Audio Technica At95e Phonograph Cartridge 1/2 Mount

Product Information

Depending on personal taste, if you are content with the AT95E, finding a suitable upgrade may be a tricky decision. The entire setup works really well, and the end results are terrific, for which the AT95E must take much of the credit.

High frequencies are generally delivered with a good degree of clarity, although some recordings reveal a slight lack of focus and refinement. The overall frequency response is level across its advertised range and there are no obtrusive peaks and troughs and adverse sound colouration.Thanks for the confirmation, though I must say: I have read conflicting things on sites like Vinyl Engine, in which people swear the new VM styli will fit on older 95E bodies with a bit of fiddling. I did about a half-dozen comparisons and my best accuracy rate was around 67%, but more often I hovered around 50% and my confidence was always quite low. The sound quality is smooth and even, not warm or bright, but it recovers the detail and the dynamics without audible distortion, even on classical uncompressed recordings such as Vladimir Horowitz's piano version of Pictures at an Exhibition recorded live at Carnegie Hall, New York in April 1951. The sweet and charming sound of the AT95E has been left behind for something bigger and more natural.

The AT-VM95E delivers more substance in the bass but less sparkle in the treble, not to forget its wonderfully revitalised midrange. Distortion wasn't always present and didn't totally ruin the sound experience, but I started getting fixated on it and decided to see if adding a bit of weight would help. I expect one is available for the AT95 - loads of positive reviews of the black diamond stylus on this forum.I have used the AT95E on various turntables but have conducted this review on a Technics SL1200 Mk5. Such a low total capacitance is not easy to attain, requiring a phono pre-amp with very low capacitance, probably less than 100pF (after taking out cable capacitance). mV for the Ortofon 2M Red) is big enough to make the Ortofon 2M Red play with significantly higher music volume. In the case of the M97xE, this treble roll off is essentially eliminated by increasing the phono preamp input impedance somewhat (I use 62 k). Yet when tested on the Kenwood unit that it was originally mated with, the tracking ability with warped records was excellent at the recommended tracking weight and even at reduced tracking weight down to 1 gram!