CES 2015

Ortofon launched at CES the long awaited A95 moving coil cartridge, which replaces the discontinued A90—among the most special phono cartridges (both sonically and technically) produced over the last decade.

The minimal body, similar in shape to the A90's is created from powdered Titanium using Ortofon's Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technology. Coils are of gold-plated 6NX oxygen free copper turned on a specially designed armature said to produce greater channel separation and lower distortion.

Output is low at .2mV, channel separation is claimed to be greater than 25dB at 1kHz and greater than 22dB at 15kHz, which is exceptional. The A95 features a Replicant stylus and Boron cantilever.

Ortofon President Christen H. Nielsen told analogplanet.com editor Michael Fremer that the first A95 (other than the one Jeff Catalano was using in the Highwater Sound room) in America would be at his door a few days after CES.

While the cartridge was still "green", the sound seemed to combine the A90's tonal neutrality and speed with some of the MC Anna's velvety-richness. After I said that's what I heard, Ortofon America's Louis Dorio exclaimed "Precisely! The A95's armature uses significantly less magnetic alloy than any of the other cartridges in Ortofon's line, with the exception of the Anna, the armature of which is polymer-based and thus is non-magnetic. The system's other magnets must make up the difference. This cannot be done with an "open" cartridge like the A95. The price is $6500.

Analogplanet editor with Ortofon President Christen H. Niesen