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Hi-End carts - pros

When looking at the field of high end carts, IMO there are no outright "bad" sounding ones, just that each cart has its own characteristics. I am looking at acquiring one of these below. If you had to select one from one of the following, which would you choose and why?

a) Koetsu RSP
b) Lyra Skala
c) Dynavector XV-1s
cmk

Showing 2 responses by audiolui

audiolui
295 posts
 
Kurt is one of my acquaintances in Audiogon. Yes, I upgraded to the Goldfinger v2. I don't have any experience with the Koetsu cartridge.

The XV-1s is an excellent all around cartridge from top to bottom. Excellent tracking, rich tonality, low noise, big soundstage, and good extension on both ends. However,in terms of resolution, soundstage, and noise floor, the Goldfinger v2 is in different league. Since the topic here doesn't include the Goldfinger, I am not going to talk about it in detail.

That said, I agree all high end cartridges are good performers. Hard to go wrong with any of the above you mentioned.
audiolui
295 posts
 
Congratulations! I am sure you will like it. I agree with Kurk_Tank that you don't need to set the VTF beyond the max. recommended by the manufacturer. I had good results at 2.0 gram. I didn't see any sonic benefits at 2.5 grams and beyond, except my pulse rate went up when I saw the cartridge almost bottom out at 2.5g. Enjoy.
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