Audio-Technica AT-VMN95SH VM95 Series Shibata replacement stylus

Product Information

There are a couple of exotic shapes intended for the real connoisseurs that I will include for completeness but that, so far, I have no personal experience with and will not discuss for now. The cross-section of an Elliptical stylus is an Ellipse, which is a flattened circle, created by taking a Conical shape and shaving slivers off the front and rear, as illustrated below. Thus was its greatness born and four decades later, we can still experience its exceptional quality through its progeny - the LP GEAR VN35SA stylus. The Shibata stylus has a signature sound - it is melodious, slightly sweet at the top bereft of edginess, full-bodied and well-balanced across its wide frequency response range. As surprisingly good as the SL7 and SL10 turntables are (and they really are much better than most give them credit for), they remain “hifi” turntables, rather than “high-end”. Thus, the above results are far from conclusive. A Worn stylus can cause Serious ( IrreversibleDamage ) to your records, and provide poor sound quality

I will say it is not as "transparent" if you will. But I have noticed no weak spots in bass, mids, or High's. I listen to a lot of Genres and it has shined with each. Jazz especially has just been a joy to hear. I struggle to stop listening because I just enjoy it so much. Provides a beautiful mid-high range Shibata-signature sound and strong mid-range volume. No use of nutsUntil 1977, diamond stylus tips used to be made from actual, natural, diamonds. After that, the industrial diamond made its entrance. Made in a lab and chemically identical in structure, artificial diamond is nevertheless said to be slightly less durable than real diamond. Round Shank versus Square Shank Contrary to cats squirrel, I consider that an ML is no overkill for your turntable and tonearm, and that you'd be able to hear the difference if compared to a plain elliptical (bonded or nude). Even if you weren't able to extract the most out of the ML (which I think you will), it will be noticeably better than a VMN95EN especially on the inner grooves of challenging albums. The VMN95EN is very good on its own, but it is easy to spot it as worse on a blind test against an ML (at least for me) when given a challenging song. The MicroRidge cross-section is very complex but probably best described as a mini Philips screwdriver shape, as illustrated below. What Ortofon also mentions is that another consideration to be made is that any diamond stylus will begin to exhibit physical changes after approximately 1,000 hours. This can lead to audible results. Audio Technica AT-VM95SH, features a Nude Shibata stylus, one of the most acclaimed stylus format by high end audiophiles. The Shibata stylus produces mid and bass sounds strong and rich in addition to offer a frequency response up to 25000Hz. Styli compatibility

The only real downside of Fine Line and Shibata styli is that they require much more precise alignment, as you’ll hear the difference much more readily if they’re sitting off-centre in the groove. If you’re using a stylus like these, use the Align It DS2 to make sure everything is sitting exactly where it should be. Shine bright like a diamond The Micro-Ridge (or Microline) stylus is a very advanced, computer designed tip shape that comes very close to the shape of a cutting stylus used to produce original master discs. They are difficult to manufacture, and very expensive, but when aligned correctly are capable of the best high-frequency performance with extended record and stylus life. Such performance is made possible by the advanced multilevel “ridge” shape of a MicroLine tip. Stylus for 78 RPM records The VM95 Series suspension design and compliances of VM95 Series have been designed for optimum audiophile reproduction. A stylus is the incredibly fine part that actually sits in the grooves of your record as it spins, and starts the process of bringing your music to life. Because the grooves on a record are VERY narrow, the design of your stylus makes a huge difference in how much information it can get out of those grooves. And the more information, the more “real” your music will sound when it comes out of your speakers. Getting in shape

The images below provide a mental image of the potential benefits of advanced styli. On the left is a conical profile and the one on the right an advanced type. We see the one on the right seats deeper in the groove and exerts lower pressure on the groove walls due to its very narrow vertical footprint and accurate groove tracing capability. Although I mention the upward tilt in the treble, it’s not a deal breaker. To put it into perspective, the ‘reference’ MC (100ohm load) sounded slightly darker and ‘closed in’ against the Shibata. Increasing MC loading to 400 ohms brought both to equal footing in overall balance suggesting the VM95 is very close to the sweet spot in overall tonality. V95ML Micro-Line Because it sits quite wide in the groove, a spherical stylus is cheap to make and really easy to align (that is, get it sitting straight in the groove so that it reads both sides evenly – learn more about alignment here ), you’ll commonly see them on DJ turntables and entry-level hi-fi turntables. The downside is that the broader tip means it can’t get into the groove as well, so a spherical stylus can leave out some of the finer details that make your music sound exciting. Older Mono records have a U type Groove Mono/78RPM 3.0mil is the accepted norm& Steel Needles for gramophone records Designed to mimic as close as possible a record cutting head/cutting lathe for highest fidelity & lifespan usually fitted to a precision boron , sapphire , ruby or zirconium ultra light & rigid cantilever

Audio-Technica’s internationally-patented Dual Magnet design replicates the structure of the cutter head. X 1.0 mil elliptical diamond - Edison Diamond & very old/worn discs, raw aluminium, RCA home recordings., also Pathé vertical discs The grooves of a record are only 2.2 thousandths of an inch (0.0022") wide at the top, and shaped like a V, so a few millimetres difference here and there can make a huge impact on how your music comes out. A permalloy centre shield plate enables the effective separation of left and right channels, suppressing electrical crosstalk to below 40dB. This is similar to the actual crosstalk value found in the grooves of the record itself. 700 Series

It is evident that if this transcription falters, there is no downstream knob to correct for it. I applaud Audio-Technica for recognizing this fact and offers a real solution amenable to any budget. Although the images above seem exaggerated, this is exactly how the signal is generated from vinyl and is a focus of this review. I think you can safely play a stylus -any stylus- for at least 1000 hours assuming two things: you keep it clean by dusting off every side with at least a brush and that every few days at least you use a liquid or gel type cleaner, assuming the manufacturer recommends it. Today’s (more advanced) styli wear by softening the ridges or edges. In other words, the severe stylus profiles get rounded. Thus worn styli do not ruin records. So while the sound may somewhat soften and deteriorate (as a result of stylus wear) I don’t believe record wear or ruined records result.” Just like the MicroRidge shape, the cross-section of a SAS stylus is very complex and probably best described as a mini Philips screwdriver shape, as illustrated below. While there are various other important parameters, these are the two main differentiators among the various stylus shapes. The details of these two aspects and more can be read below in the respective Stylus Shape sections. Bonded versus Nude Around 500 hours for a conical stylus, 300 hours for an Elliptical stylus, 1000 hours for a Microlinear stylus, and 800 hours for a Shibata stylus.

Also note something more interesting. The minor/major radius dimensions, and footprint for the AT's MicroLine, is exactly the same as Jico's (Namiki's) SAS stylus. I bet they are exactly the same stylus Para-toroidal coils improve generating efficiency and offers superb linearity, since leakage of magnetic flux in this continuous and unitised magnetic circuit is low. Permeability of the cores is also optimised through the use of laminated cores.The two most common stylus shapes are spherical styli (also called conical) and elliptical styli (also referred to as bi-radial). Both types have positive and negative attributes… Spherical stylus