you need to understand the differences withing the ZYX line.

I think that you have to realize that if you are looking for that smoother leading edge with more decay, that does mean you will also get a softer, slower bass performance. You cannot have the dynamic impact of the Dynavector XV-1s or ZYX 4D coupled with a smoother leading edge in the high's. No one cartridge does it all, softer high's come with softer low's.

Another smoother cartridge that I've owned, which sounded similar to a Benz Ruby to me was the Cardas Myrtlewood. I see a few recos for the Zu Denon 103, which I have not heard, but maybe I should. LOL.

Syntax, I assume the wooden arm wands are used to handle resonances. Am I missing something? Thanks for the description of the Lyra vs. the ZYX cartridges. I had not realized they were designed to deal with the energy in completely different ways. Would you care to comment on how an SME arm mates with a Lyra cartridge?

John...At no time in this thread have I sensed you've tried "...to push a Zyx on [me]". As always, I enjoy reading your comments and taking in your impressions and insights. Plus, I appreciate your delineating the differences between some of the various models in the Zyx stable. I also take well your point regarding the incompatibility of impressive dynamic impact with a smoother leading edged cartridge. To some extent, I'm certainly willing to trade off some clean dynamic impact to get a bit of a smoother and perhaps more rounded presentation of instrumental/orchestral sound[s]. As others might have gathered from some of my previous posts, I've consistently maintained the sounds I most frequently hear at live orchestral concerts rarely display the kind of clean, tight contours quite a few audiophiles prefer from reproduced music in their home audio systems. So, carry on my fellow!