A Soundsmith Denon dl103 retip question

I own a wood bodied 103. The additional mass and the lack of plastic body resonance (not to mention the threaded screw mounts) make the 103 a joy, but be aware that a heavy arm is a must for good tracking.

I also own a SoundSmith 103 Gold. This too has a wood body but also has the optimized line contact ruby cantilever. It also has the suspension reworked to be a lot more compliant and thus much easier to optimize with a modern arm.
This is a real giant killer: great tone and detailed.

- can microscopic particles of dirt in the groove become more audible making older albums sound worse?

As a rule, finer profile styli are quieter in the groove than larger, coarser styli.

- will a stiffer stylus make skipping due to scratches more of an issue

The stylus won't be stiffer. For LP playback purposes, all diamonds are equally stiff. The cantilever and/or a rebuilt suspension may be stiffer. If so, that may increase the likelihood of skipping. It will also affect the rise time and amplitude of signals generated by groove modulations. Whether for better or worse depends on the system and listener.

All that said, the best/first answer is, clean your records and replace the badly scratched ones. There's no reason to play dirty records. The only reason to play a badly scratched one would be if it were some irreplaceable rarity (in which case you should at least clean it properly).

Doug - None of the "dirt issues" I experience are annoyingly overbearing, but they are there and I have read that a finer stylus can make them even more apparent - hence my question (BTW nicely answered)

I try to ensure my vinyl is as clean as I can get it with each play and have tried several cleaning devices. None of which I have found to be perfect at removing ALL of the dirt - one of the joys of vinyl :-)

What would you recommend to clean vinyl?

Thanks

WW - If you're looking for system to clean records, I suggest looking at a vacuum-type record cleaning machine (RCM) like the ones from VPI. Using a record cleaning fluid such as one of the formulations from The Disc Doctor will provide cleaning about as good as it gets.

Bpoletti - do you have one in mind?.

I've tried one and it left me disappointed, so I was put off from trying others.

I currently use the Spin Clean and only use pure distilled water - I'm not a great fan of the various chemicals.

Cheers