Touraj Moghaddam, a high-end audio legend, CEO and Founder, and a main pillar of Vertere Acoustics, a globetrotter, and one of the most forward-thinking earthlings I’ve met over the years, never rests on his laurels.
The Vertere Acoustics XtraX cartridge is the latest, perfect proof of a concept that embodies Moghaddam’s vision of mechanical and sonic perfection at every turn.
I’ve had many opportunities to experience various Vertere Acoustics products over the years, and I had a prolonged, splendid hands-on experience with the RG-1 Reference Groove, the Reference Tonearm Gen III, and the RG-1 Reference Motor Drive to fully comprehend the Vertere DNA.
The RG-1 Reference Groove, Reference Tonearm Gen III, and RG-1 Reference Motor Drive are already the golden trinity that represents the pinnacle of ultra-high-end analog reproduction.
As you can read in this review, XtraX is the cherry on top, the perfect icing on the cake, and nothing prepared me for my encounter with Vertere Acoustics’ new flagship cartridge.
Undoubtedly digital technology has advanced rapidly in recent years. Still, there’s something about analog playback that makes it a unique offering, a different kind of listening experience.
The analog domain is perpetually continuous, and interestingly enough when digitally recorded music is pressed onto the record, it changes, somehow gaining this continuity.
People often comment on or question the noise associated with turntable playback, but in reality, with a properly set up analog playback system and in conjunction with the properly designed phono preamplifier, there should be no noise at all. In a perfectly balanced analog system, surface noise is only generated when the needle hits the groove.
Interestingly, when approaching the perfect noise-free digital medium, noise, distortion, and saturation are very often added during recording, mixing, and even mastering to achieve a humane sound quality. This raises far more questions than it answers.
When people bring up the subject of surface noise, the quote from John Peel often comes to mind: “Somebody was trying to tell me that CDs are better than vinyl because they don’t have any surface noise. I said, ‘Listen, mate, *life* has surface noise”
Among many other things, the true magic of analog underpins an underlying potency of unpredictability, an essential part of life that is closely linked to the way our brain responds to music and why it rejects and ignites fatigue with particular pattern recognition.
XtraX
The XtraX represents a significant leap in the development of Vertere cartridges, representing the most sonically impressive moving coil cartridge they have ever produced.
Inside the XtraX is a brand new micro-elliptical stylus made from solid nude diamond and attached to a telescopic cantilever for even more precise control. The housing of the XtraX has been redesigned and optimized from the ground up and milled from a single piece of aluminum to offer the same level of sophistication as the new internal components.
XtraX “floats” its generator on four mounting points that are precisely calibrated for peak performance, and an alignment ridge perfectly aligns XtraX with the tonearm.
The XtraX cartridge is covered by a 5-year extended warranty, which must be registered with Vertere Acoustics.
The Music
After the first few songs, it was already clear that the music was in the mould of XtraX Cartridge, and my evaluation shifted unusually from judgmental to absorbing.
As always, here are a few reference tracks/albums that demonstrate the merits of Vertere Acoustics XtraX.
Elles Springs – Reveal
Engineered by George Konings with special analog tape transfer, 1/2 speed mastering, and cutting by Miles Showell, Elles Springs – Reveal is a captivating album released on Vertere Acoustics’ label Vertere Records.
I’ve heard Reveal many times before, but when XtraX hit the grooves, I was immediately captivated by the happenstance of the moment.
If the analog front end is not on par with what Reveal can induce music-wise, especially if the cartridge cannot distill and decode the multiple character traits of vocal and guitar tones the one-of-the-kind lucidity of the album won’t be completely unfolded.
Vertere Acoustic’s cartridge did not succumb to harmonic density like some cartridges can but instead mirrored the pulse of spring musical mystique with an enchanting connexion and free-flowing motion that I wasn’t expecting.
XtraX has managed to keep things moving independently, emphasizing the electric and sparkling lyrical narrative while maintaining the harmonic whole. The Vertere Acoustics flagship has demonstrated a rare level of excellence that is hard to match for any cartridge, regardless of price.
