Ortofon 2M Blue vs. Audio-Technica AT-VM95E 

For those who are asking. The track is True Faith by New Order. This is a cover made by Ashley Johnson

Cambié el cartucho y aguja a mi tornamesas por la AT-VM95E.... Una chulada como decimos en México. Fantástico! Y el precio asombrosamente bajo para la calidad que entrega.

Great comparison! Vocals are excellent way to test cartridge fidelity. I can hear a small difference with the Ortofon Blue have a slight improvement in better vocal clarity. With the Audio Technica costing $69 and the Ortofon selling at $239 the AT is a better value. Still if I had the $$ I would get the Blue.

In fact, I think that Audio Technica sounds better. It is also inexpensive so I think it's much better value for money.

Having used the exact same cartridges i have to say that the blue 2m is way better than AT. When I first listened to the 2m I was surprisedof the sound!

Nice comparison and to me they sound pretty close and I don’t have audio file ears I have the the VM95E and love it. Also love that you can change the stylus with all the cartridges. Great job on making this video and great editing and you played the whole song from 2 cartridges and seamlessly.

Unfair test due to the massive price difference. The Ortofon sounds better to me but I am sure the Audio Technicas better stylus profiles further up the range would match it and would be considerably cheaper.

I think the question is whether is whether a bonded elliptical can challenge a nude elliptical, especially when factoring in price. Each person has to make that decision for themselves. I have the AT-VM95E and am hapy with it. If feel the need to upgrade, I'll get an AT-VM95EN stylus and call it a day.

I can't hear much difference. But I guess the Blue is a better tracker, has better channel separation and lower distortion (especially at the inner grooves). But listening here I had to focus to hear much a difference. It's funny, that audiophiles sometimes claim to hear massive differences and improvements between quite similar products. If you buy a cartridge for 7000 dollars and a turntable for 30 000 dollars (the belt driven antiquity Linn LP12 costs that much in it's most souped up iteration) I guess you have to believe cheap stuff like a Technics and an AT cart will sound like a rusty phonograph roll rescued from a 19th century saloon.

AT sounds more mellow while the Blue has more details, brighter but also more sibling. I think the AT with the nude diamond is a better competitor in this comparison. The 2M blue gives the female voice an extra layer that makes it more interesting to listen to.

I am curious to hear a comparison with the AT given a 2db boost above 1800Hz. I am guessing they would sound almost identical. I have the Blue and I think it's great, but if you normalize frequency response cartridges sound depressingly similar.

Wow thanks for potentially saving me money! I have the vm95 and was considering a Blue

Blue sounds a bit more open. I own the 95e and for the price you can’t beat it!

I heard comparisons between the vm95e and ortofan 2m red and 2m blue.. vm95e is clearly better than the 2m red (which was quite sibilant).. but the 2m blue achieves better clarity without giving up warmth or sounding sibilant.. but at greater than 4x the price, it is hard to see value... As others have mentioned, I think the VM95 with a better styles (nude/ml/shibata) could give ortofan blues the run for their money.. ive been debating a turntable option for my denon plus polk reserve setup, with budget up to 1k.. more i research, more im tilting towards the lp120x with at vm95e which is way inside budget but seems to give the best combination of value, aesthetics and upgradability.

2M Blue sounds better, no contest BUT, the sound difference isnt massive (to me), but the price is lol. If money wasnt an issue, go Blue. But the value of the VM95E is unmatched.

There's a slight difference but both are very good and I could not say I preferred one more than the other. You should be comparing price for price styli. From what I'm hearing the Ortofon appears grossly overpriced or the AT ridiculously cheap, whichever way you look at it.

I listened to a comparison of the AT95E vs Red and heard a substantial difference. But on this video, I hear no difference between the VM95E and the Blue.

I can't quite praise the choice of the recorded material for comparison as in my experience 2M Blue is a better cartridge by a considerable margin. Here the difference just does not show off. If we really want to compare the direct competitor to 2M Blue, it would be AT VM530EN, with essentially the same nude stylus profile and an upgraded generator on pair of that on 2M series (AT VM-95 series generator correspondents to Ortofon OM series generators in terms of quality).

Audio sounds way better than lots of other test of same cartriges. What preamp have you used? Thanks

I'll eventually buy the red or blue, but the 95E holds well. Just using some manual EQ to match them if you have one and you're off to the races

A better comparison pricewise would be with the ATVM95ML or SH. Both would be better at handling IGD that is for sure.

