No stranger to the Ortofon 2M Red as it was the stylus featured on my Project Debut Carbon Evo turntable which I enjoyed. After moving to a Technics SL-1500C turntable (also featuring a 2M Red from factory) I wanted to hear "the next level". Since the 2M Red and 2M Blue share the same cartridge, one only needs to buy this "replacement stylus" to enjoy the upgrade. And yes, it IS worthy - the improvement over the 2M Red is noticeable in terms of sound quality, overall smoothness, and the background hiss/noise is lower. Highly recommended.