Cartridge loading for Pass Labs Xono

 
A general view says higher impedance will yield more sparkle or sizzle. This can compensate for a dead room or exacerbate a live one. Unless you've got a moving magnet, start at 100 Ohms and go up in 500 Ohm increments, then come back down in smaller increments. Go with what sounds best to your ears, stick with that for a month or so, then go up or down to see if you hear a positive difference.

The trick with the XONO is to only use as much gain as you need to drive the cartridge and hold down preamp tube rush (if you have a tubed pre), but no more . The unit will sound edgy when gain is higher than needed. The 61dB setting will strongly drive a .5mv moving coil. Experiment - lower gain may yield less distortion.
 
Tim

Jtimothya
Thanks for your insite. I spent about 12 or 15 hours over a few days and came up with a loading of 76.31. My cart output is .24 volts. It really sings. I'll try this for a few weeks or so and perhaps try tweaking it a bit more, but truthfully I think this is "it". Really jaw-dropping!BTW my pre is a solid state Pass X-1.
Happy Listening!
Happy Holidays!

I have an Xono and AirTight PC-1, (.5mV). I have set the gain to lowest setting and the loading to 22 ohms. I'm surprised this low setting sounds the best, but it is a good combination of clear, clean highs, rich mids and deep, full, articulate bass. I also just switched from the balanced to the single-ended outputs from my Xono to Pass XP-20. The RCA circuit is simpler and sounds better.