My impression, I also used the Delos at that time.
I used it first in Phantom II, then switched to FR-64s later.
I used 2 different Phonostages with exact Settings for the internal impedance of that cartridge, one has 63dB gain in the Phono, the other 72dB.
Enough to hear every detail.
Records:
Original Decca SXL-2313, La Fille mal Gardee, side 2.
Gound-Faust Carmen RCA LSC 2449
Royal Ballet LDS-6065
Esther Ofarim ATR Mastercut
Harry Belafonte Streets I have walked LSP 1s/1s
There is everything on it to rate a component. Strings, Bass, soundstage, Detail, Echoes from the wall, Breathing, Soundstage, Naturalness etc.
Honestly, the Omega confuses me. I sounds nice at the first moment but when I listen to it longer, there are some things which are more or less comparable to a Koetsu, not to my former Zyx carts.
A kind of softness, the soundstage is not really existing. You hear that there is something in the back, but it is nearly impossible to locate it properly.
The frequencies are also a bit different. I think, they are not true in tone. They are different from highs of lows of course and - this is remarkable - in a way it is a levelling of tones.
Interesting, the performances will get a new direction.. Next, the Tone is not really clear. Always a little bit soft, no sharp start/stop and the Soundstage is not clear to the back too. Like listening through a thin curtain. A very good solution for those who hate their CD Player.
Anyway, all this confused me. It is so different to my other cartridges listed in my System.
Anyway,I decided to mount the Lyra Delos as a comparison. This is the latest Design, pretty modern. You know, some say, a cartridge needs endless hours to get into life, to perform best. etc. Not true.
The Character is there in the first second. All the following is getting a little bit better, but it will never change from horrible to super. Only in the opinion of an audiophile when he spent multithousand $$ and his ears will get used to average performance. After a while this "average" is transformed into "great". Modern world.
I like comparisons with „cheaper“ units to discover what is going on in „High End“. I got some very interesting results with that in the Past and decided to follow this route. The Omega really remembers me to the Koetsu „Sound“ of the Rosewood Sig. Platinum which was mounted in the Phantom for an Audiophile who came by.
I did listen to some of them, Black, Rosewood, Urushi, Rosewood Sig. Plat., Onyx and some more... the intentional blooming of every note is so artificial, it is creating a new description in High End: „Analog Warmth“. The bloating and smearing of waveforms can satisfy a lot of customers who are not happy with their Systems or want to tune it in one or the other direction.
This Omega has sometimes double modulations, I listen to a female singer, she holds her voice and while she holds the tone, suddenly I hear a kind of overdub one range higher. A kind of additional amplification in the same time section.
The mysterious added overdub in high frequencies shows, that this „Ball-Design“ created its own kind of life. This design generates multiple, time-shifted echoes of each waveform. In a sufficiently revealing system that is actually worse. Sonically, I predicted strong but thickened bass and macro-dynamics, plus phase-shifted confusion in the entire upper end of the spectrum. In brief, harmonic chaos. A great experience, it made me listen my records new again.
My main listening is Classic, mostly old records from 1960 with a few microphones only. For a comparison I have used an multi Tonearm Table (Micro Seiki 5000 with Vibraplane) but most was done with a Basis Debut Vacuum turntable, fitted with Graham Phantom II Arm and 2 Armwands (Titanium, Phantom II), the results were always identical.
I tried some rock albums too, which are so much more forgiving of many system flaws.
The results didn‘t change.
Ok, Lyra Delos
From the first tone I knew, this is a really interesting cartridge. Better in every area. Clear Tone, superb soundstage, excellent detail without sharp analytics (compared to Air Tight for example), this cart makes a lot different than the Omega. It‘s dynamic impression, specially in micro-dynamics is very rare in this price range and even rare in multiple price range. The ability to produce a real 3-dimensional „picture“ and soundstage is remarkable.
The transients in vocal sibilants, even with the most demanding female recorded voice (Esther Ofarim, a German Mastercut) are ultra clean and precisely delineated.
This is the real Deal for the money. The Details can be focussed, the Soundstage has a kind of Reality, the imagination of size is pretty good. It doesn‘t serve the details en bloc into the listeners face, it is more like sitting in the position of a microphone.
