The New Audio Technica VM95E
(see lower down this listing for a detailed review of the VM95 range)
Moving Magnet Cartridge with Elliptical Stylus - Ready mounted on the AT-HS6BK Headshell.
This VM95 Series cartridge with 0.3 x 0.7 mil elliptical stylus fits
half-inch mount turntables. The cartridge’s special coil design delivers a
powerful output level of 4.0 mV. It also offers excellent channel separation
and low distortion for outstanding tonal quality. The durable, low-resonance
housing includes threaded inserts that enable the cartridge to be mounted to
the headshell with just two screws – no nuts required. And since all VM95
Series share the same body, the stylus can be replaced with any of the six
interchangeable AT-VMN95 replacement styli.
Audio Technica launched the new VM95 range in late 2018 updating the
fantastic AT95 cartridge and improving it with captive mounting nuts and a
range of stylus options from Conical to Shibata (all of which are
interchangeable). This VM95E features an elliptical stylus making it the
logical successor to the AT95E but with a more straightforward mounting
arrangement and the ability to upgrade the stylus from any the others ion the
AT range (Elliptical Nude or Shibata) at a later date if desired.
Specification:
Frequency Response 20-22,000 Hz
Channel Separation 20 (dB at 1
kHz)
Vertical Tracking Force 1.8-2.2
g (2.0 g standard)
Stylus Construction Bonded
round shank
Recommended Load Impedance 47,000
ohms
Output 4.0 mV (1 kHz, 5
cm/sec.)
Channel Balance 2.0 dB (1 kHz)
Stylus Shape 0.3 x 0.7 mil
elliptical
Cantilever Aluminium pipe
Mount Half-inch
Replacement Stylus AT-VMN95E
Coil Impedance: 3.3 k ohms (1 kHz)
DC Resistance: 485 ohms
Load Capacitance: 100 to 200 pF
Coil Inductance: 550 mH (1 kHz)
Vertical Tracking Angle: 23°
Dimensions: 17.2 mm (0.68") H × 18.9 mm (0.74") W × 28.3 mm
(1.20") D
Weight: 6.1 g (0.22 oz)
Accessories Included: Two 11 mm installation screws, two 8 mm
installation screws, two washers
Listening impressions for the new AT VM95 cartridge range
We are pleased to present the results of what we believe to be the first
thorough listening test and review of the VM95 range outside of ATs own
facilities. On a warmish evening in mid October our own Gary Hargreaves of
Improved Performance Turntables Ltd, Colin Yallop of Chevron Audio and Mark
Wheeler (Reviewer for TNT Audio) sat down and played some music using the VM95 Range. Gary’s
review follows:
Firstly, let’s recognise that very few Audio products have ever achieved
the universal level of admiration that the original AT95E moving magnet phono
cartridge has in its remarkable 39 year tenure.
The unflashy black, chrome and green marvel has been the go-to moving
magnet cartridge recommendation for as long as most of us can remember.
In that case any change to this stalwart and venerable device must be
heralded with narrow-eyed incredulity if not outright suspicion, because, if it
ain’t broke, then why on earth would Audio Technica try and fix it?
Well, apart from some enlightened high end specialists like the Japanese
Jico corp’s Hyper elliptical specification, and our own home grown (The Audio
Files & IPT Ltd) Paratrace equipped version, there has never really been an
upgrade available for the Stylus profile for this popular device, it has been
configured with a single purpose, to enable good quality disc replay at a
reasonable entry level price for millions of everyday vinyl enthusiasts the
world over.
The new VM version of this classic Moving magnet design seeks to cater
for a broader Hi-Fi church by using one uncomplicated body platform to support
a smorgasbord of High performance styli aimed from 78 rpm junkies to complex
Extended Contact jockeys alike, so a truly aspirational range of upgraded
profiles are laid out to democratize the previously unobtainable heights of
Audio Nirvana in a ‘one size fits all’ solution.
Surely they’ll never do it? But by golly, after an extended
late night listening session in a secret Derbyshire ‘test laboratory’, with men
of a certain age stroking audiophile beards and using highly contrived and
specialist language to illustrate sonic intangibles, like some kind of mutated
Vinyl version of those impenetrable Wine Bores, we strove to explain and
justify the impossible, how does one stylus profile sound any different to any
other?
You’ll be glad to know that these six VM95 styli sound as different as
chalk and cheese from one end of the range to the other. We used the
same cartridge body and swapped the stylus each time for our listening
tests. All the styli had been nicely run in with 30+ hours of play
beforehand.
Unboxing the cartridge reveals an item which exudes quality in its
design and construction. The body may well be ‘low resonance polymer’ (black
plastic to you and me) but the precision and form of the moulding, matt surface
finish and details like the finely screen printed AT logo place it in a
different league to the previous model visually. Even the stylus guard which
slips on and off with ease seems a step up from the previous well-loved model. The
moulded-in brass threaded inserts have finally addressed a bugbear when
mounting the former model (Note that AT use the slightly unusual M2.6 thread
size and provide screws in two lengths to fit).
