advertisement


Stylus profile: sound quality and long term costs

A

Aspro

pfm Member
The Ania in my Rega P8 has done about 300 hours. Rather than get it rebuilt I bought an Audio Technica VM95ML as a stop gap while the grandchildren are at the inquisitive stage. It's easier to attach the stylus guard and cheaper and easier to replace a stylus.

I have always enjoyed the Ania so I wasn't expecting any improvement in sound quality (rather the opposite) but the AT has been a revelation - much better detail, dynamics, flow, tracking and ESD. I'm hearing detail my 50 year old records for the first time which is impressive given the way my hearing has deteriorated.

I can only assume that this is the benefit of microlinear profile. According to AT this has a life of 1000 hours compared with 300 hours for an elliptical. The VM95ML costs only £35 more than the VM95EN and yet lasts 3 times as long which surely negates the marginal increase in initial cost.

If I played records for 300 hours a year the Ania would cost £1000 over 3 years (£500 initial cost and two rebuilds at £250) compared with just the initial cost £155 for the VM95ML. I don't think I'll ever buy a cartridge with an ellipital sylus again.
 
Where are you getting the 300 hours from?

Some brands do state very low figures (e.g. Nagaoka), but as I understand it that is the point of the earliest identifiable signs of degradation, not anything remotely close to end of life. I’d have thought any decent properly aligned modern elliptical or better profile tracking decent clean vinyl at a typical 1.5-2g should be good for 800-1000 hours or more.

PS My suspicion is record care and setup is the key to long stylus life. I’m absolutely certain you’d grind through a poorly setup stylus playing dirty vinyl in a fraction of the time of a good clean setup and mint wet-cleaned vinyl. As such ‘lifetime’ figures likely need some qualification IMO.
 
Tony L said:
Where are you getting the 300 hours from?

Some brands do state very low figures (e.g. Nagaoka), but as I understand it that is the point of the earliest identifiable signs of degradation, not anything remotely close to end of life. I’d have thought any decent properly aligned modern elliptical or better profile tracking decent clean vinyl at a typical 1.5-2g should be good for 800-1000 hours or more.

PS My suspicion is record care and setup is the key to long stylus life. I’m absolutely certain you’d grind through a poorly setup stylus playing dirty vinyl in a fraction of the time of a good clean setup and mint wet-cleaned vinyl. As such ‘lifetime’ figures likely need some qualification IMO.
Click to expand...

Audio Technica

Footnote on page 10 of their VM cartridge brochure:-

*Lifetime of the replacement stylus is approx. 300 to 500 hours for Conical, 300 hours for Elliptical, 1000 hours for MicroLine®, and 800 hours for Shibata and Special Line Contact.

I take your point about setup and record condition but that applies irrespective of stylus profile. As it says these are approximate. I don't see why AT would want to mislead about the relative lives especially as their more expensive profiles (Shibata and SLC) have shorter estimated lives than the microlinear.
 
I have an Ania Pro (which I think is a Vital stylus) and I'm hoping it will do quite a lot better than 300 hours. There may be something in the point that a Rega cart when three-point mounted on a Rega arm is about as well aligned as any user could hope to get it.
 
Part of the key to long stylus life is clean LPs. The rest is down to tip mass and compliance and a decent tip shape. This is why I've been able to go on using some Shure V15 styli for decades.
 
I'm a bit sad but unsurprised that a cartridge maker might suggest a shorter lifetime that experience suggests for their products. They don't have any other way of making more money after the sale I guess.
My minimum over about 30 carts so far was 1000 hours and some seem to have run for twice that and still sounded fine.
As to record wear, even the most careful of us must surely be able to play 500 hours with a diamond rubbing over plastic before we worry? Unless ofc, one damages the stylus, in which case?
 
One thing I love about MM carts with removable styli is it is so easy to have two on the, i.e. the one in use, and its replacement. If I’m in any doubt I’ll compare them as best I can on my microscope and very briefly stick the fresh one in see if I can hear any tracking or response differences. I’ve actually got three MP-500 styli as I’m positive I replaced the first one far too early so I’ll keep it and stick it back in for a bit more sometime. I’ve got another sealed one too.

PS Top tip: wait until eBay are having one of their 10-15% off deals and then buy a new stylus from Japan. I don’t think I’ve paid even half the UK price for an MP-500 stylus yet! I’ve not been hit with duty either!
 
I can only assume that this is the benefit of microlinear profile
Shock £170 cart sounds better than £500 cart
AT produced well over 5million of this design & huge scale of economy
 
I am a huge fan of Audio Technica carts in general and the ML profile in particular. I've used various profiles in the past but I doubt I'll move away from the ML (or its equivalent in other makes) except for curiosity.
 
daytona600 said:
I can only assume that this is the benefit of microlinear profile.
Click to expand...

The Vital was used on a lot of good cartridges, like the Troika. It's not rubbish. I like both the Vital and the ML. I think the difference your hearing is probably more to do with other factors. I'm not saying that the stylus profile doesn't make a difference but the carts have nothing in common. One's a MM, the other is a MC and maybe your MC stage isn't good enough to get the best out of the Ania, maybe just not well matched, could be so many reasons?
 
The original Ania was never my cup really.
Had two of them, both suffered from IGD makes them too expensive IMO.
A pity as the 3 bolt arrangement for Rega tonearm fit are excellent.
 
PerF said:
The original Ania was never my cup really.
Had two of them, both suffered from IGD makes them too expensive IMO.
Click to expand...

Come to think of it, the Ania does not have a Vital stylus! The Ania Pro has a Vital stylus. The plain vanilla Ania has an elliptical of some sort and I agree, that's not great considering the price. The Exact has a Vital tip and it's half the price, and it doesn't suffer inner groove distortion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top