Thanks, Clivet. I must stress that I just own ZYX Omega-S and heard Ortofon Windfeld for a short period of time in my system.
If you believe Windfeld and A90 are similar designs, except the bodies, I would say that Windfeld seems striving harder for neutrality and less coloration of its own. If the recordings are warm and smooth, Windfeld will gives you "warmth and smoothness". If it is bright and harsh, Windfeld won't make it the other way round. If the recordings are less than ideal, Windfeld wouldn't hide it up. In brief, it proved to be a good match with Ortofon AS-212s or some medium mass gimbal arms with a decent tubed phono(for adding a little tube warmth or romance, if someone prefers so).
Sonically, Omega-S is a tad more energetic, with more weight and body on the lower octaves(slight coloration? Not neccesary as it's still regarded as "tight" and "authoritative" after 100 hours playing), very smooth but authentic vocals, fast transients with realistic acoustic impacts, could deliver a deep sense of harmonic complexities(of course, still subject to good recordings), excellent high low extensions. In comparison, Omega-S seems to be a bit more musical, never harsh and sometimes a bit more romantic.
With 22 adjustable equalization curves and plenty of gain, I wouldn't think you would have any problem with either of them...but I tend to think a unipivot arm with low-medium mass would be better teamed with something like Omega-S as I heard Musical Life Concerto with Fortissimo some time ago, if you regard it's still relevant. Frankly, I may buy one more MC cart later. Something different from my existing MC carts. The candidates may be from Ortofon or Dynavector...
Syntax, you are not totally wrong. I don't believe myself there would be something called "the best cartridge of the world for anyone, in any system". "System matching" is still the audio key word for me.
Back to the main issue, is getting the best out of MY Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent BC NOT an easy task? Hmmm...in comparison, I admit Ultra Eminent is extremely sensitive to slight changes in temperature, humidity, phono cable(better mated it with low impedance design), and may perform with substantial sonic differences with various tonearms. That's all? No. Even worse, not all phono seems to be able to handle 0.6 ohm internal impedance of Ultra Eminent as it is the lowest ever for an MC cart with 0.3mV output! We shouldn't blame the phono designers for sure if an MC cart is a brandnew design, right?
Anyway, the owner of MY Sonic Lab, Matsudaira Y-san, has just launched a new SUT, Stage 1030, with 26dB gain to handle an MC cart with DC resistance as low as 0.3-1 ohm.
If not using this SUT and you may have something like EMT JPA-66 phono pre amp, I believe you still have very good chance to make Ultra Eminent taste good(or taste right in your system).
Another safe alternative is to buy the new SUT, Stage 1030, or any equivalent designs, if any, and find a decent tube MM phono with gain > 40-45dB. IME, I have tried Phase Tech T-1 SUT(designed for primary at 4-10 ohms)and a $7,500 tubed MM phono with Ultra Eminent, the result was: disaster!
VBR
Dan