If we start with the entry level Conical VM95C, then the even handedness
and drive of the original 95E has all but been retained, whilst the compromise,
unsurprisingly, has been a lowering of detail and texture in the upper
harmonics of instrument timbre, and of capturing recorded ambience, but the
simplified view has not been at the cost of everything that the cartridge
illustrates. The inherent correctness of its tonality remains expressed, so a
downgrade ‘well judged’ was the consensus. More important, it is robust and
unfussy about setup as befits an inexpensive entry level cartridge/stylus
combination.
The VM95E, which takes its place as the ‘new AT95E’, has such large
shoes to fill and certainly does not disappoint. Everything that was so right,
and to be admired in the classic original, was present possibly in slightly
sharper etched detail than ever in this reworked evocation of this seminal
device. The moulded in brass captive nuts made the swap out and mounting easier
and more secure than ever, and the familiar ‘downwards and slightly back’ pull
required to extract and swap out the different stylus assemblies quickly became
second nature.
The couth and unflappable nature of its presentation is instantly
recognizable from the blueprint set out by the 39 year old progenitor. We’re
here to report that the (green) King might be dead, but long live the new
(green) King.
The next step up is the Nude mounted VMN95EN. In theory this rocks the
same elliptical profile that presents itself to the groove wall as the ‘E’, but
does so mounted on naught but a small extension of the same diamond shank upon
which is ground the profile, this should have the benefit of lower tip mass and
the expected gains in tracking that the more favourable physics and mechanics
would suggest. This indeed is reflected in a tangible improvement in upper mid
band tracking security, with the ability to handle without strain or distortion
the higher level and more complex information imprinted when things are getting
busy in a mix, or music calls for crescendo or peaks. The consensus seemed to
be that some of the added sparkle led to a slight feeling of a tonality skewed
towards the rather more brightly lit top end, rather than a less particularly
full bass, but the effect may have been a subjective one caused by the
increased ability to display more accurately defined treble information of
greater scale and complexity.
Next up the VM95ML, where ML stands for Microline, again this is a nude
mounted single piece of diamond and carries the benefit of the more favourable
physics to its obvious conclusion, but this time the more complex grind on the
stylus allows a longer and narrower footprint if you will on the groove wall.
This should mean that the stylus is better able again to track high frequency
information, but crucially, the distortions in phase and skewed timing of HF
and transient information is mitigated with this extended line contact design.
This is the stylus that first alluded to ‘high end’, and rather took us all by
surprise. The £30.00 price premium over the 95EN was amply rewarded by levels
of information and recorded ambiance retrieval that had begun to belie this
humble cartridges’ origins, that it had begun achieving closer parallels to the
studio master version were becoming much more evident. If you can remember the
popular Audio Technica 440ML, then here you have an entry level body that pimps
up to much the same levels of nuance and detail. This will be enough said for
many to make this as their entry point for the new VM95, and who would argue
with that?
Finally, we get to the enigma that is the Shibata Extended contact
profile, at this point, you might feel that the cartridge body (or ‘generator’
unit) itself is getting beyond its remit, but far from it, the assembled sages
found that each step in Stylus sophistication was easily and faithfully
revealed by the generator unit in every case.
The Shibata tip was first developed in conjunction with Japanese Victor
Company (JVC) as a way of tracking specially encoded signals in CD4 Discs which
had extra information superimposed upon the original audio and which was then
demodulated and decoded to create a four channel sound system (two extra
surround channels to provide a more immersive experience) and the engineering
heights that needed to be climbed to reliably retrieve this additional
information were technical and tough indeed.
The resulting Stylus had, by necessity, to track high frequencies (way
beyond audibility) in order to retrieve the encoded extra information, many
listeners found that its extended abilities made a superior and enhanced stereo
listening experience too. The result is amply displayed in the final version of
the VM95SH on review here. Although the jury was not completely aligned on
whether the Shibata tip was tonally completely on the money (and we are really
splitting hairs, and a few infinitives here too) its massive extra subtlety and
information is in evidence when this tip is swapped in. The VM95 cartridge is
being dragged so far from its humble roots as to be scarcely believable.
Towards the tail end of the listening session, an extremely proficient
Valve phono stage, of very high repute was pressed into service, this again
revealed hitherto undreamed of levels of recorded subtlety that we hadn’t even
realised we’d been missing, and everybody had to re-evaluate their expectations
once more. The Shibata is up there with some of the best of the world’s stylus
profiles, many so called exotic cartridges and moving coil designs too, have
tips of considerably lower sophistication than this.
Audio Technica’s making of this very specialist stylus profile available
(as a purely democratic moment) in an entry level cartridge must then be both
acknowledged and applauded.
This is a truly ground breaking and remarkable Hi-Fi moment, and it seems
that the King is, well into the 21st century, in fact alive and kicking, harder
and further than ever before.
Gary Hargreaves
Equipment Used:
Turntable : Linn LP12, SME309
Phono Stage: Goldnote PH10, Canor TP306 VR+
Preamp: Audio Research Ref 3
Amplifier : Nalty/Wheeler Transistor Amp
Speakers: Kerr Acoustics K320
Source material:
Paul Simon. Graceland
Kraftwerk. Autobahn
Lou Reed. Metal Machine Music