Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Lyra Delos Phono Cartridge by Stitch

Model:	Delos
Category:	Phono Cartridge
Suggested Retail Price:	$1500
Description:	MC Cartridge
Manufacturer URL:	Lyra
Model Picture:	View

Review by Stitch on May 29, 2011 at 06:09:01
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for the Delos

After using in the last years various Lyra Cartridges (Skala, Titan i, Helikon, Olympos) I read about a new Design from them. A new Body structure with an unusual shallow angle.
You can read that description everywhere, so there is no need to write about that again.

Well, the usual way is to buy an expensive cartridge and after that to tell the world how great it is and that it is a super bargain even at its costs for 15000$. Happiness and recommendation everywhere.
I thought about that and decided to go the other way, down the road to the docks.
Calling my dealer and ordering the Lyra Delos (and to get the respect of the audiophile community I also had a super straight cantilever Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum ready to go for a comparison. You know, there have to be differences, or?)

Delos arrived and my Phantom II Arm was waiting. I had 2 Armtubes for it to do some comparisons quickly without wasting to much time in adjustments.

I used some old RCA Living Stero records, some older Deccas which can show the differences in connected hardware. The Delos sound quite good right after the start ( the improvements after 30h were subtle only, the major jump in higher frequencies and relaxed soundstaging was after 5h only)

I was amazed. I thought first, well, could be nice, but....
It was better than nice. I heard in the first 15 minutes, that this cartridges will be a serious one in the Audiophile world. A cartridge which will show some other manufacturers and Importers what their high priced 4-10k Cartridges really are: Nothing to write home about.

It is one of the first Delos Series I think, maybe I had luck with a very precised aligned Cartridge, but I really don‘t know. I had never a problem with any Lyra, their specs are correct and their quality control is very good. That is probably the main reason for me why I always had a Lyra System (among other brands in my System or I bought some twice, when one was sold and I did regret).

To adjust it properly was no big deal with the Phantom alignment System, VTF was made following the recommendations from Lyra and even when I tried to use it +/-10, I went back to their recommendation. I used 1.75 gr overall, first when new 1,77gr later 1,73gr.

Tracking is great, the dynamic range has no limits and what amazed me VERY much, it has a completely different tonal coloration than the Lyras before. A tonal „precise warmth“, simply more natural, close to the real thing with very, very tiny details.

I must say, I had to start new.
I shows right from the beginning how astonishingly coherent and as one the three elements sound (normally the reviewers drool over that when they rave a 15k cartridge they got for free...) I had to look various to the cartridge and said to myself, hey this is a 1500$ cartridge with all the usual mark ups. They made something really serious... (probably too serious)

Yet so holistic, so complete is the sonic picture made from the Delos that it becomes not impossible, but almost pointless to dismantle the various elements that constitue the whole. It is not that I can‘t assess levels of detail or resolution, soundstage or dynamic range, it is just that to do so dimishes the whole rather than illuminating it.
Playing small ensemble jazz, the structure of the piece is never in question, whether it‘s the pushy energetic tension of a Sax Player or the laconic left hand promptings from a Piano Player. The identity of each instrument and its voice are never in doubt.

I used the Koetsu RSP as a cross check and it was a disaster for the Koetsu. Mildly said.

The Delos showed from the very fist second that the Koetsu is very, very weak in the higher frequencies, the Bass doesn‘t have any volume or „Gestalt“ , based on that the Koetsu is dominant in the Midrange and is highly colored in its tonal structure.
I was not able to listen to it side by side. 1.5k to 6k$ and the difference is so depressing obvious... Later on I borrowed an Onyx, no change to the better, then I gave up with Koetsus...

The Delos underlines the interlocking nature of the various performance attributes that constitute together the music as whole. This harmonic complexity brings presence and scale.The reproduced Air brings the volume into the Playback, the substance couples with the dynamic shading the creation of impact and rythmic integrety.

The lack of apparent distortion, the truth in the tonal shadings and nuances makes it so believable. And what is also very rare to find, is the intimacy, finesse of the musicians playing their instruments.
It is the completeness of the picture what makes this „chepo“ so fascinating. It delievers the „message“ in the art, the artistry itself. It throws a wide, deep and tall soundstage, with great corner filling without the often found narrowing. Image scaling is accurate and the front dimensionality is exceptional. I know, I am writing about a 1.5k$ cartridge, but that‘s the way it is. And what made me smile, even in the home play of the Koetsus, voices from a female singer (nothing what can show the shortcomings from the Koetsus), even here the Delos gives them a run. A dangerous cartridge. When your System is up to scratch you have to realize than more expensive has nothing to do with Performance. The normal Audiophile will never accept that because from getting the respect from others, it is simply too cheap. I know, most MC Phonostages up to 6k$ are not able to push any MC cartridge to its real limit (one reason why some go back to MM), this cartridge will even show a 20k Phonostage its limits. It has an uncanny ability to take detail and integrates it into a coherent musical event (Lots of Phonostages can‘t do that too). This is a underrated sonic illuminator.

A great Design.

Type : Medium weight, medium compliance, low-impedance moving coil cartridge
Frequency range : 10Hz - 50kHz
Channel separation : 30dB or better at 1kHz
Cantilever system : Solid boron rod with Namiki microridge line-contact stylu (2.5um x 75um) and one-point suspension, directly mounted to cartridge body
Coil : 6N high-purity copper, 8.2ohms internal impedance, 9.5uH inductance
Output voltage : 0.6mV@5cm/sec. (CBS test record, other test records may alter results)
Compliance : Approx. 12 x 10 cm/dyne at 100Hz
Vertical tracking angle : 20 degrees
Cartridge body : One-piece machining from solid aluminum billet
Recommended tracking force : 1.7g - 1.8g (1.75g preferred)
Recommended load directly into MC phono input : 91ohms - 47kohm (determine by listening, or follow detailed guidelines above)
Recommended load via step-up transformer : 5 - 15ohm (step-up transformer's output must be connected to 47kohm MM-level RIAA input)
Recommended tonearm : High-quality pivoted or linear (tangential) tone arm with rigid bearing(s), adjustable anti-skating force, preferably VTA adjustment

Product Weakness:	Too cheap to become a Legend
Product Strengths:	True in tonal color

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Pass Aleph 0
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Lamm L2R/LP2/Klyne7Px3.5.5
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Basis Debut Vac.
Speakers: Reference 3A
Cables/Interconnects: Audioquest Sky / Leopard
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Decca / Mercury Living Presence / RCA Living Stereo
Room Comments/Treatments: Done
Time Period/Length of Audition: 1 Year
Type of Audition/Review: Home Audition

Amplifier:	Pass Aleph 0
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Lamm L2R/LP2/Klyne7Px3.5.5
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Basis Debut Vac.
Speakers:	Reference 3A
Cables/Interconnects:	Audioquest Sky / Leopard
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Decca / Mercury Living Presence / RCA Living Stereo
Room Comments/Treatments:	Done
Time Period/Length of Audition:	1 Year
Type of Audition/Review:	Home Audition