zyx Airy R-1000 cosmos - vs Benz LP S ?

David, I think yours is the first account I ever read, where a ZYX Airy 3 owner said the cartridge was flat, lifeless, and lacking dynamics.

Not that I'm disbelieving, as there may have been some reason such as poor synergy, non-optimal phono stage settings, set up, etc. Or a bad, or sub optimal cartridge?

Was it the X, or S Model?

I have owned the Benz Ruby 3, and now currently, the Airy 3. The Ruby 3 was a very nice cartridge. It did give a very nice pure lush midrage, sound was very good top to bottom. Nothing seemed at all to be missing from the sound.

A cartridge that produced music that one could listen without fatigue for hours.

Then on a whim, I decided to try the Airy 3X SB.

Off came the Ruby 3, on went the Airy 3. Both were aligned with the MintLP Protractor, so no differences as for alignment between the two.

Although the Benz was no slouch, the ZYX just seemed head and shoulders above the Ruby 3 in many ways. More dynamic, lighting fast, more clarity, and a darker background, with much less groove noise. I could go one, and on, but I'll save the lengthy descriptions.

Conclusion was, I had no desire to throw the Ruby 3 back on. Both Cartridges BTW, were both brand new, not used, both running through the Sutherland PhD Phono Stage, which was set at 60db gain, 1000 ohms for the Ruby 3, and 62db gain, and 100 ohms for the Airy 3.

The only issues I noted with the Airy 3 as it was beginning to break in, it did seem a bit mechanical sounding at first, and was also noting sibilance, and slight mistracking on certain transients.

The sibilance-mistracking was caused by me, in that I mistakenly followed some archived audiogon suggestions of optimal tracking force (VTF), and was tracking too light, at 1.86g. Raising VTF to an even 2.00g.

The mechanical "CD like" sound it first seemed to display with the first 0-20 hours began to smooth out as more hours were accumilated on the Cartridge.

As for the Benz LP, vs Airy 3, I cannot comment about how the two would fare in a shootout, and I suspect the Benz LP "should sound as glorious as its price commands".

Still, I would like to believe the Airy 3 would not be "embarassly shamed" by huge "night and day" differences, even in a shootout with the flagship Benz Cartridge.

My Airy 3X won't be going anywhere anytime soon, provided some dumb mishap doesn't harm its life. Mark

David12,

In regards to your comment:
"It still shares duty with the Koetsu Onyx I bought second hand and retipped. That is a lovely cartridge too, but quite different."

I would also like to add that the Onyx was my reference point cartridge and the older LP sounded real close in musical attributes on the system I heard it on. Not as rich in tonal flavors compared to the Onyx, but real close. The new LP S which I now own is much better than the normal LP, with more extended highs, wider dynamic range, wider stereo seperation, more punch and nicely etched textures. I am not sure how much closer it will sound to my old reference Onyx, a cartridge I also hope to get someday. This is affixed to an SME V tonearm arm attached to a Transrotor Apollon turntable with 3 motors, magnetic bearing and 80mm platter.

I am a true believer that both the Airy and Benz offer great musical characteristics, however, each one achieves that differently and thus a different flair. Careful component matching to include your ears should be applied here.

Ciao,
Audioquest4life

Markd51. I normally do qualify my statements to say my experience reflects my experience, in my system. I did'nt in this case.
You are quite right that there may have been a mismatch in my system, though I was uprating my LP playback at the time and the Zyx was mounted in an OL illustrious, Jelco and Ortofon 309D and at least once, was set up professionally. It went through a K&K phono stage. The catridge could have been defective, I believe that does happen with catridges. I was suprised at the performance myself

Chaps,

thanks for the thoughtfull responses - the new pre is a halcro Dm10 and it is a shame the zyx died at the same time I introduced it otherwise I would have a direct comparison to share
I am not convinced about the noton of system mismatch - possibly more an issue of compensating errors ( we all know about these} - you have to believe there is one true path ( well !!!)
I got the zyx cart on the basis of net buzz and it replaced a shelter 901 based on net buzz ( it was better )

leaning torward benz this time

Cheers,

Phil

I wonder if anyone ever had a ZYX re-tipped-repaired in recent times?

When you say "died", do you mean issues with the Stylus-Cantilever broken, or some other internal problems?

A shame such a fine Cartridge would just sit worthless.

I have never read much in the way of what ZYX-Sibatech does for a customer? What, if any rebuild-re-tip program, the prices, nada.

I'll at least say with Benz, their trade in/trade up program is a big plus. It at least gives some assurance, that after one spends so much money, that your cartridge if broken, doesn't turn into a shoebox resident.

I know I've been told from a respected acquaintance here (Doug D) that the Stylus quality of the ZYX is responsible for the great sound these Cartridges produce, but with good businesses like Soundsmith, the $350 top of the line re-tip seems an attractive option to me. One I would no doubt seriously investigate should anything ever happen to mine.

Probably without a doubt, a fresh Soundsmith re-tip-rebuild sounds a whole lot better, than a worn out ZYX Stylus, and Suspension. And for sure, a wonderful ZYX that is now relegated to live in its Box broken.

I've never heard of anyone here having a ZYX at Soundsmith for repair, but would sure like to, and what the results were? Mark