Is a Ortofon Black a step down from a Pickering XSV 3000

@lewm  : "  And or you are wrong or have a high misunderstood that was designed for CD4 "

that's what I posted and where you are wrong.

I own the 981MK2 and Pickering too and in no one of the original manual information speaks nothing about CD-4 as in other vintage cartridges coming from AT or Empire and others as Grace, etc.

Btw, in the the 4000D3 Empire stated in specific its design for CD-4 using even a better stylus tip " four dimensional miniature tip of only 0.001 mil tracing radius against the 0.003 of Stanton one where the Empire tracks perfectly at as low as 0.25grs. VTF ! ! ! this is really unique not that normal Stanton stylus tip.

As I told you " stereohedron " is only a name and nothing special. Even Stanton load impedance specs is 47kohms against the 100kohms spec for Empire, Grace and others.

@tzh21y  I own this reson and it's really good performer too and yes better than your Pickering:

https://www.reson.de/screen/product/reca/language/en

R.

@rauliruegas the stylus  last longer. say shure dj. if you get older stuff. VS the latest ones.or jico. it's verified by the pro here as well. the sound is also different.

original vintage Stanton VS the new white one dj.. similar 

@tzh21y iq3 is same as 1042 but with audio note tweak. supposed to be better. but tip replacement can use 1042.. I haven't tried it. 

1042 if buy eBay 400 or less. gyger is mentioned to be a form of line contact by vdh. it look like a claw. so not exactly shibata. it's a pain to setup.. like all hi end stylus. 

although... spec doesn't look great.. but the stage width,  depth. detail. energy seperation, saturation, musicality, bass speed.. is all good.nothing to complain even at 600 usd. 

the legendary carts subjectively and objectively could be better and more fun to explore

Second generation of Parabolic stylus profile from Pickering (late 80’s) is great.
This is XSV/4000 with white D4000 stylus (it can be also black) shipped to another audiogon member from New York, USA.

In general, the second generation parabolics contact the groove with a sharper radius. Using the Stereohedrons as examples, the original Stereohedron’s tracing radius is .3 mils; the Stereohedron II’s tracing radius is .2 mils. The Stereohedron II’s bearing radius is gentler and taller, distributing the tracking force over a wider area, thus compensating groove wear for the narrower contact points. Great cartridge if you can buy it with genuine Stereohedron stylus!

Always buy original styli for your Pickering, stay away from the cheap third-party styli, genuine Pickering Stereohedron profile is rare and expensive, but well worth its price, the sound quality is fantastic.

Some manufacturers have used their own names for the advanced stylus profile shapes ("parabolics"). For example, Shure used the words "Hyper-Elliptical" (and more); Stanton/Pickering had "Stereohedron" and "Stereohedron II." (Trademarks). Some of these shapes were distinctly proprietary and patented (as were the Stantons). Van den Hul’s and Shibata’s, of course, were/are proprietary. There are more.

The Exclusive Stereohedron Tip and the new XSV samarium cobalt magnet accounts for an extremely high output with the smallest effective tip mass. The Stereohedron tip design is the result of long research in extended frequency response for tracing of high frequency modulations. It’s not necessary to buy a very expensive cartridge designed today if we have vintage MM like Pickering XSV-4000 available in excellent condition. The Stereohedron has a large bearing surface which is distributed over a large portion of the modulated groove, and at the stated optimum tracking force of 1.2 grams, the actual force per unit area is, of course, much less and should significantly contribute to the longevity of recordings.

KAB posted Stanton/Pickering cartridge-stylus compatibility chart HERE

The XSV/3000 by Pickering is equal to the Stanton 881s (in the down right corner in this catalog), it was expensive cartridge in the 70’s if you will read price tag.

No matter that people are telling about technical aspects, the original Stanton (881, 981 or their low impedance versions) or Pickering (3000, 4000, 5000 or their low impedance versions like 4500 & 7500) from the top echelon are absolutely amazing cartridges. The 881 and 3000 are the cheapest of them, still very nice, but not as good as the higher models.Using fake stylus with those great carts is a risk to ruin the original sound!

yup I can atest to that. getting the real deal is also more worthwhile.. better durability of the stylus. one could argue its cheaper