Any point in taking along vinyl and doing some testing of the wax when you buy a new turntable?
Let's say you've got two different brand turntables in front of you, with two different brand carts, on the SAME phono system you can switch between and hear differences as they play. Say you eventually plump for T/table A over T/table B based on what you heard (only) - what if T/table B was actually a better component, but it's cart let it down?
I've seen countless fascinating threads on great songs to compile for testing - get that, and love reading them.
Makes sense for system comparison and speaker auditioning I'm sure.
But for turntables....any point in bothering with a listen, no matter what the songs/album?
Should we just not compare all the stats we have - and purchase the best turntable we can afford, unheard?