DaVinci tonearm and azymuth

If the stylus is not 100% vertical in relation to the upper plane of the mounting cartridge body, you need a headshell which can be rotated in its axis - at least to some degree.

Or shim between the cartridge and headshell. I do that where azimuth adjustment is not available. A fraction of a degree can make all the difference.

I agree that on an arm at this cost should be built correctly.

Having the headshell level, though, gives absolutely no assurance of optimum azimuth setting. Getting it properly aligned is a must.

Good post, Dre_j. Quite a bit of information about the Feickert software azimuth measurement, including the phase measurements as well, can be seen in the Azimuth compendium on his website.

Lewm: While the Feickert software measures crosstalk, it also measures phase, to which the ear is more sensitive. The azimuth angles at which crosstalk and phase error are minimized don't always coincide, although they are often close. Since minimum phase error is of most interest, whether the channel output levels are identical is not so critical. Several months ago I measured an exotic cartridge which had been problematic for a client; as it turned out there was severe channel imbalance on the order of 4.5 dB, so it was replaced with a conventional cartridge...the improvements with the azimuth about 2 degrees off level were mind blowing.