long lasting cart

thank you all stay healthy

Chakster, I understood what you said in your first post. Just wondering if my 2m Blue has the same roughly 600 hour life expectancy. Thanks.

@mjcmt Yes, 600 hrs maximum for your Ortofon Nude Elliptical tip. 
The best profile from Ortofon is Replicant-100 

I remember when Ortofon offered very nice FineLine profile even on very cheap MM like M20FL Super, this is why vintage MM are better. Why we had that MM hype on audiogon many years ago this cartridge was just under $100 (amazing), but not available at this price anymore.  

Here is the article for you on SoundSmith website, nearly everything you need to know.

You will be surprised reading the quite below:

Wear, Tear and Life

So we know that the more extreme line contacts reduce wear.... but what is the difference?

Apparently according to Jico (manufacturer of the highly regarded SAS stylus), the amount of playing time where a stylus will maintain its specified level of distortion at 15kHz is as follows:

• Spherical / Conical - 150hrs
• Elliptical - 250hrs
• Shibata/Line contact - 400hrs
• SAS/MicroRidge - 500hrs

This is not to say that at 500 hrs a SAS stylus is "worn out" - but at that stage the wear has reached the point where distortion at 15kHz surpasses the level specified by Jico for a new stylus. (Which I believe is 3%).

Some manufacturers have traditionally defined a stylus as being "worn out" when it starts to damage the record... in these terms the figures provided by Jico can at least be doubled, and in some cases quadrupled.

Summary

In pure sonic terms on pristine vinyl a top notch elliptical can do as well as all but the very best Line Contact / Shibata styli, but will ultimately be surpassed by the better MicroLine styli.

However in terms of reduced wear on both stylus and records - the entry point is the Line contact / Shibata category.

In terms of playing back worn vinyl line contact stylus types also have an advantage in that they can contact "virgin" unworn vinyl.

Narrower side radius = improved tracking and reduced high frequency distortion.

Question- I don't have the ability to change VTA or azimuth on the fly which I understand is recommended for Micro Ridge , MicroLine or similar stylus profiles.Then again I don't play LPs very often- maybe 4hrs per week. So is a spherical- aka Denon or elliptical -aka Denon 103  OK? Kenwood KD500 w/ Grace 707 arm. I have those carts.

You write the following:

Advanced profiles like MicroRidge can be used for more than 2000 hrs,

This is a cut n paste from SoundSmith's website.  https://www.sound-smith.com/articles/stylus-shape-information

• Spherical / Conical      - 150hrs
• Elliptical                       - 250hrs
• Shibata/Line contact   - 400hrs
• SAS/MicroRidge         - 500hrs

Where are you seeing where a MicroRidge can be used for more than 2000 hours.  I'm interested in that kind of longevity!  I may be missing something here so pardon my ignorance.

All,

The current definitive discussion on stylus wear and life is here: https://thevinylpress.com/the-finish-line-for-your-phonograph-stylus/.