Audio Technica AT-95EX

[GrahamS]

Personally I would look at the AT95VL which is available from LP gear.

The guy who is offering the swap is not offering an AT95VL, he is offering the AT95Ex.

[GrahamS]

I should have the cartridge later today. Once I have mounted it and played with it, I'll report back. Watch this space. Thank you all for your comments and interest.

[GrahamS]

Audio Technica pack the AT95Ex in a vacuum formed plastic bubble within a small cardboard box - nothing like the aluminum case that Shure supply with the M97xE. There are no tools or accessories supplied either - no stylus brush or screwdriver. Just two sets of different length aluminum screws and nuts and two plastic washers.

I mounted the AT95Ex in an Audio Technica head shell, for no other reason other than I had one handy. It was easy to mount and to set the overhang and VTA for my JVC-Z1s tonearm on my JVC-QL7 turntable. I initially set the tracking force to two grams as per the enclosed instruction sheet but later backed it off to 1.5g. The cartridge will require some 50 hours of use to properly bed in, but I did some comparative listening regardless. I compared it to my Shure M97xE using a proof pressing of James Last's "Music From Across The Way" on Polydor PD5505 and "Das Wunshkonzert" on DGG 2721073 (Overture to Carmen and Chopin's Polonaise). I particularly like using the James Last album because I happened to be in the studios in Hamburg when this was recorded and I heard some of the tracks live.

My comments regarding the differences between the two cartridges are totally subjective, and apply to what I heard on my particular system and in my living room and I am nitpicking here. Your mileage may vary.

To my ear the AT95Ex has a more open soundstage than the Shure. While I can placed the percussion to the right with the Shure, I can place it to the right and behind the brass with the AT. The AT has better attack and timing but the Shure has better low end balance. (not more low end, just smoother.) The mid-range of both cartridges are difficult to tell apart. On the high end, things like cymbals sound slightly more "present" with the AT, and softer with the Shure. Listening to the piano in Chopin's Polonaise, I can actually hear the soft "thock" of the hammers striking the strings of the piano with the AT but it sounds like my head is inside the piano, whereas with the Shure, the piano is front and center of the sound stage, probably where it should be. The AT95Ex reveals slightly more of the low frequencies but only if you listen very critically.

To get an idea of what their vocal performance is like, I used the debut album of a label called Priority Records, PRYT 101, 24 Beautiful Ballads, from which I selected “Miss You Nights” by Cliff Richard, “You don’t buy me flowers anymore” by Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond and “Killing Me Softly” by Roberta Flack. The AT95Ex has slightly sharper sibilance. It does not introduce any more sibilance that what is in the recording, but reproduces it more harshly. The sibilance from the Shure M97xE is softer. Barbara Streisand’s voice sounds identical from both cartridges, Cliff Richard sounds somewhat more “breathy” from the AT95Ex and Roberta Flack, like Streisand, sounds very much the same from both cartridges.

Once the AT95Ex has been run in a while, I’ll report back again, but my initial opinion (and all of this is only my opinion) is that these two cartridges are so similar that the AT95Ex is the bargain of the century. The Shure M97xE cost £85.00 and the Audio Technica AT95Ex cost £45.00. Both have a bonded elliptical diamond. I would like to compare my Audio Technica with the "improved" stylus version AT95VL from LP Gear. Just as an aside, neither cartridge is quite as good to my ear, as my JVC-Z1 with the DT Z1EM stylus. But then, as I said, your mileage may vary.

[garrard]

That was a very good comparison of the sounds of the 2 carts. I have both and find myself agreeing with your descriptions. It is the openness and the better high end of the AT that wins me over.