@Mather - may be an odd question, but I’ll ask anyway. Did you ever try the Bronze stylus in place of the Black on the 2M? I rather liked the Bronze on my VPI, although I had not heard the Black.
When I retipped my Hana SL, I went with a line contact stylus instead of the Shibata on the recommendation of the re-tipper and have been quite happy with the result.
“... the 2M Bronze is the more satisfying over the long haul, halving the difference between the Black's speed and resolution and the Blue's balance. In fact ... it is a mixture of all of these sonic virtues. It's fast, but not ostentatiously so; it turns information into music, and it does this because it is better balanced, neither leaning in one sonic direction or another. I would say that it represents not just the 2M line's sweet spot but also its musical core. ...” - Marc Mickelson, The Audio Beat
Edit: Added the quote