How does the Shure M95ED compare to the new model cartridges?

Looking at numerous cartridges to upgrade from my Shure M92E, does this one track better, or have better dynamics or anything like that? I plan on buying a Jico EVG stylus to put on it.

 

They get better ad you go up in the range. But they all track well.
They do like a low mass tonearm.
Why not go for the V15 mk3 with Jico stylus?
I did and am still in heaven!

 

I would go for a V15 of some kind but I'm on a very small budget as I am but a cheap 15 year old.
I'd definitely love to get a V15 with a SAS stylus one of these days though...
My tonearm is a straight low mass one, it's on a JVC QL-A200.
I forgot to mention my M92E has a Jico stylus, would there be a upgrade here in dynamics, soundstage and such or is it all in the stylus pretty much?

 

Sorry just re read the question.
No doubt the shure,s are smooth and extended in the treble. Tracking is exemplary.
Newer cartridges are different, and sound more like cd without its drawbacks. By that i mean they are more in your face, up front. A good analogy is the sound older cd players make is warmer and possibly grainy in the treble and newer players are lightet in bass and. Smoother in treble.
The goldring 1042 had muscular bass and clean treble.
I sympathise in that today one had to buy on spec, and live with it. I did like the Ortofon 520 mk2.
Prefer it to 2m black!
The 2m black is a very good cartridge though.
Best way to sum up is that newer cartridges sound faster possibly more detailed, with less romantic coloration.

 

Yeah I understand, I think the Shure would be a better match with my Pioneer amp since it's not too warm sounding from what I've heard.
I was also asking how it compares to the M92E and M97xE too, I'd think the M95ED with the Jico stylus would be better than both of those.

 

If you are usingJico, that does lift performance enormously,
I bought an ED Saunders and it was unusable! There is s new ed saunders(trica horn) on its way ad a replacement for the last one, but Jico worked straight out of the box.
I,m deeply impressed that your 15 and into this fantastic hobby.
I started about the same age.am now in my 60,s and still learning and enjoying.
On a budget an AT 95E Audio Technica cost £29 and works like a dream at 2 grams.
My brother heard this on a pioneer turntable and he had never heard Sergeant Pepper sound better.
He heard it on my othet t/table(garrard 401 sme4/ benz glyder and prefered the
At 95E.
It simply gets on with the job!
By buying say the AT 95E, your buying a new cartridge at anaffordable price, and i kid you not its awesome.
The Najoakas start around £35 and upwards.
Be warned though, if you like the Shure sound newer cartridges may disappoint.

 

Yeah I've seen Ed Saunders styli but I've been skeptical compared to the Jico. At 15$ per stylus I'd say the EVG/Jico styli is unbeatable.
I tend to like the smooth mids and seemingly balanced sound the Pioneer preamp / Shure cartridge puts out as more modern CD-like sound is fatiguing to me.

 

My understanding is that the newer shures m97xe are superb!
Older Shures are simply better . They go deeper and are more extended in the treble.
I think as you say yourself, the shure, if your budget allows is the better match for the Pioneer
Loading adapters to connect to the input of the amp used to be available to load the phono stage to 400pf to load correctly.

 

Yes go for m95 with Jico. You are wise beyond your years.

 

I'm not sure what the picofarads on the preamp is, the shure m97xe from what I've heard requires a bunch of tinkering and a Jico SAS or VividLine stylus to sound alright.
It's nice to know they are more extended in the treble, I'm assuming you mean it has a deeper soundstage? I really like how upgradeable pretty much all of the Shure cartridges are, I mean you have NOS styli, Jico elliptical or VividLine for a mid-price option, the EVG styli for dirt cheap great sounding styli and the Jico SAS for a high-end sounding and tracking beast.

 

The M-95 HE is a superior cartridge vs the M97-XE. The original stylus is a hyper-elliptical type, a natural diamond nude mounted. You can tell the original by looking through it into a light, the diamond should be transparent, not black opaque. If you have an M-95 with the original stylus, I would have it inspected for wear, and hang onto it... because nothing in the world sounds like it. The only other important point is to inspect the cantilever as the stylus lowers in the groove. At the rated tracking force of 1.25 grams, the cantilever should deflect upward slightly, but not too much. If the cartridge body almost scrapes the record surface, the suspension has decomposed, and you'll have to go with a Jico replacement. The M-97 XE is a warmish sounding cartridge out of the box, the top end down by a few dB. The M-97 tracks well, and sounds ok, but you'll get some magic by upgrading it with a Jico stylus.

