Flux HiFI Electronic Stylus Cleaner


I treated myself to the Flux HIFI electronic stylus cleaner.  I knew I had to get over the $150 price tag and just give it a try--I can always return it to Music Direct.  

Well, the thing works as advertised.  The result in sound quality was surprising.  Even though I thought I had great cartridge hygiene, the Flux shows me my methods are not as good as I thought.  

I highly recommend this product if you enjoy vinyl.  I have to think in addition to sound quality I would see a better stylus life and less record wear.  
128x128jbhiller

I've been using the Flux Hifi stylus cleaner for about 3 years.  It's the best stylus cleaner I've come across to date.

Don't forget to consider the amplitude of the cleaner's vibrations. My Hudson, be it vibrating at my estimated 100Hz or your reported 222Hz, has vibrations that wiggle the stylus and cantilever considerably. Way more than a record groove could.

The S-Duo makes such fine amplitude vibrations that the cantilever does not move perceptibly. Now what I do not know is how the epoxy or whatever holds the stylus on to the cantilever will cope with either kind of cleaning vibration. I would guess, and it is a guess, that tiny amplitude vibrations at 40kHz are less likely to destroy the glue than large amplitude low frequency—222Hz—vibrations. I suspect more force and larger movements are more damaging than small forces, and small movements at higher frequencies. That's why I'm experimenting with older cartridges and seeing what happens.

I do have a couple of USB microscopes, but I don't know where they are after a recent move. So, if Amazon and the seller do their thing correctly, I have a rather expensive USB microscope and stand (an updated version of Fremer's recommended device for SRA adjustment) on the way. It may be I shall be able to take some comparative pictures.

.. and just to add, I did check the cleaning results on a digital microscope I bought for the express purpose of examining my stylus. Clean as whistle. 👍

I think the Flux is the same as the Hudson, and while it vibrates, it certainly doesn't do so at U/S frequencies (>20kHz)d  

Having gone through this, I did look at the Hudson Hi-Fi Cleaner, especially as it sells for around $35 as opposed to the $149 retail for the Flux Hifi ..

The Hudson version vibrates at around 222hz according to one of the answered questions on the Amazon site.  ( The Flux Hifi vibrates at a similar hz, if I recall correctly ) These lower vibration frequencies seem safer to me on a delicate stylus, though I’m only guessing here. 

Although it’s hard to tell from pictures on Amazon, the bristles on the Hudson seem different to those on the Flux, and may be possibly coarser, than the ones I’ve personally examined on the Flux.

The Flux Hifi was added to Amazon in May of 2018,  and is made in Germany, while the Hudson version was added to Amazon in February of 2021, and is made in China.

So to say that the Hudson is a much cheaper Chinese knock-off may not be entirely inaccurate.

So there’s that .. 

My initial experience with the S-Duo:

Firstly, the scale. The instruction booklet does not mention that there is a clear plastic protector over the scale pad, and it is actually hard to see. Until you remove it you will be convinced the scale does not work. The scale reads the 5g test weight as 5.05g, and taking the weight off and zeroing it makes no difference, it still reads 5.05g. Comparing it under a stylus with my existing gauge shows that it reads 0.05g high too. I'll just have to remember that.

