AT95ex vs AT95e

[Opti-cal]

Looks good. Where did you get the wood body from?

A seller on ebay has them for just about any popular cartridge you can imagine.

Here is a link: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wood-Body...YAAOSwA3dYWCGu

Not only do they look better but they do sound better also. Gives my AT440mlb a run for its money. The 440 is more detailed still but this has a nice smooth rounded sound.

[Opti-cal]

Audio Technica do make excellent cartridges, often forgotten is they make stonkingly good sounding and good value Moving Coil cartridges, the ATF7 I have on my main system turntable, a Rega Planar 3 is a very underrated and rarely considered cartridge that performs and sounds superb.


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Looks nice Steve. I was thinking about an F2 to try out their lower end carts. F7 could now enter the arena . . .

[steve-z]

Looks nice Steve. I was thinking about an F2 to try out their lower end carts. F7 could now enter the arena . . .

A friend of mine has both the ATF7 and ATF2, the only difference between them is the stylus, nude on the 7, shank mounted on the 2. He reckons there’s not much difference in sound quality making the 2 an absolute bargain for £50 less than the 7.
I’ve just checked the AT website and noticed they have released a budget version of the long running OC9 MC the OC9XEB at a similar price to the ATF7, that’s very interesting.

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[Opti-cal]

I also have an ATLP5, although the AT95EX was designed to go with it, it surprised me that the arm tilted downwards from pivot to stylus with the stylus in the record groove, I corrected this by using a 3mm shim between the cartridge and headshell, the mod improved the treble clarity noticeably, I use the same shim with the Goldring E3 that’s currently installed on it.


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I have noticed this also Steve although I didn't think it much of an issue as I know some carts/arms perform at their optimum with slightly different VTA's and little tweaks resulting in tail up/down.

This shim looks to work well, are you using it with a lighter headshell to keep the tonearm weight position the same as I've found piling on any extra weight can have quite a severe effect with low mass tonearms?

They also seem to have given it one b******* of a thick rubber mat (possibly to compensate for acute tracking angle) otherwise I would just use a slightly thicker one but not sure if they make em thick enough!!

I haven't noticed any particular drop off in HF but would be interesting to get it dead level and see if I can hear any difference.

[steve-z]

I have noticed this also Steve although I didn't think it much of an issue as I know some carts/arms perform at their optimum with slightly different VTA's and little tweaks resulting in tail up/down.

This shim looks to work well, are you using it with a lighter headshell to keep the tonearm weight position the same as I've found piling on any extra weight can have quite a severe effect with low mass tonearms?

They also seem to have given it one b******* of a thick rubber mat (possibly to compensate for acute tracking angle) otherwise I would just use a slightly thicker one but not sure if they make em thick enough!!

I haven't noticed any particular drop off in HF but would be interesting to get it dead level and see if I can hear any difference.

I’m not using the AT headshell, mine is an ADC LMG-1 Magnesium shell which I believe is a bit lighter. The shim I use was made for me by an AOS member Johnnie7 from Audio Origami, he made me a set of 4 shims on his 3D printer out of plastic, 1,2,3 &4mm.
I think it all depends on how the stylus angle is set in manufacture, both the 95EX and E3 both sounded better to my ears using the shim.


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[Opti-cal]

A friend of mine has both the ATF7 and ATF2, the only difference between them is the stylus, nude on the 7, shank mounted on the 2. He reckons there’s not much difference in sound quality making the 2 an absolute bargain for £50 less than the 7.
I’ve just checked the AT website and noticed they have released a budget version of the long running OC9 MC the OC9XEB at a similar price to the ATF7, that’s very interesting.

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Not many reviews for the OC9XEB out yet . . . but hey, its an AT. It looks a very tempting package indeed. I'm in need of a great sounding budget MC that I won't give two hoots about racking up hours on . . . keep my re-tipped DL304 for special occasions . . . .

I've also just noticed the price for the bonded and nude elliptical is the same. . . . any thoughts?

Apologies for thread derailment Jimbo . . . . Have you looked into the paratrace stylus for the 95? Seems risky to pay well over 8 fold of the price of the cart/styli for a styli upgrade . . .

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-95P-P...-/253418591117

[hifi_dave]

Retail price of the OC9XEB is £210 and the OC9XEN is £300.

The VM95SH is £179 and that has a Shibata tip. Great value, especially when you look at the 'competition' at 3 x the price.

[Jimbo]

Not many reviews for the OC9XEB out yet . . . but hey, its an AT. It looks a very tempting package indeed. I'm in need of a great sounding budget MC that I won't give two hoots about racking up hours on . . . keep my re-tipped DL304 for special occasions . . . .

I've also just noticed the price for the bonded and nude elliptical is the same. . . . any thoughts?

Apologies for thread derailment Jimbo . . . . Have you looked into the paratrace stylus for the 95? Seems risky to pay well over 8 fold of the price of the cart/styli for a styli upgrade . . .

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-95P-P...-/253418591117

No Problem, all interesting stuff.

[Opti-cal]

Retail price of the OC9XEB is £210 and the OC9XEN is £300.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Techn...cs&sr=1-1&th=1

.... seems same on Amazon? Should I pull the trigger before it changes?!

[Opti-cal]

OC9XEN - trigger, pulled.

£210.00

somewhat expecting XEB to turn up . . .