New Audio Technica ART9XA Up and Running.....

@pani 

15 hours in and it sounds better than the ortofon cadenza blue !  

64db of gain and a 8 to 13 gram arm and you're going to be in vinyl bliss with the XA.    

i am mesmerized by how good this cartridge sounds.  explosive but delicate, refined yet very detailed, zero groove noise, huge separation and sound stage, all frequencies sound impressive and a golden smoothness that is incredible.  

avanti, your glowing praise has piqued my hopes for a wonderful experience, but it's likely I'll receive the cart at least a week before I get the tonearm back.  I feel like a kid with Christmas coming - can't get here soon enough.  Thanks for the report!

@keegiam,
fun place to be, i hope it meets your expectations.  
listening to grant green grsnt stand and grsnt's guitar sounds so natural, full of space and present.  lovin it.  
peace and keep us posted.  

I opted for the xi, as it was the successor to the venerable art9 - so far sounds really awesome. I hope I didn’t make a mistake not getting the xa. I’m coming from a dynavector karat d3. 

@shooflyshoo

I spent an inordinate amount of time and angst trying to decide between the XI and XA myself.  I was reassured by many members I would be very happy with either.  I went with the XA once I decided to take the plunge and switch out a couple resistors inside my preamp's moving coil section to adjust to the XA's very low .2mv output (a result of its non-magnetic air coil design).  I'm still not yet set up (my arm has just been returned from re-wiring).  I could not have gone with the XA without doing this, and I'm still nervous about it.

Bottom line: the XI's .5mv output means you will have ZERO gain problems.  I'm sure you'll be delighted.  Let's compare notes once we're up and running.