Secondly, the U/S cleaner. This comes with three rubber rings and you are supposed to fit one into the well where the cleaning happens, and select the one that lets your cartridge rest its body (not the cantilever) on the rubber ring with the stylus so positioned that it will dip into water placed into the central well. All three rings are the same thickness, and vary only in the size of the aperture in the middle. If your cartridge has its VTA set so as to be slightly tail down it will be hard to do this without getting the bottom of the cartridge wet! It turns out to be critical that the water is dripped into the well to exactly the right level. You don't want moisture inside your cartridge! I put some distilled water into a fine dropper bottle and then tried the cartridge - and had to suck out some water with the tiny pipette provided. It might be better to place the cartridge onto the rubber ring, then add water a drop at a time until the stylus only is in the water. There is only a couple of drops of leeway before the base of the cartridge will get wet, and did I say you don't want water inside your cartridge?
The next thing to be careful about is that by this time the device will have switched itself off, so holding the turntable motionless, you press the power button until it turns on (it may take several tries) and then press the button that starts the 20 seconds of U/S cleaning. Then lift the tonearm, and check the underside of the cartridge, dab off any water - you know why by now. I dried out the S-Duo's cleaning well with a tissue, as the foam drying pad provided won't fit once the rubber ring is in place.
Phew! I have had less stressful times changing cartridges and setting them up. Water and hardware within millimeters of a stylus, not to mention wiping with tissues. This is not a thing I will do on any regular basis, but only if there is visible gunk on a stylus that doesn't come off with a brush. My main way of keeping my stylus clean is to keep my records as clean as possible. After that a little carbon fibre stylus brush gets used, very gently and carefully, daily. I did buy a Hudson "ultrasonic" but it isn't ultrasonic, vibrating rather coarsely at, I'd guess, 100Hz. I think that is more likely to damage a stylus than actual tiny amplitude U/S vibrations. I'll note I didn't see any bubbles in the cleaning well, and I'm inclined to try an experiment with some detergent, distilled water and NO stylus. I just did it, still not a bubble, even if I dipped the tip of the pipette into the water during the 20 second run. Maybe I'm wrong to expect anything - after all, the 120kHz transducers in my Degritter (which will certainly make foam with detergent in the water) are a lot more powerful than the tiny 40kHz transducer rumoured to be in this unit. One cannot hear or feel anything when it is running. If it were a lot cheaper I'd take it apart to see what is actually inside it. Another thing to add to the list of hi-fi items I wish I could send off to Big Clive on YouTube and have him reverse engineer them!

@dogberry appreciate the information about the Humminguru S-Duo! I currently use a HiFi Flux but after looking at the Humminguru, it does seam like a much better way to clean a stylus. Maybe when the Flux goes caput?

I think the Flux is the same as the Hudson, and while it vibrates, it certainly doesn't do so at U/S frequencies (>20kHz).

I'm currently experimenting on older cartridges with the Humminguru S-Duo, which combines a stylus VTF gauge with a proper U/S (only 40kHz I believe) transducer.

My experience with the FLUX HIFI - Ultrasonic Electronic Stylus Cleaner, has been mixed; I received it at the beginning of Dec., 2022, and it worked amazingly well .. very happy.  However when I went to use it two weeks later, the only thing that worked on it was the little LED light, no ‘vibration‘ at all.  As everyone occasionally gets a lemon, and I had purchased it thru Amazon ( with Music Direct being the seller), I figured, no problem .. I just a wanted an exchange.  
 

Here’s where a five week odyssey of dealing with Amazon customer service ( definitely not based in the US) began. The item was not returnable due to it being listed by Amazon as a “hazardous material” item.  I told them it wasn’t. Music Direct told them it wasn’t. But five weeks of talking to representatives, then being transferred to a “management team member” I kept hearing the same script, even though they were very nice, actually seemed to want to help, but would call me back saying they were still working on it. 

Near the end of my patience I called back again yesterday, only to hear the same runaround and that the return window had had long closed, despite Amazon having  a supposedly 90 day guarantee, and other team members saying they would process a ‘no return’ refund.  Anyway, I was once again transferred to management  where a very nice lady was able to get me full, ‘non-return’ refund in ten minutes. 
 

Made me wish I’d bought from Music Direct , directly in the first place, but Amazon had the better deal. 

See if your dustcover will slide up and off the hinges. I always remove mine before playing a record. Prevents the cover from vibrating. Be careful not to bump the arm or cart when removing or replacing it.
I live in a small apartment. So, no. Listening at concert levels would get me evicted in a hurry.

My Linn LP12 sits slightly behind the front plane of my ML electrostats.

The airborne vibrations I'm talking about are created by my speakers' playing back the music that originates in the grooves of the records I'm playing on my turntable.

I only listen to one turntable at a time; and with the dustcover closed.

Can you explain the theoretical sonic advantages of listening to music played back on your turntables with the dustcovers open?

Thank you.
Are you listening on a concert level when you are at home? Your turntable placed infront of the speaker? Your room is too small? What airborne vibration are you talking about? I do not use dustcovers on any of my 6 turntables. 
I'm neither a physicist or acoustician. But it seems to me that the more inert (soft) a turntable dust cover is, the greater its tendency to absorb airborne sounds that would otherwise reach a records surface and tonearm.

Am I missing something?

