Audio-Technica AT-VMN95ML Microlinear Replacement Turntable Stylus Red

Great change of sound for such an affordable budget! Great product, so easy to replace with the existing one

I wanted to clock up at least 10-15hrs listening time on this stylus, before commenting on the sound quality of it. Well, the don't call it a "reference" stylus for nothing; it doesn't colour the music at all, it isn't bass or tremble heavy, it's neutral (which any great stylus should be). The highs are much more tamed, than the green Stylus AT95E. There's no "harshness" to the highs. The sound imaging is much more 3D. There's more resonance and complexity/depth to voices. For example, currently listening to a mono pressing of Nina Simone's Little Girl Blue (my receiver has a mono switch), and her voice is incredible. I know that it's said all the time, but it honestly sounds like she's in my living room, playing the piano and singing as if she's performing live. It isn't exactly an exact science, but rrp of the red from their website, is 3.5 times the price, of the green. Is the red 4 times better sounding? Probably not, but that isn't the point. With a use lifetime of about 300-500 hrs of the green vs 1000 hrs = about $160 plus postage of the green, to get almost the same amount of hrs of use, as the red, but at half the price still. Therefore, is the red head twice as good sounding as the green? In my opinon, at least, probably slightly more so, but you'll need at least at the minimum, a reasonable quality inbuilt phono stage, to get the most out of the purchase. A reasonable quality dedicated external phono stage, in %95 of cases, will be streets ahead of an inbuilt one. Is it worth the upgrade? Absolutely. Manufactures do customers such a disservice by selling turntables with the green At's as standard. Boasting about the audio prowess of vinyl, doesn't make a lot of sense, if selling with the green AT's as standard.

Amazing result

The AT-VMN95ML delivers outstanding sound quality with excellent tracking. Surface noise is minimal, and the detail in highs and mids is impressive. A perfect upgrade for anyone serious about vinyl playback. Smooth, precise, and worth the investment!

Very good upgrade on the At-Vm95E. Much cleaner sound and it makes records sound more "black" .

I bought this stylus to see what all the fuss is about regarding ML (Microline) styluses. It was easy to fit. I just removed the AT-VMN95C (Conical) stylus from its cartridge body and replaced it with the AT-VMN95ML (Microline); easy peasy. I then compared the sound quality against the AT-VMN95EN( Elliptical Nude). I used the LP "Anne Sophie Mutter Live From The Yellow Lounge". The sound quality of the LP itself is excellent and the recording was probably made on digital recorders. The music is excellent and really tests sound reproduction equipment to the full. I was not really expecting too much difference in sound quality but I thought I heard a marginal and noticeable difference but from an unexpected direction. As far as the music was concerned there was no difference. But with the ML stylus I heard some slight extra noises compared to the EN stylus whilst the audience was clapping. I thought that the ML stylus was not performing better than the EN. As an extra comparison I listened to the CD quality digital version of the same performance after I had balanced the volume. The extra resolution of the digital recording meant that I could put my finger on the background noise from of audience, which the ML was picking out but which the EN wasn't. The digital version of the recording is much better than the LP for obvious reasons - no pops and clicks and LP surface noise, and better dynamic range and frequency response - but the LP version came close with both the ML stylus and the EN one. Even the Conical stylus did well on an old VM cartridge. My conclusions are thus: For classical and acoustic folk music, well mastered CD digital recordings are superior. My humble analogue equipment does get close to CD quality, if I can ignore the pops and clicks etc. If my humble analogue equipment can get close to CD quality, why do I need to spend thousands on turntables and cartridges which are only going to give extremely marginal improvements? Beware of "expectation bias" and "feeling left behind" when making A and B assessments and only trust genuine blind test trials. I won't be buying the AT-VMN95SH (Shibata) stylus, as the ML is more than good enough. Its my opinion that the AT-VMN95ML stylus is excellent, but so is the AT-VMN95EN and the even AT-VMN95C holds its own. LPs are OK for pop music and Jazz, but for classical music CD quality sound recordings cannot be beaten. PS, I just pulled out a 1974 Black Lion recording of Stephane Grappelli playing with the Hot Club of London with Dis Dizley (Guitar) and Denny Wright (Guitar) and Len Skeat (Bass). Grappelli is a music genius, but his fellow musicians are virtuosos in their own right. The album was produced by Alan Bates, and was recorded by Robin Sedgley live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. This is a brilliant analogue recording which fully brings out the quality of the musicians and the atmosphere of the crowd. My LP has survived very well with just a few crackles on the quiet bits of the album. I noticed a marginal improvement of the ML stylus over and above my EN stylus. I can't put my finger on it but I felt that I was closer to the musicians and I felt the atmosphere of the audience on the live recording. Perhaps, the stylus is able to bring out the best of older LPs or perhaps the recording is just plain better than the Anne-Sophie Mutter recording. LPs are very variable in quality and that's one of the reasons why I prefer CD. The ML stylus tracks perfectly on my equipment as it has been aligned well but I don't use anti-skate. The LP played without sibilance, with a very good sound stage and without extra so called "inner grove distortion". It is an excellent stylus and cartridge combination and well recommended.