Zyx vs. Van Den Hul

Dear Fjn04: This one is a good VDH opportunity:

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/cartridges-van-den-hul-colibri-gold-lw-latest-version-2013-03-27-analog-the-netherlands

IMHO for you can even the Colibri quality performance cartridge level you will need a cartridge in the 4K+ price range.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Much appreciated Raul. I prefer buying new, unless it's a unique situation. I think staying in this price range, can allow someone to get a nice taste of a cart line. For instance, my EMT TSD-15. I love the sound, and it's less than 2K. Chances are, I will also like their upper end cartridges. On the tails side, if you don't like a 2K cartridge, chances are you won't like the same lines 4K cart. So basically, I want to expand my horizons! I just bought a second TT, so it's time to play.

I agree with Raul's recommendation. Having said that, I can tell you that I have owned a VDH MC1S for many years and still occasionally use it. Also, while I cannot say with authority that this is true, I have seen it mentioned several times that the ZYX R100 is the same (OEM) as the Monster Cable Alpha 2 that I also owned several years ago. Perhaps my comments will be helpful.

First thing to consider is that the VDH has considerably higher output than the ZYX; more than twice the output of the ZYX (.65 mv+ vs .25mv; although the different tolerances used bring the output levels a little closer to each other). Compliance is higher with the VDH. The VDH is a bold sounding cartridge with excellent dynamics and speed. Tonality is very neutral with the VDH; perhaps too much to the grey/white side of things. Soundstage presentation is very different. The VDH is more up-front with considerably larger images. The Monster presented smaller individual images further back in the soundstage, but with excellent specificity and stability. This created a sense of the soundstage being larger than that of the VDH, but that is only a result of the VDH's images being larger and seeming to "crowd" the same volume of space. Overall, while the Monster could seem to be a little more refined, to me the VDH sounds more like what live music sounds like; sometimes very aggressive and even ugly. Of course those results were with the two arms that I used at the time; Syrinx PU3 and ET2 linear arm. In spite of the two arms being very different (pivot/linear) the differences were consistent. Good luck.