Thank you.
Not to change the subject, but since we are talking about record noise and static, I bought a anti static blower on ebay at 60.00 or 70.00 dollars.  I rigged it up to a computer monitor arm and run  it on low over the record as it is playing.  I hear a vast improvement in the reduction of tics and pops along with a lower noise floor.  I use it everytime!
Pulled the trigger Amazon UK was £115.....and it arrived monday  Flux arrived and used a few times ...its doing its job ..i've no experience of other "ultra sonic or sonic" cleaners ....I'm using it prior to each session and in combination with VP Dustbuster which i use after every LP ..plus the records are cleaned with an anti static brush prior to playing each side ....my records have never sounded better
Why do some people insist on making statements which do nothing but reveal his/her ignorance of hi-fi history?
+1 Eric!

There certainly WERE record and stylus cleaners before the 1980’s. I bought my first Cecil E. Watts Preener and Stylus Cleaner in ’68, as well as that company’s Dust Bug, which was a narrow cylindrical-shaped velvet-covered tube on the end of a clear plastic arm. It was pulled inward at the same rate as the cartridge, keeping the LP dust-free as it played. Watts also made a more sophisticated cleaner named the Parastat.

I then bought the original Discwasher when it was introduced in the early-70’s, followed shortly by the Zerostat. Decca in England was offering their carbon fibre brush back then too. And Keith Monks was making a vacuum record cleaning machine in the mid-70’s, long before Nitty Gritty and VPI introduced theirs in the early-80’s.

Why do some people insist on making statements which do nothing but reveal his/her ignorance of hi-fi history?

Dear @jbhiller : Yes, the electronic stylus cleaner really works. I own the Audio Technica one that if I remember was the first company to offer in audio market. Afeter AT came Signet ( that's was part/member of the AT group. ) and latter on Audioquest and now the one you bougth.

In the past I used more frequently than today. I noted that if I use at the begin of a listen session then from the very first note the cartridge shows its normal quality performance, as if its suspension sttle down because normally my cartridges sounds " normal " after around 10 minutes of playing.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.
Tbh I am aligned with any source that provides good music and that I enjoy.
Do not care if records, cassette, R2R, CD, streaming or good old FM radio!

Think this site would be a lot better off without the devout preachers of audio!
I didn’t understand the “ shot “ either, noromance is anti ones and zeros
I blame any small particulate in the house and eventually gear and LP’s on the ancient Labrador... one shot with the zerostat and she runs for cover

no animals were harmed in the making of this post

i appreciate the thread, I use Last and Audio Technica now but may acquire additional


Actually Mijo, forget it, you are not worth the time and effort to attempt to have a rational sensible discussion with.
Do as you please and whatever makes you happy with records but do NOT assume your word is gospel and the rest of us know nothing.
like uberwaltz and noromance:)



