Stylus Shapes 

I use the Ortofon 2M Black wich is a Shibata. The high frequencies are more accuratly repreduced and as the stereo image is there, the stereo separation is increased.

Great videos! Easy to follow and informative. Thank you!

The Shibata was a real leap forward back in its day and now the Micro-line are another leap forward. But the more the stylus emulates the cutting stylus shape, the harder they are to setup. Countless times I've heard people bemoaning the fact that they bought an expensive MC cart and they hear no real difference from their cheaper previous MM cart design. Only a couple of reasons for that really;one, you should carefully think about your phono preamp and go separate if you haven't already and two, you probably haven't setup your new MC cart properly. They need a 91-92 degree angle for proper playback and just using your ears and gosh & by golly won't always get you there.

Hey, man. I dig the channel. A hyperelliptical is also known as a line contact, which is what I prefer on my carts, but I’ve been using a Denon DL103r LOMC cart for about 6 months now. For having a conical stylus, it sounds like it retrieves more detail than some of my elliptical or other carts with more advanced stylus profiles, and has a very balanced presentation with excellent detail. Cool vid! Thanks. 👍🎶😆✨

Rewriting my post: There is no debate about what produces wear. More pressure over less surface area and mistracking are the main culprits. Therefore a stylus with more contact area, tracking lighter without losing contact will always wear less. An Elitpical doesnt necessarily contact more of the groove, it may be less. I wish I could link sources for this but youtube wont let me.

Happy new year, hope the new one is better than the last couple.............Take care, enjoy the music

A high quality, sharp elliptical (0.2 x 0.7 mil) is probably as good as it gets in terms of sound quality. Line contact and microridge sound just as good, but last about 3 times longer (maybe 4 times for the microridge)

I'm not a rich man. I've got an AT LP120XUSB TT. It came with a VM 95E (elliptical). I was thinking about getting a new stylus and the reviews on the VM 95EN (nude) were glowing. I got one. It makes my TT sound better by far. Nude is the way to go. I also have a cart for mono records which I do have a lot of. As mono grooves go laterally (rather than laterally and vertically) the mono cart has less surface noise and dispenses with the "hole" when it is played on a stereo cart. I discovered things in my mono records, some of which I been listening to for 50 years, that I hadn't noticed before. Anyways, have a good New Year's.

I personally think The overall cartridge design Matters more the stylus shape

I'm ok with conical stylus on old vg g+ records but I definitely prefer elliptical for clean near mint records.

I’d like to become a stylus manufacturer, how much initial capital am I looking to invest for all equipments, labor and parts ?

I've been thinking about selling my vinyl gear cause I can't stand listening to inner groove distortion that I can't seem to get rid of. I use a Shure m97xe elliptical stylus that I've setup to the best of my ability but on some things IGD ruins listening for me. But I've heard about the microlinear stylus diamond 💎 on the Audio Technica VM95ml that gets deeper into the grooves bringing out more detail without IGD. I'm tempted to give it a try but when do I quit going down the rabbit hole of spending more money 💰