The capacitance loading is optional. You can just connect directly to your Pioneer input and the Shure will perform very nicely. (I think the Pioneer pre-amps generally have 220 pf internal loading on the mm inputs) The frequency response of the M-95 takes a small dip at about 4K to 5K, then has a slightly elevated high frequency response above 10K. When you load the M-95 with approx 470pf, the resonance of the cartridge coils and capacitor interact to help to increase the response at 4K and decrease response above 10K, which flattens the overall response. The phase angle into the treble area also improves, and I think will deepen the soundstage, and instrument location.

The capacitors can be added to your phono cables with a Y adapter, and the caps soldered on an RCA plug. One of the cap leads solders to the center pin, the other one to ground. So for a total capacitance of approx 470 pf, you would need a 120 pf cap (code 121) plus the 220 pf already built in the Pioneer phono input... and then also your phono cable factors in, maybe another 100 pf. (or more) You can make up different value RCA plugs to obtain the smoothest response from the M-95, or any other cartridge you want to use. Bear in mind the tone arm wire, IC phono cable, and internal wiring of the pre-amp add capacitance, often not specified. (or measure the capacitance with a meter) Otherwise you just tweak and listen as you go.

 

Nice to know, isn't the M95ED the same as the M95HE? (minus the hyper-elliptical stylus on the HE of course)

 

Yes, I believe the cartridge is exactly the same. The OEM stylus is also a natural diamond, transparent in color. I edited some of the pf loading values in the post above... but all of that is optional.

 

That's helpful, do you know how the cartridge compares to the M91ED?

 

What happen if you load M95 with 250 pF , like for M97XE, instead of 470 pf ? Thanks

 

Hey I just calculated how much capacitance is loaded from my turntable (counting all the capacitors in the turntable) and the estimate you gave for the Pioneer amp and it comes out to 400 picofarads. Add whatever capacitance the other cables add and I could possibly have a near-perfect to perfect match for my set-up.

 

The M-95 should be near optimum at 470 pf. This is the total loading at 47k impedance, and the total is adding the tone arm wire, the phono cable, and any internal pre-amp wiring and cap wired in at the MM jacks. The values vary with your pre-amp, and phono cable length and brand. This is usually an imprecise "science" since most of us do not have the measuring instruments for capacitance, and a calibrated pink noise record/ instruments for measuring frequency response. So you just train you ears to listen for the best balance.

The M-97XE does not respond well to capacitance loading, since its hf response is down by a few dB. Other members have observed the same. So, the M-97 XE must be connected to a 100k load to enhance its hf output to be successful with capacitive loading. I have not tweaked the M-97, so I can not predict the result with any accuracy. I just know that 47k resistive loading (std phono input impedance) is too low for the M-97. It may be happier with 70k, maybe as high as 100k.

 

I have:
60 pF rca interconnect
35 pF arm cable
220 pF Marantz 6004 prephono
C tot = 60+35+220 = 315 pF
perhaps a little low for the old M95 ED... maybe I'll have less midrange and more highs?

 

Does anyone know if the M97XE stylus could be used in a M95 cartridge?

 

I tried and N95 fit M97 XE with a little push, but N97 don't enter in M95 ED anyway

 

Yes...they are the same....just different stylus.

 

You can even use the stylus from the M91ED. It will track correctly, even if it looks a little weird.

 

But with a M91ED the problem is the same: finding a new, Shure stylus for an old cartridge. My experience with William Thakker has been always good, but I don't know how good because I can't compare it with an original Shure stylus.
I once asked the William Thakker guys about who made their styli and they said it was JICO and that the difference in price was due basically to the fact that they bought them by the thousand and repackaged the product. I don't know what to think but I find it hard to believe that the stylus I buy for 27 euros is the same that JICO sells from their website for 56$. The problem with buying from JICO is the customs control. I'd buy from them, no problem. But it will probably cost me twice as much as what's listed on their website.

 

But it is.

 

Nice to know all these facts. Have learnt a lot. New myself to Shure. am running a V15 mk3 in a mk1 Thorens td150 and am very pleased with it.
The M95 is close in performance so i,m told.
It all comes down to stylus choice in the end. Interesting that all these years since Shure ceased support for the Shure range of cartridges they are still reigning supreme!
Any one at Shure with a business acumen would see the market that they have turned their back on is lucrative. With a bit of effort they could still turn the cartridge world around!