ONZOW ZeroDust - Stylus Cleaner

I absolutely love this little stylus cleaner. It does a great job, and it’s fast and easy. I use it before and after every play and my expensive Shibata tip stays amazingly clean. I recommend this product for any serious vinyl owner. It will most definitely prolong the life of your favorite cartridge or stylus. A+++ Of all the accessories I have purchased over the years, this one ranks at the top. A must have!

I evaluate audio prototypes, act as a judge, and write reviews for magazines. Thanks to this, I have made many friends in the audio world, and a lot of people who share the same interest come to my listening room. Mr. John M. Argle of JBL was one of them. Since my school days, I have been pursuing my ideal sound by handcrafting tape recorders, amplifiers, and speakers. Even today, I continue to make speakers. Recently, I finally completed my life's work of researching the MFB speaker system and am now taking a break. As for amplifiers, many manufacturers have started producing great ones, so I shifted my focus to evaluation and criticism. While I did not personally make cartridges by hand, I have accumulated many valuable cartridges and rare prototypes from past generations over more than half a century of audio research. I am proud to say that all of these cartridges are in playable condition. I do not use liquid cleaners to clean my cartridges, but rather ONZOWZERODUST, which I have been using since its introduction. The main reason is that it can be easily and safely cleaned, and records can be played immediately after cleaning, making it very convenient. I used to struggle with cleaning cartridges using brushes and other methods, so I was thrilled when this product came out." I have recently come across some critical posts about ONZOWZERODUST. In all my years of experience, I have never observed any residue from ONZOWZERODUST on the stylus, as some critical reviewers have noted. The safety of ONZOWZERODUST is evident, and I want to reassure you that there is nothing to worry about when using it with common sense. In other words, it will not deteriorate unless intentionally exposed to sunlight, UV irradiation, or washed with hot water. However, since it is a cleaning product, it is necessary to replace it when it becomes difficult to remove dust and dirt after a certain amount of use. This consideration is important to ensure the longevity of your precious stylus. Having worked for an automobile manufacturer until retirement age, I have acquired knowledge about materials such as metals and synthetic resins while handling various parts. Like all audio products, please store and use ONZOWZERODUST with care. I hope you will be able to enjoy your music with your favorite stylus as long as I have.

I had some Amazon credit burning a hole in my pocket a while back so I bought this on a whim. The first few times I used it (admittedly not that often), I can't say I heard any difference and I figured I'd ripped myself off; OK, lesson learned. However, yesterday, after not using my turntable for a few days, I put on a record I know by heart, and it was distorted all over the place; cleaning the record with a record brush made no difference—it still sounded terrible. Worse, I put on a different record and I was still getting ugly distortion coming out of my speakers. The last time my turntable started sounding like that was a few years ago, when I wound up replacing the needle and cartridge, broke my tone arm's wiring while replacing the cartridge because I'm incompetent and overall had my turntable out of commission for two months. I couldn't SEE any difference to the needle, even with a magnifying glass, but as a last-ditch effort to avoid the problems I had last time, I tried that stupid stylus cleaner I bought a while ago—AND IT WORKED! So, whatever misgivings I might have had for the product before, man, I take them back. It worked, saved me buying a new needle and the ensuing shop costs (because I wasn't going to replace it myself again, given what happened last time) and I was back to listening to records, distortion-free. I don't know how often I'll use it, but it's good to know I have it there when I need it!

