Re-tipped stylus vs original manufacturer

Everyone agrees that a factory exchange is best. Absolutely. But when you are faced with a $500 retip by an excellent person versus a multi-thousand dollar trade in, many people choose the former. I have never read a post anywhere saying that the work from Soundsmith or VAS did not sound like the original cartridge. I personally can’t say whether mine did or didn’t, but I would assume someone would have been able to make the statement if it were true. 

My bet is with original manufacturer for an extra reason, you can upgrade/exchange the cartridge for a better model too.

For someone though who wants to keep budget at min choosing someone like Soundsmith is one way the other is to get a VDH cartridge.

I have only had a couple retipped cartridges myself.

One bought already retipped with about 50 hrs on it that I had owned the model previously. Also one I had retipped myself. Both sounded very good and very similar to the originals but with a very slight loss of the upper shimmer even after a few hundred hours time. I wouldn't word it that you can't or couldn't tell the difference but rather accept it isn't the same original cart so changes would be or should be expected. To what degree is the real point.

I'm usually more suspect of ads for retipped with zero hrs use claimed and put up for sale without knowing what you payed for. I haven't had much experience with used carts though.        

It is the opinion of a knowledgeable friend of mine that Koetsu just sends you a new cartridge.

I’ve had a couple Koetsu stones rebuilt. They definitely reuse the old body and (usually?) the magnet. Everything else (armature, coils, damper, suspension, yoke, cantilever & stylus) is newly built. And they do a great job of it! Consistently great results. Maybe on the "Black" model they replace with a new one, but I couldn’t speak to that.

I believe Ortofon also takes this approach, though I haven’t had one rebuilt yet. Their info site on rebuilds used to warn that your body could come back with scratches from the work.

In both cases the "full rebuild" runs around 50% of a new model, sometimes a bit less. Koetsu won't penalize you for having the premium stones - rebuild cost is the same for any stone, though the diamond cantilever upgrade is quite costly if you opt for that. 

I recently had a Zyx Airy 3SB rebuilt by Steve Leung at VAS. I paid $250 for the cart knowing it needed a rebuild, and he charged $450 and I have a cartridge that now sounds fantastic. I talked to Mehran and the Zyx factory exchange cost was $1500. I'm sure that Steve's considerable talent does not make my rebuilt cart equivalent to a new one from Zyx, but it still sounds great at 1/3 the cost.