Hi all,
Not much time for details as I'm sandwiching 4 turntable builds between a road trip and next week's RMAF.
Suffice it to say that the XV-1s justifies its stature at the top of the Dynavector food chain. I've had a couple of sessions with experienced listeners where we went through a range of cartridges - including the Universe, a Benz LP, an XV-1s, and an XX-2.
Tonearms were 3 Triplanars. I only have one Schröder Reference and I wanted repeatability as well as to be able to work on one cartridge setup while another one was playing.
Some in attendance were overly harsh toward the XX-2 in my opinion. I think this was due to expectations (can you say wishful thinking?) that it would be closer to the XV-1s.
Taken on its own, the XX-2 is a very nice cartridge. When you hear the XV-1s however, it's game over and the drool will be running down your chin.
I have yet to live with a Te Kaitora Rua, and am curious how close it comes to the big bad XV-1s.
Note to Rwd. I learned that last Saturday's system where you heard the XV-1s was loading the XV-1s at 470 ohms. The owner and I had a miscommunication and I thought he was loading it at 100.
In this day of security checks and such, it's much more onerous to travel with a soldering iron and tools - especially if you don't trust the baggage handlers.
On most every system I've dialed in the XV-1s, it' likes to see about 100. This accounts for the slightly "zingy" sound we heard last Saturday.
I've experienced some "hot" systems where I've loaded an XV-1s at 35 ohms, but 100 is the most frequent number I've hit.
Note about the XX-2 bass "speed". Play with your tracking force. Like the XV-1s and all other high performance cartridges, it responds to slight changes.
You'll benefit greatly from a digital scale with .01 gram accuracy. A .05 gram change can make all the difference in the world at this level of cartridge - from a sluggish presentation to live and "snappy".
Don't get a .05 gram accuracy scale because there's too much rounding error. The price for a .01 gram or better scale is only marginally more.
The scale that Dan_ed and others are using is very nice - something I consider absolutely necessary for a cartridge at this performance level.
Play with your loading too ...
BTW (to GMC) ... yes, XX-2 to Universe is not a fair comparison, but you already knew that.
Next week at the RMAF, we'll be running a double arm rig on a Stelvio:
* Schröder Reference SQ / Universe
* Triplanar / XV-1s
If we have the energy and inclination, we may reverse the cartridges on Saturday night.
Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier
Not much time for details as I'm sandwiching 4 turntable builds between a road trip and next week's RMAF.
Suffice it to say that the XV-1s justifies its stature at the top of the Dynavector food chain. I've had a couple of sessions with experienced listeners where we went through a range of cartridges - including the Universe, a Benz LP, an XV-1s, and an XX-2.
Tonearms were 3 Triplanars. I only have one Schröder Reference and I wanted repeatability as well as to be able to work on one cartridge setup while another one was playing.
Some in attendance were overly harsh toward the XX-2 in my opinion. I think this was due to expectations (can you say wishful thinking?) that it would be closer to the XV-1s.
Taken on its own, the XX-2 is a very nice cartridge. When you hear the XV-1s however, it's game over and the drool will be running down your chin.
I have yet to live with a Te Kaitora Rua, and am curious how close it comes to the big bad XV-1s.
Note to Rwd. I learned that last Saturday's system where you heard the XV-1s was loading the XV-1s at 470 ohms. The owner and I had a miscommunication and I thought he was loading it at 100.
In this day of security checks and such, it's much more onerous to travel with a soldering iron and tools - especially if you don't trust the baggage handlers.
On most every system I've dialed in the XV-1s, it' likes to see about 100. This accounts for the slightly "zingy" sound we heard last Saturday.
I've experienced some "hot" systems where I've loaded an XV-1s at 35 ohms, but 100 is the most frequent number I've hit.
Note about the XX-2 bass "speed". Play with your tracking force. Like the XV-1s and all other high performance cartridges, it responds to slight changes.
You'll benefit greatly from a digital scale with .01 gram accuracy. A .05 gram change can make all the difference in the world at this level of cartridge - from a sluggish presentation to live and "snappy".
Don't get a .05 gram accuracy scale because there's too much rounding error. The price for a .01 gram or better scale is only marginally more.
The scale that Dan_ed and others are using is very nice - something I consider absolutely necessary for a cartridge at this performance level.
Play with your loading too ...
BTW (to GMC) ... yes, XX-2 to Universe is not a fair comparison, but you already knew that.
Next week at the RMAF, we'll be running a double arm rig on a Stelvio:
* Schröder Reference SQ / Universe
* Triplanar / XV-1s
If we have the energy and inclination, we may reverse the cartridges on Saturday night.
Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier