Spin Doctor

Dynavector XX-2A Low-Output Moving Coil
Almost every Friday, I meet with a tightknit group of friends for a casual lunch where we yak away a couple of hours about anything and everything to do with hi-fi. Last Friday, my friend Bill chimed in with, "Why do so many of you reviewer guys have Dynavector cartridges?" It's true, and it's a good question. Dynavector cartridges are not the most talked-about or the most glitzy, glamorous cartridges, but people who own them sure seem to like them. I have owned a Dynavector DRT XV-1s cartridge for many years, and coming back to it after a dalliance with some other more exotic cartridge model always feels like putting on a pair of comfortable old shoes.

I think one reason you don't often see splashy news about Dynavector is that the launch of an all-new model from the Japanese company is a pretty rare event. Occasionally, they introduce a new version of one of their existing cartridges, which is exactly what the XX-2A I'm covering here is. It's based on their XX series, first seen as the XX-1 in 1989. Today, Dynavector has six cartridge lines, the newest of which is the XV-1, introduced in 1999 (footnote 4). The 10X and Karat Diamond models are now well into middle age, having been around since the company began selling cartridges in the late 1970s.

A great resource for researching audio gear from decades past is the online archive at worldradiohistory.com. There, you can find scanned copies of thousands of magazines, including the late great Audio. I remember as a young audiophile waiting eagerly each year for the October issue to arrive, as this was the issue with the famous Equipment Directory. In the pre-internet era, the directory was a kind of bible for researching what audio gear was out there. When Audio folded in 2000, the annual directory continued to live on as part of Stereophile partner Sound & Vision. In the early 2000s, that magazine hired me for a couple of months each summer to work on the directory issue. My job was to pore over endless spreadsheets of manufacturer-submitted specifications and other data, trying to root out clear mistakes, such as 300" woofers and cassette decks with a frequency response out to 1MHz. It was a mind-numbing task, but it sure kept me in the loop about what manufacturers and products were out there.

Going back through some of those old Audio directories online, one cool factoid I discovered is that when Dynavector's Karat Diamond, the first cartridge in the world with a gemstone cantilever, was launched in 1979, it sold for $1000. That tied it with the Koetsu Rosewood as the most expensive cartridge in the world at the time. Forty-five years later, the nearly identical but much improved Dynavector 17DX, the Karat Diamond's direct descendant, sells for $2450, just over half of the 1979 cartridge's inflation-adjusted price. Who says high-end audio gear only gets more expensive with time?

Dynavector's most recent cartridge revision is the XX-2A, which replaces the XX-2 MKII. Why they didn't call it the XX-2 MKIII isn't clear, but visually the new and the old are almost identical, a gold DV badge replacing the red MKII badge on the front of the cartridge and an "A" suffix added to the model name on the side.

The similarities continue on the paperwork. The specifications are identical, including the cantilever material (boron) and stylus geometry (line contact), magnet material (Alnico 5), output voltage (0.28mV), internal impedance (6 ohms), and weight (8.9gm). Even the price has barely budged, going up by just $100, to $2250.

So what gives? How is the XX-2A different?

Launched 35 years ago, the original XX-1 introduced what Dynavector calls a flux dumper, a length of thin wire wrapped around the front yoke of the cartridge's generator structure (above). They found that this helps to minimize signal-modulated fluctuations in the magnetic field within the pole piece. As the first model with this feature, the XX-1 had a tiny switch on the front of the cartridge that allowed you to switch the flux dumper on and off; you could hear its effect on the sound. Since then, the flux dumper has been incorporated into all Dynavector cartridges, and on models like the XV-1 and XX-2, you can see the wire wrapped around the front yoke.

More recently, Dynavector discovered that the standard annealing process used while manufacturing the pole pieces was affecting the crystalline structure of the iron being used, constricting the permeability of the iron. They developed a new annealing process which preserves the structure of the iron, greatly enhancing its permeability. Dynavector claims that this change results in improved resolution, dynamics, and dimensionality. This new annealing process is what sets the XX-2A apart from its predecessor.