Have absolutely ZERO idea what that silly little jibe is supposed to mean?
Care to elaborate?
Mijo, We've been over this ground before.  Dust covers, used while the LP is in play, are very bad for SQ, and it's not comical to think so.  You apparently do not hear a problem, which is fine.  Most others do, as was suggested by the responses you got last time you aired your preferences, including my own response.  Dust covers are harmless only when the turntable is sitting idle.  I and most others find that styli accumulate "gunk" (dust and probably tiny fragments of vinyl plus whatever was on the LP beforehand) during play, dust cover or no.  Cleaning the stylus at least periodically if not after every LP is a worthwhile exercise therefore, in my opinion.  Also, since I purchased my Xerostat in the mid-70s (probably 1972) in the UK, I have some direct evidence that the obsession with record cleaning goes way back before the 1980s.  I think you'd find that the Discwasher products are also "ancient".  A friend of mine in college in the 1960s, had one of those brushes that ride on the LP ahead of the tonearm, of the kind you like.  The only part of your post with which I can agree is the notion that it is a good idea to avoid or eliminate static charge on the LP surface, so much as that is possible.
Once a month I might have to wipe off a thread of incidental dust that gets through otherwise my stylus does not get dirty. Every blue moon I'll clean off the cartridge, cantilever and stylus with alcohol on an artists brush. Due to static charge the cantilever and cartridge will collect a  fine layer of very fine dust over time. I also never clean my records or use any thing on them. You just don't let them get dirty in the first place. 
Clean record + dust cover + conductive sweep arm = best no hastle record and stylus care.  If you buy used records or have a lot of old records that have been subject to less than optimal conditions than an ultrasonic cleaner is the way to go. 
Record cleaning stuff did not come along until the early 80's when people started spending megabucks on Hi Fi. For those of us that started collecting records before then we had to figure out a method on our own or our records just got chewed up and we had to clean off the stylus after every side. The #1 enemy is static electricity followed by environmental pollution like cigarette smoke (pot also) and cooking fumes. 
If a record is not charged dust that falls on it will blow right off. If the record is charged dust and environmental pollution will get sucked right down into the groove. It will not just blow off and  record brushes won't remove it. Your stylus becomes your main record cleaning devise. 
The problem for most vinylphiles is that they play their records without a dust cover and do nothing to discharge the record which you have to do while the record is playing because that is when the static charge is generated. 20 minutes out in the open generating thousands of volts of static electricity is plenty of time and charge to fill the grooves with dust..
Use a dust cover and a conductive sweep arm that is connected to ground and this does not happen, at all. None of it.  
Some of us started making conductive sweep arms in the early 70's and most of  the best turntables had dust covers. We took camel hair artist brushes and ran fine copper wires almost to the end of the bristles so that they would get close but not contact the record then tied the whole mess to a metal wand, created a unipivot stand and we were in business. I remember one fellow who made one out of an older tone arm. Then in the early 80s they started making conductive carbon fiber brushes and several years later one company finally released an arm with carbon fiber bristles. There are several available today. They should be a lot more popular but the industry would rather sell you expensive machines and gunk to choke up your records further. 
Then for some reason audiophiles came to the determination that dust covers ruin the sound which is comical as far as I am concerned. I suppose given a bad design this could happen but dust covers usually make things sound better because they attenuate air born vibration. No echo. I think what happened was manufactures started coming out with crazy designs that were difficult if not impossible to mount dust covers to and dust covers add to the expense. So, you just get everybody to believe they are bad news, the mythology solution. Cheap and effective.
On the other side of the argument what is more important, the condition of your records or a theoretical detriment to your sound quality. I guarantee that things will sound a lot worse once your records are chewed up. The problem is so bad that most people have no idea how quiet a medium records can be and switched entirely to digital sources
like uberwaltz and noromance:)  
I used a Signet SK305, at my shoppe, every few plays, for a couple years.     Kept the stylus on my demo system’s Sonus Gold/Blue pristine.     Still looks like new, sitting in it's box, on my desk.     I’ve seen them sell for over $85.00(used), on eBay.     Probably should list it.     Can’t really say why, but- I’ve always used Stylast and a brush, at home.
Lewm.
Pretty sure that's because it's shipping from Germany.
All the ones I see on eBay are from Germany right now.
I notice that some eBay vendor is charging $38 for shipping the Flux Hi-Fi.  Who(m) are they kidding?  The thing probably weighs a few ounces at best.  A gratuitous rip-off on top of the $154 cost.
I own the Audioquest version of the Signet, and it works in much the same way as the Flux, based on what I read and photos.  It's very effective; the first time I used it on a well used MC, a big gob of dust fell out from the innards of the cartridge body; that was very satisfying. But I also use Magic Eraser.  Nothing beats ME for convenience, and I therefore use it before every play. Since the key to the benefits of cleaning the stylus has to do with doing it in the first place, I have come to favor ME.  It's like brushing your teeth after every meal.  Have any of you compared ME to the Flux or the Signet or the Audioquest/Signet? Maybe using one of the vibrators can be likened to a regular dental check-up, not daily care, at least for me.
Yup, it really works. The vibrating bristle pad gives some audiophiles the creeps, but I've never had an issue with it.
Thanks Slaw!!  That's a deal.  Simple yet effective and overpriced device, which really gets the stylus clean.
FYI, at the end -of - year Music Direct sales, they always offer this at $50.00 off. 
I've owned a Signet SK305 electronic cleaner since the mid-1980's, and it have serve me well over the years.  I don't recall the price I paid - probably about $30.00 or so.
I have enjoyed the Flux HIFI for over a year.  I use it about every 30 albums, not for each play.  Still use a good stylus brush for each album side.