Cartridges better than Colibri XGP?

This is an impossible question; any response is going to be purely subjective. And since you cannot get into someone else's head, I suggest that all you will get is a list of opinions from the probably very few of us who have ever heard a Colibri XGP variant. Furthermore, I don't think of the Colibri as a "high compliance" cartridge, but I could be wrong. It so happens that I do own a Colibri. I don't think it is an XGP type, however, but I could be wrong. So far it is the best sounding cartridge I have heard in my system. This includes a Koetsu Urushi and a top end Ortofon, among many others. On the other hand, it is rated for 1.0mV output, so it is hardly "low" in output. And it is mounted in a medium mass tonearm. There you have my opinion, for what it is worth.

Dear Pentatonia: Better than...?, this fact is dependent on the tpnearm match for a cartridge, the analog rig where it will work, whole audio system performance, your quality performanve priorities and many other factors.

I like the Colibri as other Van denHul cartridges but maybe you don't have to go in that high price " direction ". You can try what IMHO is worth to invest with: the MM/MI alternative and these are very good choice that not only are different of what you have but that outperform what you have:

http://www.elexatelier.com/bangandolufsenphono.htm
the MMC2 model.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1261282177&/Soundsmith-The-Voice

http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=NAGAOKAMP050&Category_Code=NAGAOKACART

or

http://www.audiophile.com.au/product_amber.html

here see " cartridges: Grado Amber. ".

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

i've owned 7 Colibri's over the last 9 years, and typically 3 at a time. there are a few different Colibri's, but i'm not exactly sure what an XGP is. i've had XGW's (wood body, gold windings), a couple of XCP's (copper windings, polycarbinite body), and an XPP (platinum windings, ploycarbonite body).

when a Colibri is at it's best; it is super explosive and detailed, very natural and with see-thru transparency. really breathtaking. unfortunately; any Colibri is also knife-edge in it's character......always borderline to being too edgy and splashy. it really needs an arm with a good amount of dampning to control the 'zingy' nature. i've heard that the Graham Phantom is a good match, there are likely others.

at this point i don't own a Colibri; but i will in the furture. i got tired of fighting the damn things. but i still miss the moments when heaven openned with the Colibri.

The Colibri is a terrific product but please proceed with great caution because the distributor, Bluebird Audio, sucks.

I dropped the line when Bluebird took over 3 months to rectify a situation involving a faulty Condor.

I'd still be selling vdH products, they are terrific, if the distributor had a clue what customer service means.