I listened to a record last night that was really noisy and thought I'd throw it on my VPI to see if it sounded as bad there.  To my surprise, it was really quiet and right away I started thinking about what could be wrong with my other table, which has a cartridge with a brand new stylus on it. 

It took me a minute to realize that I had turned the "magic" function on in the Puffin and forgot to turn it off, and that it actually works!
"Brand new" stylus is not as quiet as a properly set up line contact one. The Puffin helps with set up too.
The Magic function is truly all that.
i have heard a Puffin at Gig Harbor Audio, Eric the owner has a good ear for gear and was an early adopter. i was impressed. BTW Eric has a heart of gold and action to match, see a bit in Stereophile on him and others good deeds...

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@fuzztone the "brand new" stylus is a Jico SAS (boron) in my Shure V15 Type IV. It's a great value, certainly not in the league of some of my other carts, but hard to beat for the approx. $400 I paid for it and the Shure V15 with a broken stylus.