Hold on, is that a space-age turntable cartridge or Luke Skywalker's landspeeder?

It may look like something out of Star Wars but the Clipper-S is a bit more down-to-earth – it's JICO's latest moving magnet (MM) cartridge and headshell for turntables with straight tonearms.

As the name suggests, the Clipper-S is the sibling of the original Clipper. That was designed for J-shaped and S-shaped tonearms, and the growing popularity of straight tonearms has persuaded the firm to make a new version just for those.

JICO has been in the needle business since 1966 and made its name making replicas of in-demand cartridges such as the Shure 44 series. However, it more recently moved into making acclaimed original designs such as the original Clipper.

The Clipper takes its name from Pan Am airlines' clipper class – a precursor to business class – to indicate that was designed for more discerning audiophiles.

JICO Clipper-S: key features and pricing

The goal of the Clipper-S is to address a concern with headshells made for S-shaped tonearms – they can be misaligned if fitted to straight arms, with the potential to affect the accuracy of the turntable's tracking and even contribute to accelerated wear on the records themselves.

This latest design, JICO says, delivers proper cartridge alignment, accurate tracking and natural, balanced sound reproduction.

Also according to the brand, the Clipper S combines the world’s first tapered S-cantilever with a solid conical diamond stylus to deliver exceptional clarity and dynamics across the frequency range.

It's compatible with JICO's own MM Clipper stylus as well as its Shure 44 replacement styli, and it supports Korg's Handytraxx series, too.

The JICO Clipper-S is available in the UK now for a recommended retail price of £399.95. That's roughly €460 / $535 / AU$825.