Ortofon Replacement Stylus 2M Red

I went back to Red after spending the past year and a half with Ortofon's Blue cartridge/stylus. Not totally a matter of choice -- the price difference was the decider. Plus, I wanted to see if I could tell a difference in sonics worth the bucks, since the Blue costs more than double the Red.I was able to simply switch out the stylus, since the 2m cartridge works with both. Nice. After the break-in period, I came to the conclusion that the Blue delivered a better, more life-like experience, especially with the highs. I listen to a lot of Miles Davis. It matters.But the Red is a fine entry-level audiophile product, at an excellent price. I first went with Ortofon about three years ago at the urging of an audio guru who heard me griping about the sound from my Music Hall USB1 turntable. He was right. The upgraded sonics provided by replacing the factory-provided cartridge with the Red were dramatic and indisputable. Then it got even better with Blue. You can't go wrong.There are a few people out there who believe the Red is the better delivery system (over the Blue) and I'm happy to hear that. But, nah. I'll probably go back to Blue next year, but only after enjoying many hours of sweet audio with my old friend big Red.

The sound of this cartridge is well known, but I want to talk about something else: how easy it is to change the stylus. All the fittings are by friction. The old stylus comes off easily if you squeeze and pull in the intuitive direction. Keep the old one around to figure out the orientation of the new one, unless you have a fine topological mind. Once you have the right direction the new stylus slips on easily. Now the good part: there's a stylus cover which also comes off with a little pull in a direction completely different than the direction of mounting the stylus itself. In other words, when you pull off the cover, you can NOT mess up the orientation of the stylus. Thank you Ortofon!

Hits all the right notes , easy quick swap. Good value!

Received package within 3 days. This is the needle for my pro-ject turn table, so I was worried about getting it damaged in shipping.. but the box in which needle is packed was really good and safe..ortofon 2m needle is really great. The sound it produce is very clean and crisp..The advantage is that when we break the needle we don't have to take it to repair shop to fix it.. it's very simple to replace this needle..I can rate the build quality as 5 on 5.The sound quality is 4 on 5 .. just because I have heard better sounding needles. But sound is very subjective..Over all it's a great needle.

This is the real deal, genuine Ortofon 2m red, in the box with the paperwork. About the best deal for them without the funny biz stuff on ebay from Asia that you have to wait a month for. Sure, it stinks that it costs about the same for the needle as replacing the whole cart, but what can you do? This is why Ortofon quit making replacement stylii for their old 15E carts - so you'd buy these things. Decent stuff. Maybe there will be a decent aftermarket needle in a couple of years.

This is the same stylus that came with my new Technics SL-1500c turntable. I accidentally damaged original, so time for a new one. Easy install and sounds fabulous!

Great cartridge/needle. Just a all around good one

nice refresh for the price point.