Waaaah. Snapped off my cantilever.

Mr P- One sonic benefit of a(top shelf) repair through Soundsmith involves a much upgraded cantilever(ruby), if available for your cartridge. Their Nude Contact Line sylus profile also is an upgrade over many that OEM manufacturers provide.(http://www.sound-smith.com/retip/)

Mr D- "the Dynavector has a boron cantilever. The Soundsmith ruby cantilever is not an upgrade at all as boron is a far better material to use," Have you heard one, with a ruby cantilever? If not: On what is your opinion based? Thank you for your reply.

"If you send it to a universal re-tipper, you will receive a different cartridge with a different quality performance level that almost always is only different but not better one." Again: On what is this opinion based? Both Van Den Hul and Soundsmith have built some excellent cartridges. In fact; the Van Den Hul styli profiles(VDH1/VDH2) were used by a number of upper-crust cartridge manufacturers(ie: Elac, EMT, Coral,
Ortofon, Allaerts, Clearaudio, Audio Note, et al), in the 70's and 80's. While the OP's cartridge is also an excellent(but not, "state of the art") specimen(I own a Dynavector myself), I see no reason that it's performance could not conceivably be improved upon, or matched(at a competitive price point) by those with the experience to extract the sound of live music, from a vinyl pressing. But then: If the OP was perfectly pleased by the original sound of the cartridge; an exchange via Dynavector(admittedly- no gamble) would certainly be indicated.

Mr D- My question was whether you had heard the XX with a ruby cantilever. I have and thought it more organic(natural/alive, while retaining air/ambiance), which to me is an improvement, as I actually listen to more live music, than canned. I probably should have qualified that, "much improved", with a, "personal preference" disclaimer. That the stylus profile was different adds a variable as well(same records listened to/probably another area of the groove). Boron and ruby are both extremely rigid(boron-9.5 Mohs scale, ruby-9, diamond-10) and(actually) some of the hardest substances on Earth. That their specific gravities come in(respectively) at 2.4 and 4, should give boron an edge regarding moving mass and(yes) detail retrieval, depending on the length of the cantilever, compliance and other mechanical considerations. However: Being a tuned system; every cartridge is unique and(like every recording's mix) subject to the tuner's biases.

Like I said, "depending on the length of the cantilever, compliance AND OTHER MECHANICAL CONSIDERATIONS. However: Being a tuned SYSTEM; every cartridge is unique and(like every recording's mix) SUBJECT to the TUNER'S BIASES." BUT- Thanx for pontificating. =;^)