Great - I have one of these microscopes (Jiusion brand). It’s very touchy to position the microscope in relation to the stylus. After fiddling around it did give me a good view of my stylus. I used the microscope with my MAC laptop by downloading the software from the Juision site. To be worthwhile, I think a person would need to look at and photograph the new unused stylus to have a point of reference for comparison later.

That's a great way to decide whether you need a stylus replacement. Thanks for sharing 👍

Plain and simple. I clicked to maybe learn something and I learned that I already knew, which is never cause for complaint :) As a matter of fact I already have this microscope on its way, $13.99-free shipping from a place that rhymes with mal-wart. 'How to know when to replace your turntable stylus'... you showed us the least expensive, most effective AND versatile method. I mean, it can be used to observe stili condition, hunt down dust in grooves and maybe even the haters can use it to find purpose... ;) Let them hate, you delivered on your promise and are much easier to listen to than many others. Subscribed! Cheers!

This is great and a way to visually see if your stylus is on its way out, or has already gone out. Just to clarify, MOST MM/MI carts have replaceable styli (Rega carts tend to be one of the few exceptions), most MC you have to either completely replace the cart, or get it retipped by the likes of SoundSmith and others.

Interesting video. It stirred a memory of the 60s and 70s when I was young, my dad got a bad old auto changer turntable, we children used to play all sorts or records (including 78s) on it, my brother used to roll the records about the room. Sometimes I would experiment to see how many records I could pile on the auto changer. However in the seven years we had it, a new stylus was never bought. They must have been better pressings in those days because I now have all those records and they play relatively well, given the bad treatment they got.

This should’ve been titled : how to use a digital microscope to inspect a stylus + full blown review of microscope. Cus BRUH.

I have an Audio Technica AT15SA that was mounted in a nice standard headshell. I just slapped it on the ol' AT LP120 USB and made the necessary adjustments. It sounds amazing. I bought it in 1975 and it's the original stylus. :) I pulled it out of 41 years of storage (I'd replaced it with an AT 155 LC and an ADC ZLM in around 1977 when I got the KD500). The cantilever suspension is perfect. It's like new, which surprised me.

I have used StyLast since 1984, and have treated the stylus with every record-side. After some ten years, finally, I was forced to make a decision on a new cartridge, because the glue of the AT-36ML had dried/ disappeared. And the stylus was suddenly gone, it came out from the canti. But until that moment the stylus had been pristine, with almost daily spinning. In 2006 I had to buy my second StyLast, and use it now for a diverse set of cartridges, AT, Grado, and Nagaoka. I check the styluses every six months with microscope, and: no wear. Great stuff, and worth the investment.

Fun to see the close ups. Every time I see a close up of the grooves I'm amazed music sounds so good from vinyl. Cheers. /Paul

This input may be a bit irrelevant to the topic, but when I thought it was time to replace my stylus I went for an upgrade from conical to elliptical (Indeed I replaced the whole cartridge+stylus). I already knew that elliptical styli deliver more clarity (or detail), but that added detail applies not only to the music on the record. I ended up with more pops and clicks! I realised some records, which I thought were clean, were not clean enough :)

Hello, I got one of those microscopes last year and am very happy with it. You need to go back to the first stylus/cartridge you showed and give the tip a good clean. That is quite a buildup of dust/dirt covering most of the diamond tip. I discovered this was the case on a DL-207 I had bought, thinking it was part of a repair. I think you'll find the tip is still perfect once it is cleaned.

This is a great video! Well explained, informative, and I like that you took time to go into depth a bit. Just one tip for your future videos. When you pick up each item and then move it, shake it around, it makes the viewer a bit dizzy and is hard to watch! A better idea might be to hold each thing still (please) and maybe even bring it close to the camera so we can see it better. Keep up the good content! I'm off to buy an amazon microsocope now

i have build some really fine tube amps, own great speakers, and a 701 turntable, but a great part of the hole performance of that high end set has grown a lot thanks to this great channel!!! i am really thankfull for al youre amazing tips and tricks shared to all of us! great!!! thanks!!!! i find it strange that you prefure the antistat cleaning mix haha i used it a lot but went back to a other solution; alcohol! Yes! you say NO!!! 50 ml alchol, 450ml iron water(purified water) and 2 drops of dischwasser shine . i now some audiofhile guys dowing this for more than 30 years with the same records. anti stat mix makes the styles dirty fast. give it a try if youre not shure try it a lot on a not so special record and check with the microscoop! keep up the good work! i,m learing every day!! thanks!!!

