The measurements that I have seen of your Exact cartridge corroborate what you are hearing.
AV Hub from Australian Hi Fi News sent their Rega Planar 6 turntables off to the lab to measure critical sound reproduction metrics. See the results and learn more about Rega's Planar 6 record player.
soundorg.com
View attachment 401699
Here are other measurements:
https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/rega-aya-your-thoughts.55882/post-2037930
That sloping frequency response should sound dull compared to your digital set-up. I would expect that a cartridge upgrade to something more neutral (at least up until 10kHz) will get you something much more comparable to your reference. If this is in fact the response you are getting (I don't know how you are loading it) then DSP or a phono stage with DSP such as the aforementioned Waxwing can correct it and not a traditional phono stage. If you consider a replacement cartridge you don't need anything that is anywhere near the price of the Exact. Price does not correlate with performance when it comes to cartridges.
Note that we have a measurement of the Exact 2 in our library thread and it does not show the response above. It does look like it prefers minimal capacitance (total, including the capacitance of the tone arm), so it may sound bright if your phono stage doesn't have robust loading settings that includes option under 100pF.
The SRA if my Jico is correct but The VTA of the SAS B for my Shure V15 IV is 30 degrees and gives uneccessary 2% intermodulation distortion when a proper angle would give
audiosciencereview.com
There are many threads with cartridge recommendations on this site so you should find something in your budget. If you go in that direction do look up the cartridge in our measurement library so that you can see the response and the best loading settings.
Thank the lord that the post above has another proper measurements of this dire pickup cartridge, totally opposite of the original Apheta MC for example, which had originally a 5dB hf RISE!!! The Bias, Elys and Exact ALL had the infamous mid kHz suckout of older designs which AT, Shure and Ortofon especially worked so hard to remove (the ATs instead often tend to a response rise at 10 - 15kHz though, which is easily lived with I discovered)
Until the OP has replaced this awful and old fashioned pickup* (unreliable and squidgy sounding with it, to hell with the Vital diamond it's fitted with!) with something more modern (it was out of date in the mid 80s when it was introduced), I'd seriously leave the PP2 alone (the PP2 I remember, also has a 'gentler' tone to it, but this is as nothing compared to the cartridge).
*Easy sale for Rega dealers today as the bloody thing was factory fitted, saving dealers time to set up and check every deck they sell. Back in my day, I opened up, set up with chosen pickup (later times often an Ortofon 500 or Goldring 10** model) and checked and listened to every one, often in front of the customer, chatting about what I was doing as I went along!
The AT VM540 is for me a wonderful place to start. Posher internals than the much loved VM95ML and just a little over two hundred quid here. The output isn't too strong either, so it won't risk overloading the PP2 input (the Exact would have a higher output, due I gather, to the relative lack of shielding this generation of home-made cartridges has). I'd also look at the metal mount derivative, the VM740, which is slightly more restrained (the German Lowbeats site has proper measurements of both, done in a Rega 9 deck and soundbites too I think).
In a Rega tonearm, I'm a huge fan of the Ortofon 2M Bronze, now available in a slimmer profile to help VTA in these arms. It has a crisp lively nature which I love with vinyl sources and the PP2 should be able to take advantage of this.
Disgusted that I sold my mint original vinyl copy of this album twenty years back, I bought a brand new Abbey Road pressing (all analogue) of 'The Colour Of Spring' by Talk Talk (1986 recording). The original pressing was DMM cut, but the sub 60Hz filtering actually works in its favour, favouring the top over the leanly recorded bass. The current one lovingly recut on a properly restored tape machine and lathe, sounds just a touch 'sweeter' to me (Shure V15 III [which has amazed me how 'accurate' it actually was] and Ortofon Super OM30 pickups, both pretty damned 'flat' in overall balance), but that may interest 'analogue' people more. Whatever, it's a great recording to compare with the CD (my CD is original from the time of release).
P.S. Rega have finally launched a new and claimed much improved range of MM cartridges, but they seem very expensive, the £200 ND3 only has a bonded elliptical when a naked line stylus or even a Shibata can be got for similar money, the ND5 has a naked elliptical tip but it's three hundred quid here and more than the VM740 I mention above. I know it's something for a company outside of Japan to make these things (cantilever/diamond assemblies used to be imported though from Europe we were told), but their total dismissal of measurements in terms of frequency response and potential hum pickup, really annoyed me. No measurements yet on the ND models, so I reserve judgements which I won't base on 'sound quality' alone - EVER!!!
P.S.S. and with apologies for the rant above, I set up a new Exact 2 in a new Planar 8 a few months back on the instructions of the dealer I did it for. Very 'nice' tone, but no sparkle, just a nice smoooooth sound which may well be fine with spitty speakers and no digital as we had in the early 1980s, but hopelessly out of its time today... P
