I couple of years ago, I was in a similar place shopping for a cartridge for my Technics SP10mkII around ~$1k max (considering used or new). A friend with a highly modded 1200(TransFi Terminator arm, Mike New copper platter, Hynes power supply, etc.) used the ART9. Another friend had a Dynavector XX2 (mk1). We brought it over and spent a night comparing them. It was an interesting comparison and both carts showed their merits. Each owner had a slight preference for their own choice.
My take was that the ART9 was highly detailed, but not over-hyped, and excelled on classical music, especially massed strings. The Dyna was my preference with more natural rhythm, a more relaxed tonal balance and just more "you are there" particularly on acoustic rock, jazz and vocal music. Bottom end also had more jump with more exacting leading trailing edges to notes. It's taken me a while, but I recently bought a XX2mkII. If I hadn't compared them and just bought the ART9 I think I still would have been very happy with it. These had more in common than I expected and both are very impressive in there price range. FWIW, I recently saw a good deal with someone selling a new XX2 for a bargain price. Cheers,
Spencer