Good presentation.Must have for requiring LP listener not only for checking the stylus which may be seldom done, but also to show visually how clean are grooves.

Had one of these digital microscopes for years! Great to know I already have all that I need.

Great video and a topic I hadn't really thought about. What's amazing to me is that a diamond can be worn down by vinyl. I would think it would be the other way around. Cheers!

Great, informative, and detailed video! Thumbs up. Very detailed, and honest explanation, ana[dea]log. Also, vinyl is final.

I bought a Yamaha PF 50 about 10 years ago at an estate sale for $30. Other than some scratches on the dust cover, it's like new. It came with a Signet TK5e and the cantilever was pretty badly bent (about ten degrees to one side). However, it's a great cartridge and stylus design so, before replacing the stylus, I tried to fix it. I put a spacer between the stylus and the side of the cutout in the plastic to keep it in position, and then, with my finger, pushed very carefully and slowly on the tip. After several iterations, it is now dead center in the mount, pounting directly down (easy to verify because of the magnets placed at a 90 degree angle from each other at the other end of the cantilever). It now sounds great and I have no idea how long it will last.

I’m ordering one of these, just to make sure. I have a 2M Bronze with only 300 hrs on it, but it would be nice to be able to inspect it for myself if anything is off with uneven stylus wear or access dirt etc. Thanks for the video.

Really interesting, I learned a lot that I didn’t know.

Just ordered that scope from your link. Been wanting this for a while anyways.

i use to work in a laboratory which worked to know when plagues or deseases were strong enough to make atreatment on the type of plant you have in your terrain ,this are the same used by space agencies to look to samples retrieved from Mars ,ours were nikon not yet digital but with a amplification that one could see in detail the tip of your stylus or how it was assembled to the metal spike ,but as you said the most easy way is when one notices some records not being played correctelly normally in the last tracks of one side of the record which are more dificult to read either using a S-shaped arm ,or a diferent model of arm as in SME brand or the modern tonearms released in the 80´s, some complain that some records have extra time and the needle can´t read with accuracy the last gooves ,this an error they are suposed to be read well as others in diferent positions of the record ,that´s why there´s geomethry in the installing of a arm in your turntable but for each kind the method of fine tunnig the stylus is diferent from arm to arm ,normally people think they are well installed but no, not all ways of installing a new cartridge or stylus is acurate with diferent types of arm´s ,there were in late 60´s or till mid 70´s turntables that didn´t had anti-skating but the S-shaped arm installed in that turntable was not equal to the others and when reading bad the last grooves of the record was a sign that the stylus was worn out but this type of arm it appeared and in a short number of years disappeared. There are lot´s of matters to take in consideration when instaling a new cartridge after all is taked in consideration the final judgement which is our ears and the capability of hearing the sound in diferent spots of the record they should sound the same if not some corrections need to be made.

I have both ortofon red and bronze that came with used TT I've bought, you can never be sure about the usage of the stylus with used table and I was about to trash the red stylus but will surely buy this microscope instead.. thanks!

Nice...thank you. I have been using a hand held loupe, but it's cumbersome with lighting, being still and looking very closely.

I am a big believer in preemptive replacement of the stylus. Once the damage has occured, your records will be damaged also and there is NO fixing that.

Great Video really helpful , and i recently bought LED microscope which enlarge up to 60x for $1.98 really cheap and does the job very well .Thanks

Fascinating. Well thought out. Multiple styli sealed the deal. Already ordered the magnifier. Very descriptive AND short. Don't ever change. Please carry on!

