It's well worth getting a new stylus for it. The 881S was Stanton’s slightly modified version of Pickering’s XSV3000, and was released in 1977, from memory (I’ve got some info in Electronics Australia from when it was released somewhere). There were a few better variants (eg Stanton 980LZS, which was a low output version) which were revisions of the 881S/XSV3000, but it was Stanton’s best cartridge for a few years, and was still available until the mid-2000’s. It had a slightly flatter frequency response than the Pickering XSV3000 according to Pickering/Stanton insiders, but was basically a slightly modified version of that. The main difference is the way the styli fit, and the brushes, between the Pickering and Stanton versions, but the styli are interchangeable – I’ve got a Pickering stylus on my 881S at present. There was also an 880S, which was an uncalibrated version - that just meant it hadn't been tested by Stanton before sale, but they were probably almost identical in performance.
The Pickering XSV3000, which was released in 1976, superseded the Shure V15 Type III as the world’s best MM in the mid-70’s in the opinion of most reviewers of the time, the Stanton 881S then was very slightly better, and in 1978 Shure introduced the V15 Type IV in response to them. The ‘S’ stands for stereohedron, which is Stanton’s version of JVC’s Shibata, with very slightly different stylus cuts, but equivalent performance. There is a review in Gramophone of August 1978 here
http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/August 1978/112/855756/#header-logo , but it’s mixed up with a Cambridge Audio amplifier review (and a Garrard turntable review), so you need to bypass the first two pages – the Stanton 881S review starts on page 3.
The bit about how they call their Shibata variant stereohedron has unfortunately been mixed up by the stupid text scanning software they used which can’t seem to distinguish that it’s two separate reviews, with the Stanton one at the bottom of the page, and the Cambridge one at the top, so the sentence is split with a bit of guff about the Cambridge Audio amp’s performance! Stupid software! The sentences actually read “The stylus is no longer an elliptical but one of the new family of 'line contact' styli typified by the Shibata shape. Stanton's name for their adaptation of this stylus shape for stereo records is "stereohedron" and it first appeared on the Pickering XSV3000 cartridge (reviewed in November 1976).”
I can tell you that the abbreviated review from Australian Hi-fi that I have (in Stereo Buyer’s Guide Turntables 1979) shows they obtained a frequency response that was exceptionally flat within a 2dB window (ie ±1dB), with the recommended loading (275pF and 47kΩ) – very few cartridges managed such a flat response when they were loaded correctly (for the flattest response within the audio band). I also have a review by Electronics Australia somewhere, and they also thought the 881S was pretty good, and commented that it sounded very good, and was probably the best MM cartridge they’d heard back then.
The Pickering XSV3000, which it's derived from, and which is very similar, is reviewed here
http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Pag...ickering+XSV3000+stereo+cartridge#header-logo . Great cartridges, and still among the best MM's that have been made.