I have installed a half-dozen XX-2 MKIIs over the years but have never heard one in my own system. To make things super easy, Dynavector's US distributor Toffco sent me both the new XX-2A and the older XX-2 MKII, so I could compare them directly. Both cartridges already had some hours under them, so break-in wasn't a concern.

The next question was which tonearm to use. In their literature, Dynavector talks about using a medium-to light-mass tonearm, but the XX-2's lowish 10µm/mN compliance figure seems to contradict that suggestion. One thing I have learned recently, from reviewing the Korf arm in December 2023 and reading Alex Korf's thoughts, is that the old school method for matching mass and compliance is too simplistic. When I plugged the numbers for the XX-2A and Korf TA-SF9R tonearm into the calculator on the Korf website, it looked like the combination would work beautifully. Because I also have two of Korf's HS-A02 ceramic headshells, I was able to mount and align both cartridges identically, making it a snap to swap the cartridges back and forth without having to adjust anything. I installed the arm on my SME Model 30/2 turntable, and it was ready to go.

I read online that the XX-2 MKII isn't a good match for transimpedance phono preamps. Don't believe everything you read online. On paper, its 6 ohm internal impedance, coupled with the fact that Dynavector itself makes a current drive phono preamp and says it's suitable for the XX-2, suggests that it should be a good match. I compared the sound of the XX-2A through both the current and voltage inputs of the CH Precision P1 phono preamp. Both inputs sounded excellent. I could make an argument in favor of either approach, but ultimately I found the voltage input somewhat more lively and open; it brought out the Dynavector's strengths better than the more buttoned-down, laser-focused current drive input. I decided the best match was the voltage-drive Mola Mola Lupe since it's a closer price match and because it allows for easy, "on the fly" adjustments of gain and loading.

Listening to the two XX-2s, I was immediately struck by just how clean and tidy both versions sounded. This is a confident-sounding cartridge. It handles even the most difficult-to-track records with ease. It plays records with very little surface noise, managing to make less-than-pristine records sound clean and quiet. This is usually a sign of excellent mechanical energy control from the cartridge and the arm, and it is something I noted in my review of the Korf tonearm.

As a young audiophile growing up in England in the late 1970s, I became deeply indoctrinated by the British hi-fi press and their nearly cultlike devotion to UK brands like Linn, Naim, and Rega. In 1985, I moved back to the United States with my Linn-Naim system in tow. Soon I was tempted by the American high-end goodies on offer, especially after I started working at the late Andy Singer's store, Sound by Singer, in 1986.

At one point, I changed my electronics for those of another well-regarded company that shall remain nameless. I remember my deep disappointment with their performance. Little Creatures by Talking Heads was in heavy rotation at the time, and I played the song "Give Me Back My Name" (Naim) repeatedly. Ultimately, I got my wish and returned to Naim gear, though that too would pass.

While I still enjoy the Little Creatures album, "Give Me Back My Name" now brings back too many tortured memories of that time nearly 40 years ago, so to compare the XX-2 MKII and XX-2A, I played "Walk It Down" instead. Like many mid-1980s rock recordings, Little Creatures suffers from short, hard reverb on the drum kit, but the resolving power of the XX-2A lets you hear subtleties in the mix that aren't so obvious with many cartridges. Details, like how David Byrne's vocal sound changes during each line, creating a call-and-response effect, become clearer, with more contrast with the newer Dynavector. Background vocals had better-defined layering and a richer palette of tonal color.

The older Dynavector XX-2 MKII has long been one of my favorite go-to recommendations for a top-shelf low-output MC that doesn't come with an insane price tag. That recommendation is even stronger now with the XX-2A.

---

Footnote 4: Dynavector Systems Ltd., 3-2-7 Higashi-Kanda. Chiyoda-ku. Tokyo 101-0031, Japan. Tel: +81 (0) 3-3861-4341. Web: dynavector.com. US distributor: Toffco/Dynavector USA, 8116 Gravois Rd., St. Louis, MO 63123. Tel: (314) 454-9966. Web: dynavector-usa.com.