Audio-Technica AT-VM95ML VM95 series Microlinear stereo cartridge Red

I had originally bought a Ortofon 2M Red to upgrade from the crappy "Bum M1" cartridge that the previous owner had on my Akai AP-100C, but I had a faulty unit from Ortofon so I opted to switch brands completely to AT and I'm very pleased that I did that.*Keep in mind my tests was done on a brand new cartridge and it has yet to break in*To test this unit I had it on my previously mentioned Akai turntable listening to a brand new copy of Avicii - True run into a Fosi Audio Box X4 tube pre-amp. From there into a Technics SH-8040 which was OFF for these tests, and then into a JVC JR-S301 using my Hifiman Edition XS cans in the headphone out of the JVC Receiver.Treble frequencies were very tolerable at normal levels and even found myself turning them up abit on my pre-amp to about 60-70%. No sibilance to speak of except on the very high end of my hearing where it sounded a little jumbled and soft. The last song on side A is "Dear Boy" which has ALOT of high frequencies at the beginning of the song and this unit handled them extremely well. I cannot speak on frequencies above 15K as even at only 25 years of age my hearing has aged 20 years ahead of me. :(Mid-range and vocals sounded fantastic with presence and clarity with no muddiness.Low frequencies sounded very good with a pleasant warmth but seemed like the sub-bass was rolling off abit early.Time will tell what breaking this stylus in will do the improve the sound but I have no doubt the sound will only get better from here.I would recommend this product to anyone looking to level-up their vinyl experience and not break the bank with these insane prices on some cartridges and styli.

So, I’m a “budget” audiophile. I have some nice gear and the ability to run both a nice surround system or a nice stereo. I’ve been collecting records for only about 7 or 8 years and what I’ve done is buy a couple of whole collections from estate sales to flesh out an inexpensive assortment. Needless to say that you don’t get too many minty records doing this. Plus, the learning curve of matching gear, turntable, phono pre, stylus, etc. So, buying a few turntables and cartridges, I was left still wanting more. I was running an AT120Eb which is a very nice cart and sounds great much of the time, but still suffers from a modest amount of sibilance and IGD (inner groove distortion). Not horrible but I’m pretty picky.I was reading about this line of carts (no longer new but new to me since I didn’t pay attention for a few years) and I saw very good reviews of the shibata version. I decided it was time to give it a shot and try to improve my sound. Remember all those old records I have, literally hundreds of them, some of them a bit scratched, some of them used on a really bad record player with a stylus that apparently damaged them during use (sound fried with distortion that follows whatever is most prominent in the mix). The shibata stylus is much narrower and gets deeper in to the groove and gets past much of the burn from lesser (and wider) needles. This new vm95sh is the cure to my vinyl ills. The sound is perfect and undistorted on new records and my worst sounding records are much better than they have been. It’s remarkable how it erases so much damage by getting deeper and going past the surface wear. It doesn’t eliminate all pops and scratches, but it does, in my case, de-emphasize much of it. No sibilance and no perceptible IGD apart from the natural drop in resolution which is unavoidable on a record, so it’s killer awesome.Lastly I would say that one concern I had was the VTA issue with shibata stylus. So, they’re supposed to be very sensitive to vertical (rake) angle. My main table is a ProJect Debut Carbon with Speedbox. There is no VTA adjustment, but you can use different thickness platter mats and they do sell a shim that mounts under the tone arm base, so there are options. But, so far (I’m 2 days in) I think my stock platter and mat (1mm thick felt) and no other adjustments have the cartridge sitting about perfectly parallel to the record right out of the box. It’s almost like it was made to go on a table like mine with no fuss. I may, over the next week or two, play around with VTA by shimming and swapping mats, but right out of the box, with only my alignment protractor and tracking force scale and about a 3” strip of electrical tape to add a tiny bit of mass to the tone arm, I’m dialed in at 2.08 grams tracking force (1.8 to 2.2 recommended) and I’m loving it. A clean record with little wear is now fully rivaling my HiRes 24/96 flac and easily besting my CD’s in terms of presence and engagement. I have the clarity and resolution of my best digital (I have a nice DAC too) coupled with the natural live presence and amazing soundstage that even the best digital sources struggle to re-create. It’s just more fun to listen to vinyl now, without getting let down by the end of the record sound quality drop off. For $200? Seriously? I doubt there’s a nicer sounding, better cart on the market, especially considering how the shibata stylus saves borderline records. I have a hundred records that sounded bad last week, but sound pretty good now, and my good records sound amazing. Best investment I’ve made in the vinyl hobby.

Once I connected the pins correctly the sound was awesome. Came from a mp110 and this cart sounds nice too.

É o melhor conjunto Capsula e Agulha que já tive.Som forte e nítido, praticamente não tem IGD.Infelizmente é cara, mas se tiver condições de adquirir, recomendo que adquira sim.Não vão se arrepender.

A capsula é excelente. Acho que a tampa protetora da Agulha deveria - ou deve - ser mais justa para acolocação e permanência no suporte protetor.