I think I got over the issue by using the apparently undocumented parse() function from Data::DumpXML::Parser (at least, the manpage only talks about parsefile(), leaving clueless newbies like me slightly... f.. er, lost), as crazyinsomniac mentioned. Still have to check if it does what I expect, (update: it does :P) but it's good to have that Text::Iconv thing back there, just in case.

Therefore, thanks a lot! :-)