ZYX Universe and Lyra Titan

I think I was your first response and now happened upon all the commentary. When Frank Scroder, who I believe makes the best tonearm in the world with a 6-8 month waiting list, tells me the Universe is one of the two best cartridges in the world that is pretty good backup to my ear. For the price that you can get if from the US distributor, it cannot be beat.

Retroinferno:
Presumably, from your account Frank Schroeder has auditioned every available cartridge arm/table combination in the world.

Maybe they are the best that he has tried in his arms in his system.

Gmorris,

You do have a way with words.

Lugnut:

My wife accuses me of being too much of a pedant at times.

I tend to have problems with sweeping pronouncements of “BEST”. As an experienced audiophile I am sure that over the years you have seen many components with the anointed mantle of “BEST” ending up with a half-life of a only few months.

Gmorris,

I think most of us get careless with the use of words like best sometimes. I can't believe that anyone has enough experience to pronounce what is the best cartridge. There are just too many possible combinations with tonearms. And the cost of doing so! In this case the question was between the Titan and the UNIverse. I was at the four day event that Doug Deacon went to where we compared the UNIverse with the Olympos. Honestly, this was just about the most scientific comparrison one could set up. The Olympos is a much more expensive cartridge than the Titan (might not mean much) but since we came so close to comparing the two cartridges aked about I find it fair to offer up our take on them. Ever since the first discussion about our findings were posted here we have been attacked pretty agressively. We weren't scientific enough, responded to peer pressure, and on and on. It's tiresome to see myself or someone I know well being attacked unfairly. You're welcome to send me an email for my phone number and call me if you want the details but I just don't feel up to typing that much. I can also give you some insight into how much I think Frank Schroder knows about these things. He's a very humble and pleasant person with an incredible sense of humor, knowledgable about many things. I'm 55 and have been into analog since the 60's. I certainly don't consider myself and expert on much but I have a very good set of ears with about as much live seat time as anyone. I consider myself to be quite bright too. Being around Frank and a group of other vinylheads for a casual dinner is a jaw dropping experience. Being with him for an entire, extra-long weekend was an honor. He probably wouldn't agree with that assessment but I was really humbled in so many ways. Certainly, he knows enough to make "arguably" one of the best pivot tonearms on the planet. If we can't offer up opinions asked of us then what is the point in posting? Some of the things said freely here, sitting behind a keyboard in total anonymity, would not be said to my face. Well, nowadays you could get away with it but you get my drift. Sorry for allowing my buttons to get pushed.