Moving on after van den hul

Until a couple of months ago, my reference for the past few years had been the Colibri XPP, and the XCW HO before that. I have since switched to the Ortofon A90. While my A90 may still not be completely run-in yet, my feeling is that it is certainly a step up from the Colibri overall, particularly in the mid-range and bass, which the A90 has more body and drive. However, the Colibri still has the advantage on the treble, which has more "air".

I love van den Hul cartridges and was a dealer for a few months in 2009 but dropped the line as the current distributor in North America should be selling used cars not high end audio components.

Customer service for them is the consummate oxymoron.

In any case, I find that Lyra products share many vdH sonic traits with a higher degree of reliability. The build quality/fit and finish are unsurpassed among high end cartridges.

And the importer, Immedia, is a super class act offering terrific representation and outstanding service.

IMO
YMMV

Dealer disclaimer

I had a Frog for some time. Very musical with to die for mids / highs. I went to Lyra Skala and have been happy with it's performance over the past 2 years.

Dear Jimjoyce25: Well I still love the Colibri and the XV-1s and the Allaerts and the LP and the A90 and and and......

IMHO the Colibri is competitive with any other top LOMC out there and name it here.

Things are IMHO that no two top LOMC cartridges performs exactly the same, all are different ( not necessary better than the other. ) and are these small differences the ones that can/could match in better way each one priorities. Overall the Colibri is hard to beat. Btw, in my Colibri set up the bass performance is really fine and has nothing to ask to the A-90, of course the Thekong cartridges set up were/are different from mine.

If you want something a little different but still top quality performance my vote goes to XV-1s or A-90 and remember that always is there the MM/MI analog source alternative.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

I own both the Colibri XGP and Dynavector XV1S. Paired w/ Graham Phantom 11 and Basis debut Sig Vaccuum table. I prefer the sound of my XGP, it seem to be more life like and open. I would stick to the van den hul.....