My personal opinion..

Ortofons are the best when it comes to clarity, upper end frequency response and not ruining your records.... Get the blacks or silvers, which are in the $100-$125 range for each one, but they come with at least one extra stylus, so its not bad.

2 words of warning... pull your weight back on your tonearm, otherwise they WILL eat your record up, and eventually, every time you plug them in to the tonearm, you're gonna have to lick the contacts. Don't ask me why, it just happens that way.

Stanton's Trackmasters are alright, they seem to have more midrange and bass response than the ortofons, but it could just be that they are lacking the clear high's of the Ortofon's so it tricks ur ears, but they seem to be favorites for a lot of big clubs becuase of the perceived enhanced bass. They don't seem to last as long as the Ortofons and are just bigger and clumsier feeling... but they aren't BAD needles or anything. They run around $75-$100 each.

For hip-hop the Shure 447's are the way to go evidently because they track and stay in the groove without eating your records up like the old SC-35's did, but thats more for scratching and all that which I don't think you're into too much...

Hope this helps...

Peace