Zero Distortion: PTP Lenco and Nottingham Dais, Zyx 4D, SPU a95

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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Correct Ked
The joys of minimal neighbours, no heavy industry, no broadband, dedicated seperate from house feed to audio, balanced pwr and dedicated lines
I guess in Zone One you'll need all the help you can get
My E Lon environment for pwr was appaling
 

Uk Paul

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Sep 27, 2012
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Hello Marc, where are you based now then?
 

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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A delightful location on Norfolk/Cambs border nr Downham Mkt
I've sequestered the roof/attic space of our 1861 Victorian Chapel
Really, a bit of a dream move for me and my GF
And the resultant acoustic is beyond anything I could have hoped for
As is the power grid, hence no need for me to consider this speed controller
 

Ron Resnick

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Jan 24, 2015
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On ZYX cartridges . . . I see that the ZYX website is advertising a new ZYX Ultimate series of cartridges, with carbon fiber cantilevers and .15mv output. The Ultimate Diamond uses a diamond cantilever.

Does the Ultimate line replace the UNIverse line?

Where did the UNIverse Premium go?
 

DaveyF

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Jul 31, 2010
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Ron, Mehrad tells me that the new line all feature the CF cantilever, except the diamond. I think the Universe Premium is no more. The Ultimate line is the replacement...I believe. BTW, not all of the Ultimate line are at .15 mv, others are at .24mv and there are higher output versions available of each model. I am considering the new Airy4D Ultimate as my next cart...it is apparently way superior to a Benz LPS MR! May even compete head to head with the previous Universe!
 

Ron Resnick

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Thank you for replying. Why in the world are there six models of this Ultimate (in addition to the high output versions)?

I am pretty sure I would not care for the diamond cantilever option on the highest-end Koetsus, and I am skeptical about the carbon fibre cantilever also tilting the sound toward a more neutral, perhaps slightly more clinical presentation. I would not want the carbon fibre cantilever to cause this new Ultimate line to eliminate the slight upper bass/lower midrange warmth of the UNIverse Premium.

We will have to await DDK's report on this new line and how it sounds compared to the UNIverse Premium.

Kedar -- it is up to you to figure all this out.

PS: I love the Benz LP S-MR!
 

DaveyF

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Jul 31, 2010
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Thank you for replying. Why in the world are there six models of this Ultimate (in addition to the high output versions)?

I am pretty sure I would not care for the diamond cantilever option on the highest-end Koetsus, and I am skeptical about the carbon fibre cantilever also tilting the sound toward a more neutral, perhaps slightly more clinical presentation. I would not want the carbon fibre cantilever to cause this new Ultimate line to eliminate the slight upper bass/lower midrange warmth of the UNIverse Premium.

We will have to await DDK's report on this new line and how it sounds compared to the UNIverse Premium.

Kedar -- it is up to you to figure all this out.

PS: I love the Benz LP S-MR!

Ron, I love the Benz LPS MR too...but for some crazy reason I keep on thinking it can be easily bettered??? My current Benz Ruby 2 is such a tremendous cartridge that I sometimes question why I am thinking of replacing it...then I realize it is going on 20 years old!! Those old Benz's are one heck of a difficult cartridge to out do, IMHO. here's the thing of it...they portray the 'WARMTH" of real instruments like few others....and while warmth is a 'dirty' word right now in audio; IMHO it is a word that we need to accept and approve of more often when it comes to the realistic reproduction of a real 'live' musical instrument! Tonight, I played my acoustic six string in a mini concert for a group of friends. What struck all of them was the 'immense' dynamics that the real instrument brings to the game...and how very WARM it sounds!!!!!
Back to the ZYX's....if only I could hear the darn things in my own system, but according to several 'golden eared' a'philes whom i trust, the new CF cantilevers are stunning in their ability to throw not only huge sound stages, but also to deliver the most minute resolution. One friend owns a Benz SLR ( which is really no slouch) and he tells me that the new ZYX eats it up in all parameters!
 

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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Davey, you're going to have to start yet another thread on warmth v accuracy
IMHO the hardest area in audio to get right
Ie when is warmth euphonic or natural?
When is accuracy artificial or, ahem, accurate LOL?
 

DaveyF

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Jul 31, 2010
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Davey, you're going to have to start yet another thread on warmth v accuracy
IMHO the hardest area in audio to get right
Ie when is warmth euphonic or natural?
When is accuracy artificial or, ahem, accurate LOL?

It turns out that warmth may in fact equal accuracy....not that many a'philes would agree with me on this point ( although I strongly suspect that most musicians would). Agreed, it is certainly one of the hardest areas in audio to get right...I believe not so much because we all recognize the sound of the 'real'; but i suspect because a lot of us have never truly played, or been that close to, a 'real' un-amplified instrument. Sure, all of us have been exposed to 'live' un-amplified instruments, but i postulate not too many have actually played an oboe or a flute or a stand-up bass or an acoustic guitar, etc. The intimacy of that experience leads me to state what I said in my first sentence.....IF that makes sense.
 

awsmone

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Apr 6, 2014
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It turns out that warmth may in fact equal accuracy....not that many a'philes would agree with me on this point ( although I strongly suspect that most musicians would). Agreed, it is certainly one of the hardest areas in audio to get right...I believe not so much because we all recognize the sound of the 'real'; but i suspect because a lot of us have never truly played, or been that close to, a 'real' un-amplified instrument. Sure, all of us have been exposed to 'live' un-amplified instruments, but i postulate not too many have actually played an oboe or a flute or a stand-up bass or an acoustic guitar, etc. The intimacy of that experience leads me to state what I said in my first sentence.....IF that makes sense.

