The third level of the Garrott cartridges has a Shibata stylus, which is shaped to fit closely the groove of the LP, even better than the elliptical type. To get better than this you have to go to a micro-ridge or line-trace faceted stylus! The K3 is suited to turntables of superior quality such as Music Hall and Rega, although at some point you would want to progress to higher models again. At this price it is highly recommended and can be used with most turntable/arm combinations of the “detachable headshell” or one-piece tubular type. It works with MM (moving magnet) phono stages which are the usual type – found in most amplifiers, although there has been a trend in recent years to make the phono stage a separate optional piece, like the NAD PP3 or the Musical Fidelity X-LPS.

A replacement diamond stylus (Shibata profile, user replaceable) for the K3 is $360.