Lyra Titan i and Olympos SL

The Titan i is one of the three most neutral and uncolored cartridges I've heard, perhaps the tiniest bit on the cool side - but put the emphasis on "tiny". A hundred other things in a system might conceal or counterbalance that. It's a neutral cartridge containing a tiny possibility of coolness.

The Olympos SL is a larger step away from neutral but, critically, it sacrifices nothing else when compared to the excellent performance of Lyra's current top model.

Take a Titan i and add 1/100th of the coloration provided by a Koetsu Onyx Platinum or above. Presto, you've got an Olympos SL. One Olympos owner summarized an A/B with my ZYX UNIverse very aptly: he said the Olympos added "a subtle brush of mink". I can't think of a better description IME.

The Olympos is a glorious sounding cartridge. Of course only you can decide whether you want a glorious sounding cartridge.

Mosin may have misread my response, or else I miswrote it.

The Olympos is not the finest cartridge I've heard and I did not say so. I said it sounds "glorious" and then asked the OP to consider whether that's what he's seeking. In short, I agree with Dre and Dgad regarding its sound.

Whether one wants a glorious sounding cartridge is a personal question. IME not all recorded music is well served by "a brush of mink". For my ears, recorded music is served best when reproduced as accurately as possible. The Olympos is certainly good at that, better than 90% of the cartridges out there, but compared to the very best its "glorious-ness" means that it's less than (or maybe more than) honest. Your choice whether that's what you want.

I would never describe the best turntable I've heard (Mosin's own Saskia) as sounding "glorious", since that would be an insult which it did nothing to earn. What his table sounds like, more than any other I've heard, is no table at all. I rarely pay audio compliments, preferring descriptors instead, but "nothing" would be the highest compliment I know.

The OP didn't ask about other cartridges, but if he had I'd have said what Halcro did, assuming well matched components and a willingness to do the work that a UNIverse requires to give its best. IME no other cartridge, including an Olympos or a Titan, is quite as demanding of (or responsive to) exacting setup and fine tuning.