As Art Salvatore is certainly one of them, thought I would post his comments on the Fuji. This was before his test of the Universe and Airy.:
Important- The FS Fuji is now the second finest cartridge within this class. It was formerly the best cartridge, overall, I had ever heard in my own system, but that is no longer the case. I have not yet edited this report, so please keep in mind that all the "mosts" and "bests" you will read are now "third mosts and bests".
SONIC DESCRIPTION
The ZYX is the most neutral cartridge I've heard. If I arbitrarily used the number "100" for designating perfect neutrality, with 101 being a touch heavy or "fat", and 99 being a touch thin or "lean", than the ZYX is the closest I've heard to being 100. I'm not saying it is 100, since that is perfection, but everything else I've heard is even less perfect. If I had to guess if it's above or below 100, I would say just below, but it still has more body, with less "fat", than anything else I know. If I was to assign a word to describe its basic character, I would say "naked", in the purest, most positive sense of that word. (While I focused on "body" in the above example, the ZYX's unmatched neutrality is heard across the entire frequency range.)
The ZYX is the most immediate and transparent cartridge I've heard. It sounds more "direct" than any other cartridge I know. It has similar qualities to a good single-ended-triode amplifier driving the proper speaker. It is this attribute, along with its high-frequency delicacy and purity, which will be heard first by most listeners.
The ZYX has a large image, though it is matched by other top cartridges, such as the Transfiguration Temper. Where it is excels is in its focusing ability. It separates musicians better than anything I've heard, and, for once, it doesn't defocus at the lateral extremes, far left and far right, of the image. This makes the image appear psychoacoustically larger because there is finally clarity where there was formerly confusion. What occurs at these extremes now becomes relevant and intelligible.
When you combine the focus, image size and phase coherency of the ZYX, you get an unprecedented sense of "intelligibility" of what the musicians are attempting to convey to you as the listener, making it easier to become emotionally involved with the music. What were random sounds now have musical meaning. What was musically ambiguous now becomes direct and "convincing", such as understanding whether different musicians are either independent of each other, or are actually "relating" to each other.
The ZYX also has the lowest sound-floor of any cartridge I've heard. This allows the listener to hear the most subtle details of the musicians and the space of the original recording, including the natural harmonics, decays, sense of air and space, dynamic shades and tensions etc.
The dynamic contrasts are as good as they get, along with the rare ability to "startle" the listener time and again by reproducing powerful and intense dynamic shifts when they are not expected. This trait recreates more of the emotional impact of the original performancee. Only the Transfiguration Temper is in the same league as the ZYX.
The ZYX is also the purest and cleanest cartridge I've heard. It's sense of delicacy is without equal for me, especially in the high frequencies, which appear to have unlimited extension. It's tracking ability is outstanding, not only retaining its purity, but also its separation of instruments during loud, demanding passages.
The bass of the ZYX is the the finest I've heard in control, cohesiveness and detail, but it lacks some weight compared to some other cartridges, such as the Shelter 901 and Transfiguration Temper. Its extension and impact are not a problem; the lowest notes are there, and with force. The bottom line; pun not intended, I prefer the ZYX's bass reproduction, overall, to any other cartridge.
Conclusions
The ZYX R-100 FS Fuji does less things wrong, and more things right, than any other cartridge I've heard. At this point, I can't live with anything else. I don't want to give the common, pejorative impression that everything else is "second-rate", but in the relative world of serious audio, that is exactly what I am saying. Certainly the best of what I've heard in the past, the Transfiguration Temper and the Shelter 901, are still superb, but they suffer by comparison in virtually every area of music reproduction. While not that far behind in many areas, the cumulative amount was such that I didn't feel they could remain in the same "class", literally or figuratively.
Some listeners have stated that the ZYX is at its best for "small works", like chamber music and jazz, while other cartridges are preferable for large, orchestral works. I disagree. I feel the ZYX's strengths complement all types of music. The descriptive statements above are musically unconditional.
As for the ZYX being "bland", that's about the least accurate description I can imagine. Any person who makes this claim, including one person who did, Michael Fremer, either requires "additives" to their system for an artificial flavor and/or excitement they've grown accustomed to, has some sort of unknown "agenda", or didn't/couldn't set up the ZYX for optimum performance.
On the other hand, the ZYX isn't for everyone. Audiophiles who already have systems with a noticeable sense of leanness, and require indisputable "body", should avoid the ZYX. So should those listeners whose systems have problems with cartridges with a .24mV or lower output. (I haven't heard the .34mV version.)
The ZYX is also among the most intolerant of pickups if played in a less-than-optimized set-up. Both the VTA and tracking force are critical. Plus or minus 1/500th of a gram off "optimum" is audible once the listener becomes sensitized, and 1/100th of a gram over the optimum weight makes the ZYX sound relatively heavy, dull and (yes) "bland". Users will have to have both the tools and the patience to receive the performance I have described above. (My tracking force, after a year's use, was approximately 1.85 grams.)
I even thought for a while that the ZYX cartridge I'm using was "out of phase". One thing is certain though, I have never heard a cartridge sound so different when its phase is changed in an attempt to match the LP's phase, correctly or incorrectly. It's frustrating to know you're listening to a record "out of phase" while not being able to do anything about it short of changing your speaker cables' phase, which is very difficult in my case.
An "out of phase" source, in this case a LP, will sound (relatively) recessed, out of focus and dryed out. Unfortunately, all records are not mastered with the same phase, so the listener will have to choose which phase, "in" or "out", mimics the majority of their LPs. A "phase switch" is the ideal solution, but very few preamplifiers have this capability.
There was an annoyance with this cartridge: The mounting slots were not threaded, which makes it more difficult to make a solid connection and nearly impossible to ever know if the connection is optimized, or compromised. This shouldn't be an issue in 2003, especially for a cartridge that retails for $ 2,000.