Aco Bocina -Mediterranean Feeling
Mediterranean Feeling is a lively fusion of styles, emotions, passionate virtuosity, and dynamism. Here, too many cartridges fly off the rails, failing to present Bocina’s free-spirited mojo with full swing, expertly captured in the bell-shaped Bibiena Theater in Mantua, known for its exceptional acoustics.
AudioNautes has made a careful selection of pieces from the original concerto, all of which were composed by Bocina himself, except for Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”. As Reveal, this recording was also expertly mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios.
XtraX did not merely fill the available space with notes and tones mechanically, as many cartridges tend to do, but kept a straight curve through the movement of the music, which always emerged from the lush black backdrop.
This tour de force record can too quickly make Bocina playing sound like Ondes Martenot, and create an unwanted cacophony if the cartridge is not up to the speed with fiery dynamics. Not so with XtraX, which supercharged the Mediterranean Feeling with a visceral sense of grandeur.
Thanks to the XtraX optimized center of gravity and numerous technical enhancements, it was possible to track this dynamically extremely demanding record with absolute smoothness and balance. Another stand-out characteristic that deserves to be emphasized and highlighted.
Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um
Where even some far more expensive cartridges tend to cut the upper frequencies towards the lower frequencies, XtraX keeps everything at peak and with a salient impact in the absence of artificial glassines.
With the XtraX’s extremely balanced nub and ability to avoid specific frequency jumps or frequencies that cut through each other, Vertere Acoustics’ flagship reproduced Mingus Ah Um harmonic blends of melodies with feather-light ease, filling the listening room with an irresistible emotional intensity.
The lively, bustling narrative of Mingus Ah Um calls for a sophisticated tracking micromachine to keep it from sounding pedestrian and the music from falling apart.
As proven with so many records, XtraX has reproduced this iconic album with flying colors, at all times keeping the Mingus Ah Um juggernaut at the helm.
Conclusion
Vertere Acoustics starts from the premise of delivering exceptional performance. At every level of product placement, this prominent British high-end audio manufacturer offers a lot of product value for its money. Coupled with its extensive product range, from entry-level to top-of-the-range, this is undoubtedly one of the brand’s key successes in successfully appealing to the younger generation.
The XtraX is undoubtedly chic and has a distinctive radiant color appearance as all Vertere cartridges, but the real magic lies beneath its exterior.
With high-end audio cartridges, all too often the exotic and esoteric materials and approaches are put at forte in the marketing blurb, hiding the mediocre technical aspects. In reality, creating a genuine high-performance cartridge is an inherently challenging task.
XtraX is a proof-of-concept, and where the rubber meets the road, it indicates a turnaround point for the analog replay. Its super-potent core sneaks in through the back door of emotion, bypassing the sensory-logical gatekeepers that allow musical reality to be met on its terms.
The way the Vertere Acoustics flagship cartridge supports the flow of the music puts the listener in a unique state with a captivating momentum and sense of a rewarding musical encounter where one thing follows another as a natural progression rather than an analytical revelation of sonic collisions. A rather unpleasant phenomenon, that even some of the far more expensive cartridges can not escape.
The more you delve into the black grooves with the XtraX, the more you begin to understand what it’s all about, without the essentials getting lost in translation. Vertere XtraX captures the ephemeral nature of musical moments, always staying in sync with the speed of the music, retaining it mysterious and elusive. XtraX elicits subtle qualities, going deep into the analog realms, deeper than usual to unleash the magic and lots of it.
XtraX doesn’t add an ounce of its weight to the music, tracking fabulously while keeping a firm grip on the tempo, escaping constriction, conveying the music with extreme resolution and fidelity, always in tune with the harmony, immersing the listener in the rich palatable factuality, and acting as a revealing window into objective reality.
The XtraX works with a wide bandwidth and phenomenal horizontal and vertical expanse. In my reference system, it introduced a colossal leap in performance compared to what I’ve experienced before.
This is where the right cartridge voicing comes into play and the Vertere Acoustics flagship has an impressive sweet spot. Nevertheless, it needs the right audio set-up to show its capabilities. In a non-balanced high-end audio system, one would just scratch the surface as a passive receiver of sensory impressions, instead of embracing the complete impact.
