Lyra Dorian or Lyra Delos cartridge?

You can get Dorian for about $800 plus shipping from the UK.
Nor am I sure why she made those comments.

Dealers and salespeople sell what is best for them, or the store, NOT what is best for the customer. (usually, but if they do sell what is best for the customer and detrimental for the store, they will NOT be a salesman there very much longer)
ANY time a salesperson gives advice it is best to find out if that advice is good, or just self-serving. In this case, the advice was self serving for the salesman. They have a limited supply of the 'hot' in short supply cartridge, and a surplus of the Dorain. So OF COURSE the salesman is going to tell the op that the Dorian is just as good! he gets rid of a product that has become dead in the water, and does not sell a product he can barely keep in stock at all.
NEVER ever trust a salesman without furthur investigation. Or, you become just another mark.
Same thing for responses to posts. Who knows if i am telling the truth? Ditto all those responses with "XYZ is the best gizmo for you.." responses. Think for yourself. and Let the buyer be wary....

So, dealers mostly lie in one way or another, so do people here. Let the paranoia reign with Elizabeth taking the lead.

I had a Delos and upgraded to the Kleos. The Delos is a great cartridge for the money, and could easily sell for 500 more and get away with it. It is a newer design than the Dorian. I traded a LydianB , I have never heard the Dorian but I am sure it is good too. I love the Lyra sound, but if you are willing to spend the extra, why not get the latest, newest design? You never said what he is charging you for the Dorian. If it is a great deal, you can get it now and Lyra has a good trade up program. I got 700 for my Lydian that sold for 1000 new and I had paid 900. So that could let you try both over a period of time.
Just my opinion, not to offend anyone else, only answering your original question.

IMHO, the Delos is clearly the superior performer, but by today's pricing standards, the out-of-production Dorian can also be an attractive bargain.

The Dorian was phased out because higher fuel, energy, raw material etc., not to mention the Yen's rise against pretty much every other currency meant that it was no longer possible to keep it in production without seeing prices increase significantly.

Some of our distributors in particularly price-sensitive markets still deplore the loss of the Dorian, but the reality is that if it had been kept in production, its retail pricing wouldn't be too far off from the Delos (unless the distributor was willing to reduce margins substantially).

In return for its higher price, the Delos offers higher performance, particularly in the areas of dynamic range and gradation, and timbral range and gradation. The differences are a bit like comparing multiple-exposure HDR photos to single-exposure shots. The Delos also tracks better than the Dorian.

Some listeners even prefer the Delos over the Kleos, but IMO, this is due to the fact that the Delos has a more incisive treble, which works better in certain types of audio systems.

As to whether the Dorian or the Delos is the "better buy", my personal opinion is that its the Delos, but if your tonearm prefers a lighter cartridge, or you want to save money and you don't think that your audio system will benefit much from the Delos' higher resolution, you may prefer the Dorian. There are valid reasons for either choice.

hth, jonathan carr