I heard the 2 was warmer than 3,so i went with it.I'd say "smoother", if that's the opposite of "livelier". Both are tonally neutral, neither warm nor cool.
I expect you'll love it, but if it doesn't quite "boogie" enough for your tastes both the Airy 3 and UNIverse would resolve that deficiency.
The UNIverse shocked me again last night. After 15 weeks it still does that regularly. Even records I've played with it before sound new with repeated plays. I'm going to hear it next to a couple of $10K+ cartridges soon. It will be interesting to see if the "lowly" $5K ZYX can hold its own.