Dynavector XX-2

Dear Gary: As good is the XX-2 the XV-1 is a step further ( whole ) in a cartridge quality performance and you can have it for 2.8K.
Of course that for the difference price between the Dyna's it must be a quality performance differences..

Btw, the cartridge selection is a very personal/subjective one and ( first than all ) with your music sound reproduction priorities.

One critical subject when we are looking for this kind of cartridge performance ( XV-1 ) is the phonolinepreamp: your cartridge quality performance will be best/worst depending of the quality performance of that phonolinepreamp!!!

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

I have an XX-2 and rate it very highly. I haven't heard a Universe yet but the XX-2 easily bests an Airy 3, especially in dynamics and palpability - the XX-2 just sound more like real people playing instruments.

I know someone who has set up both an XX-2 and a XV-1S on his Triplanar and says they are very close - close enough to question whether the extra expense is necessary.

Different isn't always better just because it costs more!

Dear Audiofeil: " +++++ FWIW, regarding the frequency measurement argument simply disregard it as audiospeak rhetoric. Those graphs and charts are nice to look but you can't listen to them. I've heard speakers measuring 20-20K flat that aren't fit for car stereo. " +++++

Of course you can listen to them!!!! With the today high level performance audio devices that we can have almost what we are hearing ( other than good/bad design ) are differences on the frequency response that means inaccuracies of different kinds that create distortions/colorations in what we are hearing.

If you have a few cartridges: XV-1, Universe Allaerts MC2, Myaby 47, Lira Titan i, Colibri, etc, etc and you run a test for frequency response: 10Hz to 40kHz, where you can " see " on the paper the frequency deviations from " ruler flat " response for each cartridge through this test results you could explain and hear the small/big colorations/inaccuracies that belongs to each cartridge.

It will be very complex to run that kind of test because we need not only the cartridges but several tonearms ( we have to match for the same resonance frequency ), a top performance analog system and the precise instruments/records to make the measurements but of course that you could hear those measurements!!!!

Your example of speaker/car audio is the worst you could choose, with cartridges is different.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Sorry Raul. Nobody can hear charts and graphs. They're nice to look at and give us an idea what a product MIGHT sound like but basically they are USELESS.

Once again--- I've heard speakers that measure 20-20K on paper that sound horrible. So you go with the charts and graphs; I'll go with my ears.
Thank you.

Dear Audiofeil: Like you posted: you are not a technical/numbers man, in that way it is USELESS to talk with you about because of your non know-how.

Maybe next time.

Btw, I hear with my ears too, of course you can't understand this.

Regards and enjoy the music.