Talking too much, rather than explaining to when should we change the stylus

Great video I've just ordered a YOMYM 40 to 1000x Looking forward to review Tool's Lateralus picture disc!

Most cases the stylus is not removable from the cartridge? Did I hear that right? That is new to me. Thank you for clearing that up.

Thanks for sharing

Thanks for the tip. I have the smaller microscope that I bought a few years ago, but this would be big help in determining stylus tip ear. I have several carts, but my prize cart is my Ortofon MC-3 Turbo that is rated at 500 hours by Ortofon. I've put this on my amazon wish list to buy some time soon.

I bought the USB camera in your link. The camera I have now does not have a stand and not enough power to see the stylus tip like your camera. Thanks

Well, for what is worth, BenzMicro offers, instead of replacement of the whole thing, to re tip your cartridge and check the suspension as well for a reasonable fee. This is much more economical than buying a new one, especially if your cartridge is worth well over $ 1,000. The cartridge comes back from the factory certified with a graph to original specs. Not sure if other manufacturers offer the same service. Thanks for the great video!

Some of these microscopes (identically looking ones, there are many brands) only have full resolution when you install the driver. Mine was stuck at 640x480 with default driver, and is 1920x1080 with the driver from the CD.

Awsome stuff, mille mille grazie! I know you are sort of starting out with tubes as well, if I understood correctly. But I would love to see some videos on that topic, for example, how to know when to replace your tubes perhaps? Do you know anything about that? Ciao!

Excellent video. great idea, using a digital microscope. Thank you for posting.

I really appreciate your videos and often use the advice mentioned. However, for cleaning the stylus I just discovered the Flux hifi sonic stylus cleaner. Maybe this is something to mention extra in a video and show the (I think) great result.

I knew about these USB microscopes, but now I want one.

How funny: three years later and just looking for a cheap solution, I found the very same USB microscope that I bought for the very same intent. And ONLY NOW I see your video…?!? I guess I have a lot of backlog on your channel... LoL In my case it helped finding out that I actually did not need to change the stylus but I definitely had to remove a lot of junk that gel-based cleaners had left behind: once properly cleaned, the cartridge played flawlessly and “as new”. The only issue I have with this device is that by rotating the zoom it seems it just focuses and does not enlarge any further (plus the “zoom” button doesn’t do anything. Maybe a software issue?)

Awesome video. Looking to upgrade my Rega cartridge in the $200-$300 range; What are your thoughts on the ortofon 2M Blue? Thanks,

I recently purchased a Sony PS-LX300USB turntable. Purchased it locally from a seller on FB Marketplace. Turntable itself works fine. I have it connected to a Bose wave radio/CD player for sound quality. The issue I’m having is that regardless of the volume level, it’s not very loud. All inputs connected properly. Since I don’t know the exact age of the unit, if Inreplace the cartridge, would I get better volume? Thanks

An important issue to be sure. The last time I replaced mine (about a year ago) I began hearing mis-tracking, exaggerated sibilants mostly, on records I knew should sound better. A new cartridge of the same model brought it all back. Q: when you hear issues such as this is that an early sign of stylus wear (what I always thought) or is it too late?

It is not ruby, it is saphire... Thanks a lot for every great video you upload!!!

It's really interestin...👌👍 as my record player's stylus life 's over & 'm unable 2 play LPs..🙏🙏

Knowledge of subtle record and stylus wear is difficult for me to discern unless its effect is abrupt. A microscope can reveal wear and may support a good understanding of what has brought about sound degradation. Just this morning I listened to a new album I purchased yesterday, a Bill Evans recording. The album popped at revolution intervals but did not appear to be scratched. A 3 power magnifier in strong light however did indeed reveal a scratch, which made me think the album was a repackaged affair. At any rate, that album is going back to the book store where I purchased it later today. So, yes, having a microscope seems to be a means not only to appraise stylus and record wear but also to discern record defects while it may still be possible to return such defective albums.

I love the video ♥️ no dire más! Great!! 🤍 Greetings from Ecuador 🕺🏽

Thanx 4 the image @ 9:07 - have search such one for a long time... - finally i know's how it looks inside of the LP's channel ...

