LP Gear CARBON FIDELITY CFN3600LE stylus

I picked up a used Systemdek turntable to refurbish. I was about to throw away the "crappy" Audio-Technica ATN91 Conical tipped cartridge… but instead, I thought to check to be sure it's a low-grade as I thought. In the process of doing the research, I found this UPGRADE replacement stylus. Knowing that it was easily returnable here on Amazon, I went ahead and purchased it… as an experiment. I was beyond skeptical that this stylus would make much of a difference. As a side note: I have other more expensive turntables with VERY costly Moving Coil and Moving Magnet cartridges.Upon first listen…~~~~ I actually said "WOW" out loud!This stylus elevated the cartridge in a way I did not think was possible. The detail and response is quite frankly amazing. I was planning on using a many times more expensive Grado but… hold on… I now am going to have to compare it to what I now have with this LP Gear set up.All my other cartridges have "nude" elliptical tips. I'm thinking this is the secret sauce making this so good.No matter what… IT IS TOTALLY WORTH THE MONEY and especially if you are thinking of spending much more to upgrade your ATN91.

I really did not know if I wanted or needed this at all. I even placed an order for it the first time and immediately thought "omg I am insane spending 50 bucks on a stylus" and canceled my order within 10 minutes or less. But I kept reading or rather studying actually because I spent hours on the internet learning about the difference between conical vs elliptical stylus tips. They're actually even more different tips out there but these are the two most common. Long story short this stylus will actually go deeper into the grooves of your favorite groovy albums and it will give you a much better sound quality over conical stylus tipped (which is most common because of low cost) that almost always always comes equipped with a new turn table. Since the elliptical tipped stylus does get into the grooves better you'll get a much better sound and frequency response from the stylus allowing you to hear the music with higher highs and lower lows. I myself replaced my stock stylus with this one on my AT-LP60X and now it sounds just as good as a 400 dollar turn table. Another thing I have noticed is that on some of my albums that my ex damaged and used to skip will now play, I'm assuming because the stylus is going deeper into the groove and plays past where the conical used to just hop over the scratches.. so that is interesting.I definitely highly recommend this stylus! It is worth every penny for the increases in sound quality. I can't ever go to conical again unless I'm using it as a spare until a new elliptical arrives lol.

I have taken my time to play several LPs of different music styles to test this stylus. While it captures higher frequencies, as I can tell by ear and confirmed this through a piece of software, this stylus is poor at providing a fuller, atmospheric sound - including clarity on the bass - than the stock stylus. Specifically and primarily on Metal LPs and in music styles of fast drumming (Suffocation, Unleashed, Immolation, Imsomnium,etc.), the bass and drums get muddled together and there is little if any separation between the two. On something like 10,000 Maniacs' In My Tribe, the original 1987 LP which records a high 17.4 of both left and right channels in the dynamic range, this stylus is fantastic at capturing the highs of the vocalist's voice and details of the drumming; what is lost is that in-my-living room "atmosphere" presence that the stock stylus delivers.It is not a bad stylus at all, but unfortunately and as others have stated below...I too find myself sticking to the stock stylus! I have a modest Pioneer PL-990.You should retain a critical view of my review and those of others' as you judge this stylus. I am one who prefers a fuller bass in my music players' settings, so take that into consideration. I listen to a lot of Metal, as well as lots of 70s Progressive Rock and 80s music. What I may end doing is use this stylus for the Metal LPs to capture the highs and details of the performers' instruments, and the stock stylus for everything else.

I was curious if this would sound better than the stock stylus on my lp60x,so I got it to try out. The sound is a little more dynamic so I was not disappointed. However I am testing it mainly on my wifes collection of beater records. These 40-50 year old albums were auto dropped and finger cued back in the day. There were only about 5 of them that tracked a little worse out of 80 albums. Still acceptable to me. However I ran across just one off my new albums that had two little mini skips. Stock cartridge played it fine. Installing this is fine..you tube has some good installation videos on this. Instructions that come with this are a joke. After swapping back and forth once it was super easy. If it does not snap into place easily do not force it. It took me me two attempts the first time..then it was easy. I Gave it five stars for the sound...right now I have about 20 hours on this and it does sound better. Break in time is supposed to be 30 hours. This cartridge sounded really good on Gabby Barretts Goldmine...one of my new ones. Just got back into vinyl 6 months ago after 40 years. Its not for everybody. I might wear this cartridge out and then upgrade to a fluance rt85 or better. It was not a waste of money which I thought in the first place. Have a little patience and break it in. I just about sent it back because of the tracking. Have a nice day!

Such an inexpensive upgrade, and it makes the world of difference. Super easy to install. Just pick one up you will be glad you did.