A worn stylus can cause serious (irreversible) damage to your records, and provide poor sound quality

Replacement Stylus ONLY - Cartridge Shown NOT Supplied  

Genuine stylus - Original as fitted by Cartridge OEM

Copy/Pattern/Replica - If no longer in production Aftermarket Replacement

a. Nude diamond. The stylus is a whole diamond, specially shaped and glued or fastened to the cantilever.
b. Tipped diamond. Here, a stylus tip of diamond is mounted on a metal shank.It is usually made of diamond - the hardest material known - to give it maximum durability. However, the fact that it is of diamond is not sufficient in itself, for its construction and shape are also crucial
factors in sound quality. Many less inexpensive Hi-Fi cartridges use a so-called “tipped” diamond, where the diamond tip is
mounted on a metal shank. However, such a shank may increase the stylus tip mass and thus impair the cartridge’s transient reproduction, in comparison with a cartridge that uses a nude, untipped diamond. 

Stylus Profile

The SPHERICAL ( Conical ) Stylus
The spherical shaped stylus is the simplest and cheapest to produce and it is, therefore, the most common. Spherical styli can be recommended in all cases where robustness and economy are taken into consideration in the purchase of a cartridge.

The ELLPITICAL stylus
The elliptical shaped stylus bears greater resemblance to the triangular shaped cutting stylus that is used when cutting master records.The elliptical stylus is able to follow the groove oscillations more accurately than the spherical type, and its distortion and phase error will,therefore, be less. 

Advanced Stylus Profiles

SHIBATA , BI-ELLIPTICAL , PRAMANIC , QUADRAHEDRAL , HYPERBOLIC , PATHEMAX , FINE LINE , LINE CONTACT 

HE Hyperelliptical , Microline , Microridge , Paractrace , Replicant , FG , 

Various cartridge manufacturers have been inspired by the Shibata shape and now produce cartridges with stylus shapes that give the same advantages as the Shibata. quadraphonic systems never really caught on with consumers, but they have helped to speed up the development of stylus types that improve playback of stereo records in the form of a more precise treble reproduction, lower distortion, and less record wear. 

Advanced Stylus Profiles as used on Hiend Cartridges offer much improved Sound Quality & Tracking almost exactly duplicates the shape of the cutting stylus used to produce the original master disc from which records are made. This enables it to track portions of the groove other styli simply cannot reach. The result is extremely accurate tracking of high-frequency passages and ruler-flat frequency response within the audible range