Stylus shapes!

The stylus on my Koetsu is a real small pointy shape. The Benz Ruby, Glider, and Stanton were real small and pointy too. They all sounded different, even in spite of using the same small pointy shape. I think maybe there is a little more going on.

My favorite part is the diagram that shows how the effective tracking angle changes with the different stylus shapes. That is indeed exactly what happens. Regardless of stylus shape the effective tracking angle is constantly changing, sometimes dramatically, the whole time the record is playing.

Please study this, and ask yourself, so then how important can it really be to stress over tiny fractions of a whatever when mounting a cartridge? This is just one more reason why I keep saying it is not. Get it real close, sure. But stress out to the point you are using a microscope and a thousand dollars worth of alignment jigs? No way.

Also study that picture and ask yourself, how is this any different in the case of a tangential tracking arm? It’s not. The diagram shows it. 

The more I think about it the more it seems these little technical details are nice to know but ultimately don't tell us near what we think they do. 

What about 'em? !!

Since 'advanced shapes' have been about for 40 to 50 years without one being crowned supreme could it be that its a matter of taste and music genre?

Unless you have access to a meticulously setup tt, the more advanced shapes are fussier as to VTA, Azimuth, etc. A simpler shape will be less critical of setup, and in the hands of the average audiophool (like me!) may sound as good.