This is one I'm considering for my eventual upgrade to a $500 range cartridge, as I slowly climb the cartridge ladder. I don't see too much information out there, but I know people with some of the more expensive ZYX cartridges are very pleased (Mark I'm looking in your direction:thmbsp:), so I'm curious if anyone here has heard this entry-level cart. in the ZYX lineup.

I would be interested in trying this one day, would like to know myself!

This is one I'm considering for my eventual upgrade to a $500 range cartridge, as I slowly climb the cartridge ladder. I don't see too much information out there, but I know people with some of the more expensive ZYX cartridges are very pleased (Mark I'm looking in your direction:thmbsp:), so I'm curious if anyone here has heard this entry-level cart. in the ZYX lineup.

Hello Mr Lin,
Thought I'd chime in here.
Somehwat knowing Mehran now, the main US ZYX Distributor, and owner of SORAsound in Chicago, he's probably crazy-kind enough to borrow you a demo ZYX Bloom to try!

It's hard for me to give you an accurate assessment of this Cartridge having never owned/heard one, and I understand many of the ZYX are voiced slightly differently, due to coil wire used, slight differences in design, and materials. Even some have differences in thier bodies, such as the ATmos being almost a nude Cartridge.

I don;t believe the Bloom, or Fuji uses quite as small a Stylus as the Airy 3-Atmos-UNIverse, but probably still is a Line Contact Stylus.

Mehran should have some reviews of this Cartridge on his website.

I promise to give some info soon on my Airy 3. It seems to be coming along nicely, but needs more hours of break in I'm sure to begin to reach its full potential.

Not to steer away from ZYX, but another Cartridge that may be a possible next step for you, would be the Dynavector 20X5. I hear this as well is a phenominal Cartridge, considerably exceeding its price point for performance. Mark

Thanks for that Mark, I'll take a look at that guy's site. While I'm certainly intrigued by the 20X5, I've already done the 10X5 thing, and if I'm going to get a new Dynavector frankly it's going to be the Karat when I'm ready to go up to that level. The ZYX seems like something a bit "off the beaten path," you know? And there isn't a huge variety of cartridges directly in the $500 range, so I thought it might be interesting to try an affordable ZYX, then one day possibly look into one of their better ones.

Really looking forward to your thoughts on the Airy 3!

I've never heard the Bloom but having owned the Fuji and now an Airy 3 I'm certainly intrigued by Zyx's lower priced offerings.

I loved the Fuji but the Airy seems to be on the path to taking my system to where I never thought it could go. It's really early in it's life and I know these cartridges need some time before they sound their best so I'm not going to say much till it's properly broken in but I really am impressed with what I hear from this family of cartridges.

I've never heard the Bloom but having owned the Fuji and now an Airy 3 I'm certainly intrigued by Zyx's lower priced offerings.

I loved the Fuji but the Airy seems to be on the path to taking my system to where I never thought it could go. It's really early in it's life and I know these cartridges need some time before they sound their best so I'm not going to say much till it's properly broken in but I really am impressed with what I hear from this family of cartridges.

This is why I'm thinking about trying the Bloom, I hear nothing but the best things from ZYX owners.

This is why I'm thinking about trying the Bloom, I hear nothing but the best things from ZYX owners.

Since you began this thread, I decided to do some searching-research about the ZYX Bloom throughout a few forums, and basically what I come up with, and I am lead to believe, is that the Bloom, is an outstanding Cartridge, but the name it was given was a poor one, as all claim ZYX Cartridges just don't bloom, none of them. One said that maybe Mehran likes Flowers?

I noted one reviewer first noting muddiness of sound, but of course as he discovered, he hadn't given the Cartridge ample time to fully break in.

I've found with my ZYX, and most others do, is a pretty good sound from the start, and then goes through quite a number of changes, and generally take up to a full 100 hours to settle in.

The Bloom, like other ZYX offerings is also noted to possess an uncanny CD like dead silence in the groove, and this is a quality I quickly noted with the Airy 3X SB. Superb Seperation, and Crosstalk are these Cartridge's forte it appears as well.

One Bloom owner, who previosuly owned the Dynavector 20x5, said the ZYX Bloom exceeded the 20x5 in every sonic aspect.

Last night, I gave my Airy 3 a spin with a few LPs, first started with Santana 1, a 35 year old record, an oldie in my collection, and while this is just a standard edition, not a re-issue, noted very low groove noise, and the soundstaging, and all the different drums being played seem to have greater individuality. Perhaps i should mention-elaborate greater individuality than what? Better individuality versus my old Benz Glider, and the new Benz Ruby 3 I also currently own.

It was then onto Madonna "Like a Virgin", an LP I never played on my system, was a mint thrift shop find, and this LP really sounded like crap. Poor mastering, sounding over compressed, lifeless, and monotonic. One minute later, it was off the table! (Probably never to return, what junk!)

Then I yanked a known good LP of mine, a Chesky Swan Lake-Nutcracker Suite, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult-London Philharmonic, and wow, just beautiful.
And this Cartridge is very far from showing its full potential. I probably only have 10-11 hours on it at most.

Save those pennies Mr Lin, I think your quest for nirvana will end once you reach ZYX land. The really bad thing about ZYX? You'll probably want more, and more of what this line has to offer.
I note many of the high end folks who bought the Airy 3, eventually it seems went onto the UNIverse. Mark

Gotta agree about the silence. My Fuji is DEAD quiet. I mean, on any decent quality vinyl, there just is no groove noise of any kind. Really amazing stuff!
Ain't no going back once you have a Zyx....