Do you keep track of stylus playtime?

As we all know, styli need to be replaced when worn.
In most cases, wear is determined by the amount of hours a stylus has been used.

I was wondering if anyone is actually keeping track of how many hours they have on their styli - and how?
Is there an easy way to do so or is it just a matter of taking notes?
Do you just guesstimate how many hours you have on your styli?
Or don't you worry about playback hours at all?
Do you use a microscope or your ears instead?
Or do you use some way to measure distortion of the output signal?

 

Yep with a Parks Audio Puffin, fantastic device, of course only one of its many, many functions.

 

I do since I bought a Puffin which has that feature. Before that, no, but I would have probably started to guesstimate at some point.

 

Wow I knew it has a lot of tricks up its sleeve, but I didn't know about that function.
That's definitely a nice feature!
Does it also do multiple cartridges/styli?

 

I use one of these...

StylusTimer

Very useful and only $20

 

Easy, with the Phoenix Eagle/RR and SOTA Condor/RR, which have a built in accumulated playing time counter.

 

I just got my new table and cart last week, so I thought I’d start and guesstimate the hours I’m putting on it. Tracking using no frills app called Counter. Mostly curious re when I get to the supposed 50 hour break in point, but also hours in total for when it’s time to think about replacing the stylus.

 

I don't play my LPs more than a few hours a week. Much more play time on the digital side. Best bet is replacing every thousand hours. So as a guess every two to three years. Tubes are due every three so there is that...

 

Yes

 

Yep, same here. Love that feature!

Yes, it will track up to four.

 

Really, it will track four? Didn’t know that!

 

+1

 

I use a mechanical tally counter per side.
It's not dead on accurate, but dividing the count by 3 is close enough to approximate hours of use.

 

Thanks for the link, just bought 1.

 

Guesstimate, plus listening and looking, is the right answer. Treating the suspiciously rounded-to-the-nearest-whatever maximum-hour recommendations of cartridge manufacturers as scientifically precise cut-off points seems somewhat credulous. They're ballpark guesstimates too!

Go and do likewise, I say.

 

Yeah that's more or less my way of doing things too.
I only play records when I'm having a long listening session, like a full afternoon or evening.
Unlike digital, records are way more engaging, so to me, they're a getaway from reality and they deserve plenty of time and attention because of that.
So about 10 hours a week maximum and on top of that, I'm switching between cartridges regularly.

Hah! Yeah that actually makes sense.
Nicely plain and simple approach.

 

Yes, you have four user setting "slots" that will keep all of your settings. Essentially you can save your settings (including playtime) for four different turntables.

Just make sure you save your current setting before switching users slots, or you will lose your current playtime. Ask me how I know...

Edit: I should add that you can set the playtime to any value. For instance, if you buy a used cart that has 50 hours on it, you can set the Puffin to 50 hours for that cart, and it will count up from there.

 

Forgive my ignorance but won’t it become obvious when it’s time to replace a stylus? Isn’t the time really just arbitrary? The one time I’ve had to so far it started distorting really bad in the right channel.

 

I use one of those cheapo lap counter clicker things you can find on Amazon for about ten bucks.

 

Wearing down a stylus is something that happens gradually and slowly.
When you actually start noticing it, you're likely to be (too) late already.
Unless you have a fresh duplicate stylus to compare with of course.

 

By which time your knackered stylus has been causing groove damage.

When I was was in my teens I used to replace the stylus in my ceramic cart every year.

 

Yeah... before the age of the internet we had to learn it the hard way... lol

 

10 Hours a week will get you 100 weeks or 1.9 years, call it two years. Sounds correct to me...

 

Not really.
The cost of stylii was low because just about everybody bought them on a regular basis.
The necessity of replacing it on a regular basis was just an accepted thing.
They were often replaced annually, just because it was the accepted thing to do.

 

Ah I was thinking the other way around, with the short lifespan those styli on ceramic carts have.
Idk if records were the main format at your place, but if so, I would think that once a year isn't often enough.
I mean, those styli on ceramic cartridges have a lifespan of what? only 100 hours?
Definitely not the 500 hours of a conical tip on an MM/MC cartridge...