$100 vs $250 vs $500: BEST BUDGET Vinyl Stylus | with actual HI-RES AUDIO (feat. Audio-Technica)

Comments · 19

• RO

  @robertgreene1946 · 13 days ago

  The moving coil cart is the way to go for a hi-end turntable

  1

• IT

  @itsdavidtorres · 1 month ago

  Mojaxx DJcity uploads sound samples recorded with different cartridges to SoundCloud.

• BR

  @brooklynbummer · 3 months ago

  The diamond dtulus and shape are very important.  Microline line and Dhabia generally sound pretty good.  Elliptical  give a pretty good bang, for the Buck.

  1

• PA

  @pataponrocks · 3 months ago

  Great video, thank you

  1

• RO

  @robertjermantowicz-uw3iw · 2 months ago

  I have been using the Denon 103 low-output moving coil cartridge for a long time, since 1976. The 103 cost $160 then. Today it's $300 - $340. It has a conical stylus. If your phono stage doesn't have enough gain a transformer (SUT) or head amp will be required. IMO the Denon 103 is still the best bang-for-the-buck cartridge! It is competitive with $1000 mc cartridges and sounds excellent!

  2

• VI

  @VinylandKicks86 · 3 months ago (edited)

  i would definitely rec when changing out the stylus removing the headshell from the turntable. if you&apos;re going to change the stylus while headshell is still attached it&apos;s better to lock the tonearm in place. Swapping out a record player stylus like at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKmsUS0vuXM&amp;t=757">12:37</a> mark is very sketch. risky in swapping out a stylus like that because excessive upward/downward pressure can wear out the tonearm bearings. it&apos;s your gear so you can do as you like. but i&apos;m leaving this comment so anyone who sees the video and doesn&apos;t know how to swap out a stylus has the info. also the difference in pricing is because the higher quality stylus type the more expensive.

• NE

  @nellyt2807 · 2 months ago

  Wow you managed to make something relatively easy look difficult.

  1

• HA

  @harmlessrebel868 · 1 month ago

  Good video, but there is one note you should have made. The gold metal cartridge only comes on the AT 600 and 700 series. Everything below that comes with black plastic cartridges. So with your test, the cheaper styli actually sound better than they would if the average person uses them because the average user would not have access to the metal cart. I&apos;m not saying it was not good to use one cart to just compare the needles, I just think it should have been made clear that if you get a cartridge set under $500 it will not come with the metal cartridge.

• RO

  @rogersaudiocorner · 2 months ago

  I know that it wasn&apos;t your intention, but you likely confused more people by the record selection.<br><br>That record doesn&apos;t have the recording qualities that most pop/rock, folk/ classical releases tend to have, because differences are usually way more obvious. 😉<br><br>If you do a comparison with something like Michael Jackson&apos;s &quot;Bad&quot; album (on any release you wish), you will clearly hear the entry-level elliptical distorting heavily with sibilance (specially in the tracks closer to the label, and so does the Ortofon 2M Red), and the most expensive one in this comparison passing with flying colors. 😉<br><br>Audio-Technica is an amazing cartdrige/stylus manufacturer, and they&apos;re actually a great value at any price point. 😉<br><br>But typical elliptical stylus were the reason why I was away from vinyl for several decades, and whenever I tried to listen to it again, I would go back to digital after 1 or 2 records. 🙂<br><br>The best tip shapes aren&apos;t more expensive due to marketing hype (not with AudioTechnica), but due to the simple fact that a better stylus needs more diamond and more precise machining (alright cantilever materials also play a role).<br><br>Price alone doesn&apos;t mean a lots since you can find many brands selling bonded elliptical stylus (or nude elliptical like the 2M Blue) at the same price as the MicroLinear (95 ML) from AudioTechnica. 😉<br><br>I actually own both of them, and the AT is <i>definitely</i> the best tracking cartdrige of those two, even if the 2M Blue is an insanely good upgrade from the 2M Red (which I honestly find extremely overpriced for a bonded design).<br><br>With cartdriges, we need to separate the tonal balance aspect (which might be a matter of preference) from the actual tracking capabilities, since I sincerely doubt that anyone would prefer to hear splatter (high distortion with sibilants) over a clean signal.<br><br>I guess you already know all of this, but this particular record doesn&apos;t allow for any of them to sound good, great or bad, while different records would make it clear as day. 🙂<br><br>Another important aspect is to level-match after the digital recording.<br><br>It really doesn&apos;t matter if one stylus is louder than another, since with normal playback, you&apos;ll always adjust the volume anyway. <br><br>But it <i>is</i> important for A/B comparisons, because our hearing system often perceives a small increase in loudness as being more energetic or &quot;better&quot; (that&apos;s one of the reasons for the stupid loudness wars in CDs in the 2000&apos;s). 😉<br><br>The thing with trying to avoid copyrighted music is that it&apos;s very difficult to find great sounding records, unlike most copyrighted music. 🙂<br><br>This video ended up making the differences subtle, while the real differences are anything but subtle. <br><br>I appreciate your effort, and I thank you for it, but I do believe that this video might lead some people to believe that these stylus are more similar than different, while that couldn&apos;t be further from reality.<br><br>The only risk is that people will buy the less expensive of the 3, and after they&apos;re listening to a commercially available record and hearing distortion, believing that upgrading to the most expensive in this comparison would only lead to marginal improvements, which is simply not the reality. 🙂<br><br><br>We can get away with an inexpensive DAC, but cartridge and stylus don&apos;t allow for it, because it&apos;s basically the same physics from the 50&apos;s (when the format became stereo), and it still requires extreme mechanical precision to sound at its best, or in other words, to follow those vinyl grooves with the best precision. 😉<br><br>This is not about beliefs or marketing hype (not at these price points 😀), but plain old physics.