Could not agree more
Standing on stage is different from even listening from concert hall

Want to get a real idea stand in front of a soprano or tenor or trombone in full flight !
 

awsmone

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Apr 6, 2014
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To me though warmth is the wrong word
Midrange density/ information is more accurate

It's the balance between the harmonic formants of real instruments and their enharmonic content

Attempts at warmth often emphasis on the even order harmonics, which can overwhelm the true harmonic formant signature of an acoustic instrument

On top of this are the enharmonics, such a cymbals, trumpets, and percussion, which are very difficult, and travel to 100khz

My recent research suggests reproduction of the back wave increases believability, its interesting that top end Wilson, Sonus Faber, and the Von Sweikert all have these!

My own experience is they increase perception of real instruments and timbral body!
 

bonzo75

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Andrew, since you are in Australia have you heard different Apogees restored by Graz? They have the best midrange density I know off, and the pure ribboned scintilla and full ranges imo do soprano and baritone best.
 

PeterA

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Dec 6, 2011
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On ZYX cartridges . . . I see that the ZYX website is advertising a new ZYX Ultimate series of cartridges, with carbon fiber cantilevers and .15mv output. The Ultimate Diamond uses a diamond cantilever.

Does the Ultimate line replace the UNIverse line?

Where did the UNIverse Premium go?

I'm curious how something as small as a cartridge cantilever can be made out of carbon fiber. The fiber cloth would have to be microscopic. Perhaps I don't fully grasp the technology.
 

Mike Lavigne

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Apr 25, 2010
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It turns out that warmth may in fact equal accuracy....not that many a'philes would agree with me on this point ( although I strongly suspect that most musicians would). Agreed, it is certainly one of the hardest areas in audio to get right...I believe not so much because we all recognize the sound of the 'real'; but i suspect because a lot of us have never truly played, or been that close to, a 'real' un-amplified instrument. Sure, all of us have been exposed to 'live' un-amplified instruments, but i postulate not too many have actually played an oboe or a flute or a stand-up bass or an acoustic guitar, etc. The intimacy of that experience leads me to state what I said in my first sentence.....IF that makes sense.

+1......agree that warmth = accuracy if you have been true to accuracy all along. but getting back to accuracy from coloration is a fools errand.

my experience in aspiring to neutrality in my signal path and total system has, as things have fully synergized, resulted in excellent warmth and body without coloration.....when it's in the recording. the compromise when you try to 'flavor' your signal path, speaker set-up or room treatments with added warmth is that once you go down that road, you then play the counterbalance game somewhere else which goes against optimal information retrieval.

avoiding any coloration is a harder road to listen ability but pays ultimate dividends in getting it all when it works. the more unrestricted physics of the system become your friend when the music can breathe and come through.
 
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spiritofmusic

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Mike, the dreamy combination of my room acoustics and new Stacore vibration isolation is giving me the kind of sound where any change in spkrs position, toe in, listener position, Zu sub amps settings, produce discernible changes
This I'm translating as a true combination of natural warmth and accuracy that I've never experienced from my rig before
Certainly the combination of tube amps and full range Zu spkrs can err on the side of over ripe and coloured
Not the case here anymore
 

DaveyF

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Jul 31, 2010
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I'm curious how something as small as a cartridge cantilever can be made out of carbon fiber. The fiber cloth would have to be microscopic. Perhaps I don't fully grasp the technology.

I actually question the same thing myself. It seems odd that CF can be 'laced' in such a small component. Plus, on another forum, a member stated that he thought CF would make a very poor cantilever design as it is highly susceptible to damage from any type of shock. When one is talking of lowering a stylus onto a record surface, the slightest drop and that would certainly be a 'jolt' to the cantilever. Nonetheless, the ZYX website states that all of their new designs are going over to the CF cantilever except for the diamond model.....and I hear that this new cantilever ( which also features a Micro ridge stylus) is quite special. Too bad that one cannot hear it in one's own system before coughing up the large.
 

analyzer

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Hi Davey, it was the 4D (old) and the micro Benz LPS MR (latest)

Hi bonzo75
The ZYX you used in this contest is low or high output version?
I do have in my system a Zyx4d (on a Feickert blackbird + Reed 2a 12") but mine is a High output and all opinions reports that it's performance is worst than the low output version... so I'm curious to hear what it was on the turntable...
Thanks in advance
Marco
 

bonzo75

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Feb 26, 2014
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Hi bonzo75
The ZYX you used in this contest is low or high output version?
I do have in my system a Zyx4d (on a Feickert blackbird + Reed 2a 12") but mine is a High output and all opinions reports that it's performance is worst than the low output version... so I'm curious to hear what it was on the turntable...
Thanks in advance
Marco

Low output 0.24v. Btw we heard Zyx Uni 1 on Feickert `firebird here and on the Reed http://zero-distortion.org/reed-idlerfeickert-firebirdpluto-12athales-blumenhofer/
 

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