Nice video!!! I will look into the scope I have a pocket microscope Carson 60x120 but I want a more powerful one and one that I can look at the side of my stylist while it's on the turntable itself,So I think this will work Thanks...

Interesting video,thank you so much.

Great info

Nice - I was using a reversed telephoto lens to try and see the tips of my stylii - I may well invest in one :-)

I rebuilt an old college microscope of my uncles so I could view my stylus condition. Here is a view and cleaning with magic eraser and then with qtip and alcohol. BTW this is the original stylus that came on the table from 1978... Still looks good to me. i.imgur.com/iaLeJ8q.jpg

A jewelers loope works well also.

Nice video. I appreciate you adjusting your chair height.

I have two questions which deals with styli/cartridges generally. I have an AT LP120XUSB with a VM95E. I was thinking of getting a VM95EN. Would the sound performance be noticeably enhanced? Every comment seems to say that it would be. Second question. Should I get just a new stylus, or get stylus and cartridge? I trusted your judgment on a mono cartridge. I will trust your judgment on this, too. Stay safe, my friend.

Hi! This is my question. I just got my first turntable (used condition) which does not contain any adjustments and it have used ceramic stylus and I know very well, that ceramic or sapphire stylushes is bad for vinyl-regords. Can you tell me it is ceramic stylus safe to use on turntables or what I can do to make this turntable more better?

Nice video dude very informative :-) I also want to know if this little guy is compitible to windows 7 64 bit which i use ? Thanks for any reply regards :-)

Good tip (no pun intended). I bought that exact microscope a couple months ago for just this purpose and it works quite well. However, if you think a grungy stylus is disgusting to look at, point that microscope at your own anatomy and you'll be in for a shock. The pores in your skin, the callouses on your hands and elbows, and the stubble on your face. Ugh!

Hmmm... I don't know. I don't think the tip of the stylus is what wears off (except maybe in extreme cases, where I think the damage to the stylus and my records is extreme. I think it's the sides, that contact the grooves. And I still don't know how to tell if the stylus shape has become too worn to accurately and safely track record grooves.

Exotic tipped stylii should be checked for proper alignment to extend its' life. Cleaned tip (after every side) & cleaned LP will also extend its' life.

I got a question. Is skipping also a sign that it needs replacing. I ask this because I have 2 record players. On one of them all my records skip terribly but on the other one they play perfectly fine.

It kind of annoys me that some records stores sell used styli... If it's secondhand, you can gather that it's worn

As I can’t fine the vid of the turntable so as I am asking you, what brand name was you showing. Where did you get it from.

I'm somewhat confused. That first stylus you showed you stated was very worn, but then said it was in good shape. Which is it? Should it be replaced ?

Great video,thanks!

Your Dorian didn't look wornout to me. Dirty yes, as it had a lot of sticky residue that was pushed up on top of the diamond tip against the stylus arm. This is something you see when playing records that have been kept in smokers areas. So it's basically nicotine residue I that case which is dug up by the diamond tip from the groove and got stuck up against the stylus arm. What I used to clean mine was patience and a lot of gentle brushing with the Audio Technica stylus cleaner that comes in a small bottle. This is the reason why I recognized it as dirt. Also the reason it sounds worn is because the dirty presents the diamond tip to properly get in the groove, especially in deeper grooves. So it ends up floating half in the groove and thus you get a loss of information/fidelity.

Hello, I have a 1960 stereo console that belonged to my grandparents. It is in all original condition including the Diamond stylus. How do I remove and get a replacement diamond stylus?

I will add that even it the stylus looks OK, the cantilever's suspension might have issues

Shure V 15 type 3 , Jico SAS, boron cantilever, it'll give you just about 500 hours. Not cheap, but beautiful sounding. Any wonder why C.D.s became popular??

