Quoted from a post in Linn Forum ( https://forums.linn.co.uk/bb/showthread.php?tid=31475) which is no longer running.

These are the general observations from the other styli once broken in compared to the 95e. None are them were poor they were just not as musical as the 95;Bottom line, based on the sum of my investigations, advanced diamond stylus life is estimated to be near 500 hours, and probably much lower for spherical and elliptical tip shapes as noted by JICO. Play above 800 hours risks progressive and permanent damage to vinyl records, so it is critical to get an advanced stylus tip examined at near 500 hours of use, much sooner for a spherical or elliptical tip. With proper care and careful examination, you will learn for yourself how long a stylus will last." https://thevinylpress.com/the-finish-line-for-your-phonograph-stylus/ Well, apart from some enlightened high end specialists like the Japanese Jico corp’s Hyper elliptical specification, and our own home grown (The Audio Files & IPT Ltd) Paratrace equipped version, there has never really been an upgrade available for the Stylus profile for this popular device, it has been configured with a single purpose, to enable good quality disc replay at a reasonable entry level price for millions of everyday vinyl enthusiasts the world over. After reading about the compatibility between AT styli and the K9, I wanted to put a couple of things to the test recently. There's also a number of aftermarket non AT styli available for the AT95. My question.............With that in mind, what are your opinions on the 95ML on this turntable? Would the upgrade be worth the considerable price difference and would there be advantages to the 95ML over my current 95EN? As said before, i mainly listen to at least VG+ vinyl roughly 3-4 hours almost daily.

The stylus is a shaped piece of industrial diamond that is affixed to the end of the cantilever. The shape is the point of differentiation. At the simplest level, it is a cone shaped tip that moves through the groove of the record responding to the information that is contained therein. By increasing the length of the tip and decreasing the width, it is possible to make the stylus sit deeper in the groove of the record and extract more information - the conical tip becomes an elliptical one. The VM-95 body is an example of Audio-Technica’s dual-magnet design and in the 95E is partnered with a bonded elliptical stylus that is mounted on an aluminium pipe-style cantilever. This borrows from the special EX version of the AT-95 that comes fitted as standard to the company’s LP5 turntable (HFC 405). The body has been designed to reduce resonance and feels a whole lot more substantial than the original AT-95E. Furthermore, Audio-Technical recommends the VMN510CB Conical stylus for vintage mono long-play (LP) records. To give you a good view of how the Ortofon 2M Red and AT VM95E differ, here’s a side-by-side comparison of their specs: SPECIFICATIONSAll styli will fit the K18 once modified. The front mount containing the threaded hole on the K18 needs reducing by 1mm on its sides, face and bottom. The 95 type styli need a 2mm hole drilling into their front face.

The budget VM95C conical stylus (blue) measured -2dB down at 10kHz, the VM95E (green) -1dB giving a slightly brighter sound balance. The VM95EN had no loss at 10kHz, plus less on inner grooves. So in answer to your question of could you play two hours of music every day for 500 days before issues arose, the evidence seems to be no, not if by "issues" you include rising distortion due to wear. Could you put on that 1000 hours without damaging your records? Well, some say yes, and AT says 1000 hours is safe, but you might be right at the limit, and some people, such as Chris, might recommend playing it safe by not stretching it that far. The article I referenced above is quite close to Chris's conclusions: And, I have to say "Wow!" The sibilance is gone. The inner groove distortion is gone. The sound quality has gone up pretty dramatically.Both the Ortofon 2M Red and AT VM95E have versatile bodies with easily upgradeable styli. Definitely, good value for money since you’ll only need to replace the stylus and not the entire thing. Another striking quality that makes it stand out is the way it delivers female vocals. It’s generally better than the Ortofon 2M Red, which has a sibilance issue. With the AT-VM95E mounted on an SME M2-9 tonearm on a Michell GyroDec, the changes between the new model and the old are revealed to be more than cosmetic. The AT-95E was never the last word in subtlety and refinement and while the AT-VM95E is still on the brighter side of neutral, it brings a level of refinement to its presentation that the older model couldn’t achieve and is extremely impressive judged by the standards of its sub-price point. The VM95ML Microlinear gave the flattest frequency response of all with very little loss on inner grooves. The VM95SH Shibata tip gives fractionally less treble but it too had strong inner groove retrieval.

The article suggests that you can "at least" double those hours before the stylus will start damaging your records. One member here, Cafe Latte (Chris), recently wrote:It appears that the specifications given in table above for Linn K9 are incorrect, here are the correct ones: Jico Shibata also has an audio 'hardness' but also the high frequencies seem to perceptively lag behind the rest of the music.