Interesting information from Analog Planet on Stylus Cleaner Onzow Zero Dust.

Here's some news or, rather, pseudo-news from someone who claims to be the New Zealand DS Audio Distributor, on behalf of someone named Aki who is... the creator of the DS Audio gel stylus cleaner? Not terribly clear! This was posted recently as a comment under the follow-up article in Analog Planet:

"Hi Stephen here from Soul to Sole Audio.... I am the New Zealand DS Audio Distributor and Aki has been made aware of the comments, regarding his ST-50 Stylus Cleaning Pads, that have been dragged into this conversation about Zerodust.

Here is the info he has posted:

"DS Audio designed and manufactures our ST-50 stylus cleaner for numerous good reasons. Before developing the ST-50, many people used a liquid-type cleaning brush with resulting problems such as compromising stylus adhesive and oxidation of metal parts. There were instances of customers damaging the stylus/cantilever using a small brush for the cleaning or impacting the cartridge suspension by brushing incorrectly.
This is why we developed the ST-50 pad-type stylus cleaner. It is mechanically safer and there is no chemical fluid that may damage the cartridge. The shape of the pad and its low profile allows you to cue down the stylus gently on the pad with no cantilever contact.

We specifically chose a lab grade of urethane gel that is ether based. The two basic formulations of urethane, ester and ether, have some important differences. Water attacks ester-based urethane, causing a significant reduction in physical properties. Ether urethanes exhibit far superior hydrolytic stability (water not reacting with another chemical), especially in humid environments. Ether-based materials also resist fungus growth better than ester-based materials."

Don't know how you folks feel about this comment but, to me, as a non-chemist consumer audiophile, this is nothing but obfuscation. This comment is like that scene in "Peanuts" where Lucy pulls away the football right as Charlie Brown is about to kick it. Misses the point entirely! Stating that the DS Audio gel cleaner is "mechanically safer" is reassuring but I think most of us who bought a gel type stylus cleaner figured that out before we bought one. Indeed, I think that's why most of us bought one in the first place! We still need or would like to know what the deposit or deposits on the styli are. No news from the Wally Tools Lab on this in a week and nothing of any substance on this from Mr. Fremer in longer than that. If Mr. Fremer isn't closely following up with Wally Tools Lab/WAM Engineering's J.R. Boisclair on this, I will consider this extremely irresponsible! If these folks end up leaving us all swinging in the wind on this one, it will be tantamount to starting a fight in a bar and, then, cowardly slinking out the back door!

My biggest questions to MF, which have NOT been answered, is regardless of whether the Onzow leaves a deposit on the stylus ( which IMO has NOT been absolutely proven yet) is a) is the stylus deposit in any way detrimental to the stylus life, and b) does it impact the SQ? These may be difficult questions to answer, but I would think that if the answer was yes to either question, that would have been determined years ago by the numerous users of the Onzow.

Insofar as a deposit has mass, it cannot help but affect SQ, I would think, by adding mass to the moving mass of the stylus/cantilever.  It is unlikely to have no effect. The deposit can also affect how the stylus tip sits in the groove or alter the normal stylus contact patches.  Not good either.

Yeah, I was thinking maybe it could affect SQ via added tip mass. And since rigidity is key in this part of the assembly to accurately transmit vibrations, any compliant/damping goop on there could slightly "muddy" the transmission. But beyond that, the pics mostly seem to show the accumulated goop on the stylus shank, not the actual contact lines of the tip (the cantilever crap looks more like a total failure to clean up there). Maybe the tip is actually "clean enough" as far as groove contact goes? But the question on stylus life is a good one.

Either way, a good cleaning regimen would keep all bits - tip, shank, and cantilever shiny clean like new, which must result in the best playback performance. Don’t ONLY use the Onzow or DS Audio pads.

OK, boys & girls, here's the response I received yesterday from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab:

"We still recommend the classic – LP#9 Stylus Cleaner with an appropriate stylus brush. While we definitely understand the anxiety that comes with having to make any contact on a nice stylus, as long as you are brushing the tip lightly from back to front a couple times there is no risk of damaging the stylus. You have to consider that the tonearm itself puts as much or more pressure on the stylus with daily use – they are definitely fragile, but as long as you are following the proper cleaning technique there is nothing to fear!

I personally don’t have much experience using any of the “gel in a tiny tin” cleaners so I can’t speak much as to their effectiveness compared to a cleaner and brush, but if you are worried about damage from using those then I firmly believe the “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” mantra applies here. Hope this clarifies, let us know if you still had any other questions!

Customer Service

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab"

Kind of assumed they would recommend their LP#9 which, BTW, the Music Direct website states is "both a stylus cleaner and a stylus preservative". It's not clear, to me, what "preservative" really means in this case (e.g. putting or leaving behind some sort of chemical coating on the stylus or just the inference that a clean stylus helps preserve or prolong its useful life). Can't imagine it would be the former because the Music Direct website also states it "contains a Mil Spec IPA (Isopropyl alcohol)".