Review on Ortofon Stylus Arkiv Replacement by Pavel Craig

Can't say enough about this replacement. I was about to replace the needle on my Ortofon Concorde Nightclub Mkii wagon with the original needle but decided to take the advice of the first reviewer (Matthew). Wow! The sound stage has gone up a few notches. Don't get me wrong, the Mkii sounds great with the Mkii stylus, but this one sounds even better. Almost like I'm in AT440mla territory or higher. One of the most striking things I first learned when playing a few records was that there was virtually no surface hiss, even on war-torn records. albums, that used to have lots of pops and clicks became almost silent. High five! Compared to the Mkii stylus, however, the Arkiv has more channel separation and detail. Again, I'm not criticizing the Mkii stylus, it's just that this one knocked it off track. There is no competition. Last week I bought some classic, old, battered 45s. Cleaned them up and played with Arkiv. Again, almost no surface noise, and the detail was amazing to say the least. I felt stupid for downloading these songs from iTunes when those downloads didn't match the vinyl version. The only way I can describe the sound is that it is studio and real, as if they were in your living room. I plan to buy a few more if Ortofon decides to discontinue them. Last week I got some classic, old, Bought a battered .45. Cleaned them up and played with Arkiv. Again, virtually no surface noise and the detail was amazing, to say the least. I felt stupid for downloading these songs from iTunes when those downloads didn't match the vinyl version. The only way I can describe the sound is that it is studio and real, as if they were in your living room. I plan to buy a few more if Ortofon decides to discontinue them. Last week I bought some classic, old, battered 45s. Cleaned them up and played with Arkiv. Again, almost no surface noise, and the detail was amazing to say the least. I felt stupid for downloading these songs from iTunes when these downloads didn't match the vinyl version.