On impulse, I bought a cheap 'all in one' record player around the holidays, on sale. Since then, I have upgraded to an audiophile quality turntable and have found myself buying more accessories than I care to in order to make the vinyl experience worthwhile. Originally, I thought my biggest frustration in terms of getting the best sound out of records would be figuring out which stylus and cartridge to upgrade to ... not even close! As you get better equipment, those little clicks and pops that come through on cheaper record players due to dust sound like machine gun fire on a good system. Not even brand new records are immune to this ... in fact, they attract dust more than well played copies. After buying a $20 dust brush, which did little more than push around the dust on the record surface, I noticed that my records were beginning to sound scratchy. At first, I thought the stylus had cracked. What I found instead is that it had a small dust ball attached to it which was causing my brand new albums to sound terrible. I did a LOT of research and came across this. At first I absolutely balked at the price ... after all, I had just spent $20 on a brush which basically feels like a dollar store piece of junk and works terribly. I wasn't about to spend $40 on something that looks like it would come out of a plastic egg at the grocery store for a quarter! However, after reading the reviews and continuing to hear a scratching sound when playing records, I bit the bullet and bought this. Not sorry I did. It's basically a cheap plastic case with some sort of sticky gel ... feels a lot like the type of gel those little 'wall walker' toys you threw against a wall and it would slide down. A rubbery gel. My stylus is a lightweight carbon, so I will usually place the ONZOW under it and gently push up. What usually is left of the surface gel is a little dot of dust. Doesn't look like much ... but it certainly makes a big difference in the sound of the records. My biggest fear is having to wash this because I don't want to mess up a $40 thing ... and the laws of chemistry make me wonder how once you wash something it will remain sticky. I will report back once I do ... however, in the meantime I use this after playing 4 or 5 records and always get a little speck of dust in the gel. I've seen stylus brushes, etc. and I can't imagine rubbing a brush on that delicate little piece of metal ... so this seems pretty safe to me. Vinyl seems a lot like having kids ... it's not for the faint of heart. Each day a new issue seems to arise ... an attempt at frustrating me enough where in a fit of rage I shatter all my Motorhead, Doors, Hendrix and Nirvana albums only to go back to CDs or worse yet ... mp3 files. However, whenever I hear Jim Morrison swallowing while singing ... or some otherwise obscure realism which disappears on less clear media formats, I stick with vinyl. Thankfully there are a world of plastic sleeves to help with the static, lint rollers for records, washing systems, useless dust brushes, stylus cleaners and even hundred dollar anti-static electricity particle guns. Each of these costs around 4,000% more than it would if its function was anything other than geared towards vinylheads and audiophiles. Why does this cost forty bucks, instead of five? Because audiophiles will not only pay for it, they will write 4 star reviews like I am doing. Bottom line ... it works.

If youre struggling with "crackling" noise like I was, this is the answer. I don't know what it does but it does a fantastic job getting rid of any dust around your Stylus. It is pricy but it is a game changer for your stylus and the record player. You simply dip the ZeroDust tool to the stylus then you're done. How simple is that. Now I can enjoy my music without that annoying crackling sound. It's definitely worth every penny to splurge on.

I love this thing. It's such a simple idea, yet so effective! Open it up, and lightly tap your stylus on the "gel" bubble to grab any lint on it, and away you go! I'm always afraid of doing damage to my Ortofon 2M with the little brushes we've historically used. The 2M feels really weak compared to old audio-technica or Shure styli I've used in the past. The ONZOW ZeroDust makes me feel like I'm less likely to hurt the 2M. The only thing which could be better is the packaging/instructions. It's all in Japanese on one side of a single 4x6 card, and poorly translated English on the other side. Nothing is said of cleaning the collection of boogies off the bubble, though. (HINT: Found this on a vinyl review site: "When the cleaning element is stained, wash it in warm water with a little amount of neutral detergent.")

This is the safest, most thorough way to keep your stylus clean, period. Made of clear, sticky, silicone type material similar (or the same?) as the one used to clean digital camera sensors and other critically sensitive surfaces. Its absolutely harmless to your stylus, requires no other cleaners or solvents (which can dissolve you diamond's bonding agent) and leaves zero residue. Basicly the perfect cleaner for any stylus. Simply touch the stylus to the dome 2 or three times to the dome (which the stylus will penetrate) and done. When the material gets dirty simply wipe with a moist cloth and done. Can be used virtually hundreds if not thousands of times till you actually make a hole on the material. Worth every. Dont buy anything else!

This works great. Picks up the dust and is gentle to the needle.