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

If you like what you have, stick with it.
Just make sure you buy a lot of styli for it since older styli gets more & more difficult to find.

@tzh21y 
Sounds like you should just find the best stylus replacement you can for the Pickering - worthwhile even it ends up as a backup.

I'm personally not impressed by the Hana's - if I was going budget I really like the Audiiotechnica AT33PTG - a friend ran it on his TW Acustik Raven/Helius combo and it was very musical. I prefer the microcline/microscanner stylus profile to the shibata - its very transparent, but the shibata can be a little brittle in some instances.
I would back this cartridge over the Ortofon Black any time.

To give you context my main go to cartridges include Dynavector Nova 13D (with custom Dynavector rebuild), Ikeda kiwame, Koetsu Black and I can listen to the AT33PTG and be perfectly happy.

With my Nagaoka MM its great but it just doesn't engage me. 

@dover , I agree fully on the Hana's and the AT.

 My approach now to cartridges is different. When I have a bunch of them I always wind up listening to the one I like best and the others languish. I sold the lot and only keep one extra as a back up. I'd rather not have a lot of money sitting in cartridges I do not use. Now I patiently wait for a cartridge I am pretty sure will make an improvement buy that and sell the back up. I used the extra money to buy a new turntable:-)

In my opinion the closest to the sweet sound of the best Stanton & Pickering cartridges is Pioneer PC-1000 mkII with Beryllium cantilever. 

unfortunately, many of these cartridges are just not available any longer.

I own 2 of the Pioneer PC-1000 carts that @chakster is so fond of. Listening to one of them now. Quickly became a favorite. Other is NOS in the vault. Beryllium!

nice

I also have the Pickering XSV-4000, quite excellent. My daily driver at the moment is the Pioneer PC-1000. 

very nice.  

As a proud owner of Pickering XSV/3000, 3000SP, 4000, 5000; XLZ/4500, 7500 ... I must admit those are fantastic MM cartridges. Top models have the Stereohedron mkII profile, lower models have first generation of Stereohedron profile. 

Natural progression for any Pickering owner is next Pickering model (if there are any). The 5000 and 7500 series are top of the line models. 

*** Below is the information from Pickering catalog:


“The culmination of 30 years of Audio Engineering leadership - the new Stereohedron XSV/5000. The best for both worlds. One of the most dramatic developments of cartridge performance was the introduction of the Pickering XSV/3000. It offered the consumer a first generation of cartridges, combining both high tracking ability and superb frequency response. It utilized a new concept in stylus design - Stereohedron, coupled with an exotic samarium cobalt moving magnet. Now Pickering offers a top-of-the-line Stereohedron cartridge, the XSV/5000. Combining features of both the XSV/3000 and the XSV/4000. It allows a frequency response out to 50,000 Hz. The Exclusive Stereohedron Tip, 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. The patented Dustamatic brush and stylus work hand in hand with the rest of the cartridge assembly to reproduce with superb fidelity all frequencies contained in today’s recordings. Pickering is proud to offer the XSV/5000 as the best effort yet in over 30 years of cartridge development.


A fresh new breakthrough in cartridge development designed specifically as an answer for the low impedance moving coil cartridge - XLZ/7500S The advantages of the XLZ/7500S are that it offers characteristics exceeding even the best of moving coil cartridges. Features such as an openness of sound and extremely fast risetime, less than 10µ seconds, to provide a new crispness in sound reproduction. At the same time, the XLZ/7500S provides these features without any of the disadvantages of ringing, undesirable spurious harmonics which are often characterizations of moving coil pickups. The above advantages provide a new sound experience while utilizing the proven advantages of the Stereohedron stylus, a samarium cobalt assembly, a patented Pickering Dustamatic brush, with replaceable stylus, along with low dynamic tip mass with very high compliance for superb tracking. So, for those who prefer the sound characteristics attributed to moving coil cartridges, but insist on the reliability, stability and convenience of moving magnet design, Pickering presents its XLZ/7500S.


THE SOURCE OF PERFECTION PICKERING from Pickering Enter No. 30 on Reader Service Card "for those who can hear the difference" For further information on the XSV/5000 and the XLZ/7500S write to Pickering Inc., Sunnyside Blvd., Plainview, N.Y.”