To Anadialog: Hello, I have a question, can the needle be damaged when removing the needle cover, and if so, how to recognize it? I am asking because when I started the new turntable for the first time, I somewhat clumsily removed the cover from the Ortofon 2M RED stylus - instead of pulling the cover down I moved it forward and I'm afraid that something might have happened and now I'm worried. I will be grateful for your opinion. Regards, Adam

Which is a better turntable?: Sony PS-LX310BT or Audio-Technica Consumer AT-LP60XBT?

Hey hello again. What kind of experience you can share with us about this nice cartridge Lyra Dorian is it worth or no? If you have offer for 600€ brand new, are you take it again?

I thought your channel said ANAL-DIALOG. That's why I happened to be thrown in here. 😆

I just got a brand new stylus and accidentally turned the table on without a record. The stylus hit the padded felt surface while it was running for a few seconds before I noticed. The needle should be alright correct? I’m sorry for such a noob question but I am indeed a vinyl noob.

I have had my gold ring cartridge since the mid nineties. I change the stylus but not the cartridge.

2:24 ... When did it become more common for the stylus to be non-removable? All magnet cartridges I have owned have had replaceable styluses. I can see it might be an issue with "moving coil" but I never owned one. Even the old ceramic cartridges of the cheap systems could be replaced in most cases.

A quick question... how old of a stylus can a person use, are there elements that can wear out if it is several years old (I have brought an old TT back to life that didn't get used much and the sound is still quite good after a cleaning). Thanks in advance!

If I used my standard factory shipped stylus on a not too clean 78 for about a minute or less, does that mean it is no longer good for use only pristinely clean vinyl records? Will it potentially harm them if I play my good vinyl with them without replacing the needle cart?

Con un microscopio come quello del video ed il software adatto è possibile fare un'accurata messa a punto dell'SRA, hai già pensato di fare un video in merito a ciò?

How can i tell regarding a 78 stylus is worn?

go by the sound you can tell actually

how often should you replace your stylus, How many months?

Have you ever try stylast, it seems makes it last 10 times, it means 10.000 hours

My rule is to never spend more money on a cartridge than I’m willing to loose if it gets broken. Usually for me that’s about $150 US dollars. There are good cartridges out there that are priced reasonably.

actual inspection of stylus starts at 9:40

I always change mine when Kate Bush starts to sound like Tom Waits

Skip to 9:00

The diamond wears out on the sides, not the bottom. That's why they call them "wear flats".

Nice seiko what reference :P im drooling over a sarx055

You judge a worn out stylus by looking down on it, not at its profile. You look at the tip down the shaft and look for any sharp edges along the sides.

It is time to change it when you go to clean the plinth with a micro fiber cloth and it snags on the needle and breaks it off. I am so stupid. 🤪

I remember as a kid we used to put coins on to of the tone arm to weigh it down if a record was scratched so it wouldn’t skip 😂😂

Molto interessante 🙂

Very informative.

If you want to know when to replace your stylus go to: 10:00 or if when lowering your stylus/tonearm at beginning of record [lead in section], and it then skates across to music section with a bit of a click, this can also suggest it's time to replace your stylus

Most styli are diamond tipped. The fact of the matter is, that the only reason you would EVER need to replace it, was if you accidentally damaged the cantilever....which does happen. Diamond can cut steel. Does it make sense to you that dragging a diamond stylus across a vinyl disc with 1.5-3 gms of pressure would wear it out??? Your cartridge has a shorter live expectancy than your stylus.

Can a stylus worn out even if not been played over 30 years?

Hi, good way to check the stylus conditions but you may use yours ears also. You mentioned that the stylus should be replaced between 1000 and 1500 hours of use but... Nagaoka, as an example, recommends the following: The stylus replacement interval varies depending on the using conditions. But for general use at home, the reference time is between 150-200 hours in which the stylus begin to wear and the tone quality deteriorates. Recommend replacing the stylus as aerly as possible to enjoy clear tone for a long time and not to damge the disc grooves. Às so, you shall follow manufacturers recommendations, also .

My turntable sounds reasonably well though I must've used it for around 500 hours. And my spectrum analyzer shows frequencies at 16K in full height while using my turntable. Need I change my stylus? I don't have an option to compare the sound to another turntable. I don't have a digital microscope either.