Hi Jerico, How do you think the Zyx match up with the Shelter 501mkII? I am thinking of buying a soundsmith retipped one which is selling now on this website for $795. I need your opinion. Any experience on the Zyx 50 Bloom? Thanks, Calvin
I recently relocated from the US to the UK, and in the process made a few changes to my system. Primarily, I left my beloved Rogue M180 monoblocks and Rogue Athena preamp in storage, and switched to the Pass integrated. They are both quite good, but the Rogue setup has a bit more glow and bloom.
I also did some cart swapping: I had been using a Soundsmith Zephyr, but it really never did it for me. I've had my Zyx phono for a while now, and think it is great, and have always wanted to mate it with a Zyx cart. So I took the plunge there, and the Fuji is the best cart I've heard in my system (others were a Sumiko Blackbird, Shelter 501mkII, both eventually re-tipped by SoundSmith and remounted, plus the Zephyr).
I also needed some longer speaker runs, so I swapped to the Audience from Cardas Golden Reference. The end result is a more analytical-sounding setup than I had with the Rogues. I like them both, in different ways.
I am tempted to try a tube phono, just to bring some tubiness back into the mix. But for now, things sounding quite good.