This is great stuff!
Dear friends: This is very interesting:

Effective mass -- the smaller, the better:

0.970mg Shure "bi-radial" (0.4x0.7mil, MM)
0.750mg Ortofon X1-MCP (p-mount, high output MC)
0.500mg Ortofon OM10 stylus (bushed elliptical, MI)
0.400mg Ortofon OM20 stylus (nude elliptical, MI)
0.400mg Ortofon X5-MC (HOMC, nude FG)
0.370mg Shure Elliptical (0.2x0.7mil, MM)
0.330mg Shure bi-radial on V15-III (MM) (berillium control rod)
0.300mg Ortofon OM30 stylus (nude Fine Line), OM40 (nude FG), MI
0.290mg Technics EPC-P202C (p-mount, MM)
0.290mg Shure HE on V15-IV (MM) ("telescopic shank")
0.270mg Denon DL-301 (MC)
0.250mg Denon DL-207 (MC)
0.240mg Van den Hul Colibri (MC)
0.230mg Technics EPC-P310MC (p-mount, MC)
0.220mg Ortofon Jubilee (MC)
0.180mg Denon DL-303 (MC)
0.170mg Shure Micro-Ridge (0.15x3.00mil, MM)
0.168mg Denon DL-305
0.109mg Technics EPC-P205CMK4 (p-mount, 0.2x0.7mil, MM)
0.098mg Technics EPC-100CMK3 (MM)
0.077mg Denon DL1000 (MC)
0.055mg Technics EPC-P100CMK4 (p-mount, MM)

Effective mass -- the smaller, the better:

Better what?

And what is the reason to put these particular carts in the list ignoring the others?

Hi everyone..I hope someone can help me..stupidly I broke the D5000 stylus of my beloved Pickering XSV 5000 after cleaning the diamond tip too hard the cantliver no longer holds the weight .. after so many years of excellent sound , now I'm desperate: obviously I can't find any original stylus or NOS, and even if I did, I probably couldn't afford the cost, which I've read all over the web, it's scary ... the advice I would like from all of you, who are super experts, is whether it is better to settle for stylus reproduced, like this one: https://www.lpgear.com/product/PICKSXSV5000.html or if any of you can advise me else if there is better, or replace my beloved Pickering with a new cartridge..but which one can be considered the same or even better quality than the XSV / 5000 ???  and what are the costs?  my XSV 5000 is on an SME 3009 lll S arm mounted on a Thorens TD160 Super MKll, pre VTL Deluxe, VTL 75/75 power amp with Pro Ac super tower mk ll, recently reconated: I listen, and as a pianist I also play , mostly jazz, fusion, but I also like other genres .. I liked the dynamics of my XSV 5000 ... what please advise me to do?  Thank you

To the OP. My guess is that it would be. I had that Pickering back in the day. Not the best cart I ever has, but VERY good!

Have you considered having your stylus assembly rebuilt? I know this is a course of action usually reserved for MC cartridges, but in this case if you are desperate to preserve the original sound, and if you cannot find or afford an NOS XSV5000 stylus assembly, a rebuild may get you closest to the OEM sound.  The Stereohedron and Stereohedron II styli are no longer made, but Shibata is a close approximation. I have no experience with the LP Gear replacement but since the cost is modest, and since the tip is Shibata, you might also give that one a try.  (I don't know the material used in the XSV cantilever, but you want to replicate that as well to preserve the SQ as much as possible.) Chakster will not or would not approve of either course of action.  I also don't know if the LP Gear XSV5000 replacement is the same as or different from their XSV7500 stylus assembly, but an XSV7500 stylus will also fit your cartridge and can be regarded as an upgrade, assuming the LP Gear product is a good one. Simplest solution is to buy the LP Gear product and be on the lookout for an OEM stylus as you continue to enjoy your cartridge.

Dear @freeman59  : Here an original replacement for your 5000:

 

https://www.adelcom.net/PickeringStylus1.htm

 

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

Raul, I hope I’m wrong but didn’t someone have a bad experience with Bluz Bros having to do with their selling non-original styli as “OEM”?

OK Thanks to all of you for your kind answers and suggestions, I could try the LP Gear one, Rome is very prepared and really kind, he explained me various things and gave me some advice, Raul thanks for sending me the Bluz Bros link but the D5000 stylus is unavailable and then if the D4000 stylus that is available ir's for saleat $ 434, pure madness, in my opinion, the price for the D5000 would be even higher and assuming it is really original: with little more than $ 500 it is already possible to buy a new current cartridge that maybe sounds better than my XSV / 5000, or maybe not? ... anyway maybe I have found in these days, I hope, a bargain: a whole XSV / 5000 cartridge for 300 € with Shipped via an acquaintance by a professional and established Jazz trumpet player whose grandfather was a great Hi End collector who gave him various turntables and related pickups, including this XSV / 5000 in perfect condition, I hope well to have facts the choice down  is, then I will tell you if I made a good deal or not .. by the way, given the disaster I have made, please advise me what substance or product to use to clean the stylus diamond?  isophrilic alcohol can go, or what other ?  what kind of brush and how to clean it so as not to damage the cantilever it?  thank you again