LP GEARCarbon Fidelity CFN95SE Stylus

I purchased this stylus as an upgrade to my stock ATLP-120-USB turntable. I had been happy with the unit, however there were several instances where the music was very muddy in the mid range, usually when there were lots of instruments playing at once. A perfect example is when the band instruments build up loud at two different times in the Beatles' "A day in the life". The original AT95E stylus was only about two months old when I read some articles online about this stylus and so decided that I would risk the $60 to upgrade. The old stylus popped right off the cartridge and the new one slipped right on. In total the swap took about 15 seconds from the time I had removed the headshell until I was reinstalling it. I started by playing "Endless Dream" on the Yes "Talk" album. I IMMEDIATELY noticed vastly improved clarity in the "high output" parts of this song. Where I had heard "muddy echoes" I now was hearing clear instruments that I could make out individually. I then played "Even Less" by Porcupine Tree and found the synths and lead guitar portions MUCH sharper, and the drums were very tight. Finally, I played what I considered my "muddiest" album, Colors by Beck. If you are familiar with "Colors" and "Dreams", you know there is a lot going on instrumentally in those songs, and so they were very muddy to me. This new stylus completely transformed these songs for me, both by cleaning up the mid range, and bringing in a whole bunch of treble notes that I hadn't previously detected. Very, very pleased with this new stylus. I can't wait to try listening to my Lazaretto album, which is another one that I had previously thought was poorly recorded. If you are on the fence about buying this stylus, just do it.

I had an older Audio Technica ATLP-120 USB turntable with a stock AT95-E cartridge on it that I was constantly fiddling with. Sometimes I could get some pretty good sounds out of that cartridge but mostly I was somewhat underwhelmed. When it got to having a constant, if slight, distortion in the sound, I knew it was time to replace the stylus.I had harbored hopes of finally upgrading to a better cartridge overall, like an Ortofon Blue or one of the new AT-vmn95ML but the money just wasn't there.Then I stumbled on a website mentioning the LP Gear Carbon Fidelity CFN95SE Stylus which was compatible to my old AT95e. There weren't a lot of reviews about it but the ones that existed were glowing.It was only $50, within my budget, so I took a chance on it since I needed a new stylus anyway.That purchase was a world changer for me! Suddenly, a lot of my old records have come to life like I never heard them before! Playing some of my old electronic and rock records from the 80s and 90s, I began hearing little flourishes and instruments I never noticed before. The overall sound has a lot more presence, detail and air.This stylus works especially well with Classical music as it has made pianos more robust and richer, and adds a sweetness to the string instruments where my old stock stylus made them sound a little shrill.It even managed to extract a little extra detail from many of my 90s-era lo-fi garage punk singles!Even after a friend gifted me a vintage Rega P3 turntable with a vintage Elys-1 cartridge and I did an A-B comparison between the two, I decided to go back to my AT-95e cart with the LP Gear CFN95SE stylus as it seemed to me to have an overall better sound (The Elys-1 sounded a bit lifeless and had too much inner groove distortion).If you're someone who is on an extremely tight budget but wants to get a better sound than your old stock AT95e can provide, I recommend holding onto that cart and spring for this stylus. You may save yourself several hundred bucks that would have gone to a more expensive cartridge to achieve the same sound quality!

Excellent stylus that I have upgraded the AT120 turntable with and now my AT120 sounds 10 times better with an addition of a OSD Audio preamp 1

I have had my Audio Technica LP120 for about 3 years. Everything was stock. Sounded super good over a Klipsch Powered Bookshelf system with a Sub Woofer. I noticed that the sound was slightly distorted. I was going to replace the stylus with the stock AT95E cartridge for around $35.00. Saw this cartridge on Youtube and for an additional $25.00 decided to give it a try. This stylus is much clearer. Especially Bass and mid range. The only cons I can see at all, is that scratches and dirt on the records sound more pronounced. I think I am going to have to retune my sub woofer as the base sounds just a little too strong with this stylus. I consider this a good investment, especially if you were going to replace your stylus anyway.

Compared to true audiophiles, I'm sure that I'm still on the amateur end of the spectrum. With that said, I take vinyl sound-quality as seriously as my budget can afford. I've been using the stock-cartridge/stylus on my Audio-Technica LP-120 for about two years. After feeling like the sound was only getting duller with each passing play, I bought and installed this on the stock cartridge. The sound difference is staggering after a fresh calibration.In general, my collection has never sounded better. Older records that I assumed were lost-causes suddenly sound renewed and enlivened while new records sound pristine and pure. The best way I can describe it is that the sound output now has substantially more headroom. While the old stylus would often have high-end distortion during especially loud or busy passages, this stylus gives everything much more breathing room and a higher ceiling. Compared to the old stylus, I'm getting that "this is what this record is supposed to sound like" feeling, which honestly is the very sentiment I got into vinyl so many years ago.I'm sure there are better options out there, but if you are like me and have never upgraded your stylus before, I honestly can't recommend this enough.