I will say it is not as "transparent" if you will. But I have noticed no weak spots in bass, mids, or High's. I listen to a lot of Genres and it has shined with each. Jazz especially has just been a joy to hear. I struggle to stop listening because I just enjoy it so much. A stylus is the incredibly fine part that actually sits in the grooves of your record as it spins, and starts the process of bringing your music to life. Because the grooves on a record are VERY narrow, the design of your stylus makes a huge difference in how much information it can get out of those grooves. And the more information, the more “real” your music will sound when it comes out of your speakers. Getting in shape Also note something more interesting. The minor/major radius dimensions, and footprint for the AT's MicroLine, is exactly the same as Jico's (Namiki's) SAS stylus. I bet they are exactly the same stylus I think you can safely play a stylus -any stylus- for at least 1000 hours assuming two things: you keep it clean by dusting off every side with at least a brush and that every few days at least you use a liquid or gel type cleaner, assuming the manufacturer recommends it. Today’s (more advanced) styli wear by softening the ridges or edges. In other words, the severe stylus profiles get rounded. Thus worn styli do not ruin records. So while the sound may somewhat soften and deteriorate (as a result of stylus wear) I don’t believe record wear or ruined records result.” A Worn stylus can cause Serious ( IrreversibleDamage ) to your records, and provide poor sound quality

Around 500 hours for a conical stylus, 300 hours for an Elliptical stylus, 1000 hours for a Microlinear stylus, and 800 hours for a Shibata stylus. Designed to mimic as close as possible a record cutting head/cutting lathe for highest fidelity & lifespan usually fitted to a precision boron , sapphire , ruby or zirconium ultra light & rigid cantilever The MicroRidge cross-section is very complex but probably best described as a mini Philips screwdriver shape, as illustrated below. What Ortofon also mentions is that another consideration to be made is that any diamond stylus will begin to exhibit physical changes after approximately 1,000 hours. This can lead to audible results. The grooves of a record are only 2.2 thousandths of an inch (0.0022") wide at the top, and shaped like a V, so a few millimetres difference here and there can make a huge impact on how your music comes out.

Square shank styli cost more to make than round shank styli, but they allow precise alignment in the case when they are mounted in a laser-cut square in the cantilever. Also, the square shape can lead to mass reduction. Although I mention the upward tilt in the treble, it’s not a deal breaker. To put it into perspective, the ‘reference’ MC (100ohm load) sounded slightly darker and ‘closed in’ against the Shibata. Increasing MC loading to 400 ohms brought both to equal footing in overall balance suggesting the VM95 is very close to the sweet spot in overall tonality. V95ML Micro-Line Because it sits quite wide in the groove, a spherical stylus is cheap to make and really easy to align (that is, get it sitting straight in the groove so that it reads both sides evenly – learn more about alignment here ), you’ll commonly see them on DJ turntables and entry-level hi-fi turntables. The downside is that the broader tip means it can’t get into the groove as well, so a spherical stylus can leave out some of the finer details that make your music sound exciting.

A permalloy centre shield plate enables the effective separation of left and right channels, suppressing electrical crosstalk to below 40dB. This is similar to the actual crosstalk value found in the grooves of the record itself. 700 Series The images below provide a mental image of the potential benefits of advanced styli. On the left is a conical profile and the one on the right an advanced type. We see the one on the right seats deeper in the groove and exerts lower pressure on the groove walls due to its very narrow vertical footprint and accurate groove tracing capability. Provides a beautiful mid-high range Shibata-signature sound and strong mid-range volume. No use of nutsOlder Mono records have a U type Groove Mono/78RPM 3.0mil is the accepted norm& Steel Needles for gramophone records SAS -Natural single-crystal, nude-mounted octahedral diamond stylus tip ,The stylus tip is of optimum height and a uniformly ultra-precision finish. The Super Analogue Stylus has a curvature with a smaller radius that was impossible with the Micro Ridge Stylus. As thin as a razor blade and machined with ultra precision, the stylus tip ensures unsurpassed fidelity.Polished finish that virtually preserves your record's grooves.World-class polishing technique is used on each stylus. This is designed to preserve the details of the record groove structure for a very long time — virtually for the life of the vinyl.

For the review, the VM95 was mounted to a 1970’s Technics SL-1500 direct-drive table with the standard lower cost version of the SL-1200 skeletal gimbal arm. With a 15g effective mass, this arm provides a very compatible 11 Hz resonance frequency. As designed, the VM95 will perform best with higher mass tonearms or those with detachable head-shells. This Technics table represents a natural choice at the VM95’s price-point. The cross-section of an Elliptical stylus is an Ellipse, which is a flattened circle, created by taking a Conical shape and shaving slivers off the front and rear, as illustrated below. Patented by Namiki of Japan in 1983, the MicroRidge is a very complex shape that has been made possible only by using laser-cutting techniques. The MicroRidge stylus almost exactly duplicates the shape of the cutting stylus that produces the original master disc at the vinyl pressing plant.While there are various other important parameters, these are the two main differentiators among the various stylus shapes. The details of these two aspects and more can be read below in the respective Stylus Shape sections. Bonded versus Nude Para-toroidal coils improve generating efficiency and offers superb linearity, since leakage of magnetic flux in this continuous and unitised magnetic circuit is low. Permeability of the cores is also optimised through the use of laminated cores. The AT-VM95SH, features a Nude Shibata stylus, one of the most acclaimed stylus format by high end audiophiles. The Shibata stylus produces mid and bass sounds strong and rich in addition to offer a frequency response up to 25,000 Hz. The VM95 Series suspension design and compliances of VM95 Series have been designed for optimum audiophile reproduction. The only real downside of Fine Line and Shibata styli is that they require much more precise alignment, as you’ll hear the difference much more readily if they’re sitting off-centre in the groove. If you’re using a stylus like these, use the Align It DS2 to make sure everything is sitting exactly where it should be. Shine bright like a diamond