Phono Cartridge Comparison Pickering XV 15 625E vs Shure M97xE 

Pickering xv15 625e Best!

Das Shure hat das reichere Klangbild …Danke, sehr aufschlussreich

I'll take the pickering I like it best

The Pickering cartridge is identical to the old style street cleaners we used to have in Winnipeg, Canada, the side to side front mounted spinning brush was perfect for small open areas and ideal for parking garage cleaning as well.

This 'Buckaroo...' piece always sounds so much like an Elmer Bernstein soundtrack, very much his style I feel.

Never liked the Shure's "warm" EQ

Thank you for your videos! I found a Shure M97 era 4 at a thrift store mounted on an Akai table. Deck was Mint and the cartridge appeared new. Under a scope, I believe it is new. Sold the table, but kept the cart. Haven't tried it yet on a good deck. IMO the Shure (in the video) comes across Fuller, "rounder" and warmer. Maybe less analytical, to me more fleshed out and fuller. Any info on the Shure M97 era 4? Thanks for the wealth of info.

I've never liked the idea of a brush mounted onto a cartridge. It adds unwanted mass, in some cases it tends to steer the stylus as the brush fibers follow the groves. The biggest issue is it follows the stylus rather than preceding it. The stylus hits the dust, and the brush largely just moves the dust elsewhere. Much better to clean the disc before use. Or play a FLAC file, probably a better choice overall.

If you only see the distortion numbers you will be upset. 10% for the 2nd harmonic is normal value. The professional quality Shure V mark3 has 2% 2nd and 0.5%3rd 3%IMD.