Blue sounds like the music LIVE ... great improvement

Similar cartridges, fairer comparison is with the nude diamond stylus fitted to the AT. The AT is smooth the 2m smooth but with a bit more punch. Both fine carts that are hard to beat sonically without spending up.

What I was thinking about was how off center the vinyl record was 😎

I would go with the AT as it has more compatibility with more tonearms, whereas you might need to change the tonearm's height for the proper. VTA, and that's not a difficulty with the AT cartridge.

More air on both guitar and vocal with the Ortofon.

uhhhh honestly, I cannot tell the difference...I closed my eyes and listened to the video high volume several times and could not tell that you even switched from one to another...

The RU-vid compression really does a number on these vinyl captures. The difference in this video is negligible, but I very highly doubt that would be the case in a live listening.

A better comparison would be the VM95EN vs the 2M Blue since both are nude ellipticals. The VM95E is a bonded elliptical like the 2M Red. I was thinking of getting a VM95EN-H but the lower output changed my mind. I'll go with the 2M Blue instead.

Thanks for the video. If I understand well, the AT was already worn out when recording this clip. In that case the AT is a much better buy. It is assumed that brand new would sound even better after a break in period. Based on this video, the difference is negligible. Are you using a separate phono preamp or the built in one? I also have a AT120x turntable. I believe that the AT95e is a great balance for this level of turntable. Buying something above the $100.00 mark starts getting into the diminishing returns realm. Instead of buying an expensive cartridge I decided to keep the 95e but getting a Schiit Mani 2 as a phono preamp. The difference is substantial. More instrument separation and better soundstage. I also put a 4 band EQ from Bellari between the phono stage and the preamp that helps compensating the different qualities of different records. The EQ and the Schiit Mani 2 together cost about the same as the ortofon blue.

Nice comparison, what is the track title ? The price difference is huge also... *4...

Audio Technica best buy!!!

I've been a vinyl guy for 50 years. From what I'm hearing, the Ortofon is noticeably better. I must not know how to listen based on most of the comments.

Can’t beat the AT for less than a third the price of the 2M Blue .

The Blue is vastly superior thru my expensive Shure headphones. Not even close. However, it seems like the volume drops slightly whenever the switch is made to the AT so if they were at the exact same volume perhaps things would be different.

The blue is so much less cloudy

I got the AT on my audioTechnica DROP VTA. Best entry level turntable iv ever seen Not highly detailed but great, great for how cheap that cartridge is 🙂

I bought the AT-VM95E and the stylus is off centered…why is that?

Less treble Range with the vm95e

Здравствуйте, моё мнение ,,Аудиотехника,, по ярче, ортофон по детальнее...

Every recording i hear of the AT-VM95 has an awful 'saturation' type low order harmonic distortion on the louder parts, it honestly sounds awful to me. I was REALLY hoping it would be bearable.

You are comparing a bonded elliptic to a nude elliptic costing four times as much? The Ortofon 2M Blue should at least be compared to the VM95EN (or pricewise more accurate the VM530EN) The AT95E should face the Ortofon 2M Red. Or when it comes to pricing, take the VM520EB. That would be fair, don't you think? I do have the VM520EB, the VM540ML and a VM500 body with a Swiss Black Diamond nude elliptic made for the previous generation AT103--AT120. That Black Diamond is much brighter, yet NEEDS to be played in to soften the suspension. It sounds brighter than the VM520EB and VM540ML, so I don't use it at the moment, since I want to get used to the sound style of AT themselves. I also have the Technics EPC270c with both a standard bonded conical (bland) and a Black Diaomnd (exciting), those are fun to listen to and perfect for untrusted thrift store records. So I see this more as your upgrade story, not a direct comparison. My opinion.

Ortofon quite a bit better but its a huge price difference

unlike many master ears I couldn't hear a darn thing different from one and another... If I wasn't looking at the screen and know the price difference, I would think it's the same cartridge, why not just buy a decent CD player at the price of $240, why do people want to spend that kind of money and enjoying surface noises?

Ortofon звучит полнее, но цена за Audio-technica.

Ortofon is better, IMHO/ Thanks!

Why ortofons are so bright

You just had to buy a VM95ML stylus.......

😂😂😂😂

No difference at all.

Unfair comparation, the blue should be compared with the shibata version of the AT

The only difference is the price