But it’s not just the harmonic richness that captivates the ears and soul. With the superb handling of timbre, tone, and color, the XtraX displays brilliance in fidelity, a breathtaking richness of detail, and a unique breadth of sound field that catapults you into the musical sphere at lightning speed, interacting instantly with the music as the narrative changes.
There is a tremendous glut of pickups out there and many manufacturers just chewed the chewed, copy-pasting the technology and approaches from the past.
On the contrary, the Vertere Acoustic shows that cartridge manufacturing has evolved massively. XtraX is a remarkable achievement and surpasses its value in all respects, and comes with a set-and-forget quality.
Reflecting the core ethos of the brand, the XtraX delivers a quantitative level of musical complexity with feather-light ease, offering a superbly extended sonic palette, acting lightning fast at every turn. These are rare qualities, but fundamental for the rest of the system to sing to the fullest.
Too many absolutist statements can be made too quickly about something as subjective as music reproduction, but this high-end audio cartridge opens another door of receptivity by letting the music control the audience rather than the other way around.
I’m still a big proponent of analog for several reasons: Any exploration is about discovery, and discovery requires a certain amount of struggle, time, and patience, not to mention practice so that something meaningful is revealed through the actual use of the high-end audio apparatuses.
Digital has come a long way, but it can strive for unnecessary faux perfection and become overwhelming. In contrast, analog imperfections reflect the world around us, and records echo such imperfections and define the listener’s focus.
XtraX is unique, with the Kokorozashi interworking bringing hardware to the level of artwork, offering upper-echelon tracking and music playback, and on top of that, a dignified relaxation that goes far beyond this original raison d’être.
For lack of a better term, with XtraX there’s a big difference between quiet and silence, unlike any other cartridge I’ve heard. Quietness represents an extremely small amount of noise and silence represents no supporting sonic imprint. This appearing juxtaposition brings out infinite nuances and layers of reality that unfold for the listener, there is more weight in the music, and musical events occur and work more closely with the flow of the music.
XtraXhis has made an indelible impression on me with its mind-and-ear-expanding experience, directly tapping into the emotion and raw beauty of music while providing state-of-the-art high-fidelity analog reproduction.
Vertere Acoustics flagship cartridge is a chef’s kiss, from a man with an illustrious heritage representing something novel, more than worthy of attention, and with a potency that directly connects the emotional core of the music with an ultra-responsive interactivity. It is something very rare and special that deserves all the high praise.
Like any cartridge, the XtraX is voiced to meet the designer’s expectations. But it’s tuned to the nth degree, reflecting Touraj Moghaddam’s love of music that runs through all genres of music.
XtraX will capture the attention of music lovers and analog audio aficionados striving to explore the depths of the music. This unique cartridge delivers music reproduction devoid of the usual sonic self-imprint.
Vertere Acoustics become a high-end audio brand for people in the know and XtraX is the kind of cartridge that will be appreciated by music lovers and audiophiles with decades of listening experience. XtraX will address those who have invested in the process of creating a superbly balanced high-end audio system, and not just the collection of sole products.
Among many music lovers, audiophiles, and analog connoisseurs, two prominent icons subscribed to that premise. A renowned mastering engineer Miles Showell from Abbey Road Studios (Underworld, The Beatles, Queen, Eric Clapton, Faithless, The Who, Lana Del Rey), and Nick Mason, the legendary drummer and co-founder of the iconic band Pink Floyd.
It takes a talented/creative team of like-minded individuals to achieve such excellence as encapsulated in XtraX. Under the baton of Touraj Moghaddam, Vertere Acoustics created its top-of-the-line cartridge that set a new standard for what we expect from these micro mechanical music machines in terms of performance and value.
Vertere Acoustics XtraX cartridge is a cut above many of his contemporaries which with no hesitation grants it my recommendation and the 2024 Mono & Stereo Editors Choice Product Award. ❖
Price
- €6998 EUR
Technical specifications
Contact
Vertere Limited
5 Oliver Business Park Oliver Road
London NW10 7JB
T +44 (0)203 176 4888
E info@vertereacoustics.com