They are all pretty much the same. The black ones sound muffled for some reason. I personally prefer the DJ (blue) styli personally, but the silver ones are a little cheeper and sound the same as the blues. The biggest difference is the sound of the actual cartridges. The DJ carts are EQed with more bass in the low frequency, but the other ones seem almost identical IMO.

ic... but what about w/ SL? b/c its not reading sound its reading the control signal so does it even really matter that the black ones sound muffled...?

Here's a site with some basic specs on the Ortofon Stylii, no detailed freq responses though...

www.dancetronics.com

The blues are the best. Get the cartridge mounted ones because they dont skip as much, with same quality, because it's the same needle. The silver ones skip more than the blues, with same EQ response curve. All in all though, nothing beats a pair of shure m447 for the tracking force. All expensive pro quality dj needles will sound great when paired with a great mixer, cords and speaker system, so go with the shures. They last forever, sound great and never skip-isn't that the purpose of a good needle?

the elektros are the sheite!

If you consider of buying a pair of ortofons (the real ortofons, not the head-shell mounted version) then you should consider that there are lots of djs I know (incl. myself) who often have the problem of them not having a correct connection to the tonearm, sometimes one stereo side doesnt connect properly, or crackles etc. Which isnt a real big deal if you use vinyl (if one side goes out, you can wait til the song is over and simply clean the contacts and plug the ortofons a little bit tighter to the tonearm) BUT its a big issue if you use SSL (or TFS) because if one stereo side is not connected then you will have big big calibration problems. SSL relies on the proper signal of both stereo signals, left and right.

I already have orts.. and sound quality probably doesnt matter much w/ SL... just wondering about the best ort styli

You dont have any connection problems with the original orts?

nope

I personally use the Nightclubs mounted on Headshells, which is good in essence of contact points & the possibility to add weight (coins etc.). As my good friend nik39 pointed out, in some clubs, the connectors on the arm of the turntable or worn out, then you get problems with the normal orts. Also, here I see a lot of people recommending the blue ones. They're pretty good as well, but they seem to wear out the records quicker, which is also a major issue, if you're using SSL, because: I, for instance use only two records a night, which means my SSL records. And that means 80-120 plays a night. There are "Normal" records, which are worn out faster than that. Especially if you scratch a lot.

Oh, yeah. And if you mount them right, they skip even less. There is a mounting guide from Ortofon, that makes it really easy to mount 'em. Every DJ Store should have it. (... and I even think it's free!)

Blue Djs track better thats why your records wear faster... the nightclubs have better frequency response so they sound better.. thats why they are the most $$... for SL your only reading the control signal so sound quality probably isnt as much of an issue as tracking is... thisi s what iv come to find

Yeah, we have to see how wear on the records influence the timecode (uhm controlsignal ;-) ) quality. I was a heavy FS user and the first pair of records still work fine here (though I had to use the timecode-offset due to cue burn).

so far I don't think cue burn messes w/ the audio quality in SL just the ability to track... I could be wrong though.. I've already been through a pair I didn't notice any audio issues

No, I was of course talking about the tracking quality.

Go with the Elektros... they have a higher output than the DJs (Blue Ortofons).