Increased needle chatter from AT95E?

Hi,

Two months ago I bought the AT-LP120 and I'm absolutely loving the whole vinyl-collecting experience.

However, recently I've noticed a rather loud needle chatter coming from the ATN95E stylus (i.e. music plays even though amp is off). I know some needle chatter is normal and the loudness varies per stylus type, but I have the feeling that in my case the loudness of it has increased. I used to not even know it was there, until three days ago.

To describe its loudness: the songs are distinguishable up to 2 metres (~6.5 feet) away from the turntable (and up till around 3 metres it's audible). When I'm up close I can clearly hear the vocals, even with dust cover.

Anti-skate and tracking force should be OK (force confirmed with gauge: 2.0). Turntable is level. I double checked the alignment with a protractor and it seems fine. I cleaned the needle and under a 10x magnifying glass it looks clean & normal to me.

The chatter itself does not disturb me at all, as the speaker sound drowns the noise. It's my worry that something could be wrong that disturbs me. Currently I'm not playing any valuable records as I don't want to damage them.

The only three things I can think of are:

1) The needle got damaged somehow and it's not visible (at least to my newbie eyes)
2) Perhaps the needle is past its "break-in" period and this is how it's supposed to sound like (I estimate it has been used for ~60 hours)
3) This loud chatter is actually normal and it's been there all the time

Do you perhaps have any idea if this amount of needle chatter is normal for the ATN95E, and if not, what could be the cause?

Thanks so much,
shoehorn_