Audio · Head-to-head
Audio-Technica AT-LH13H vs Audio-Technica AT-HS6
Which should you buy? Our verdict on both, pulled from our full The Best Turntable Headshells: 4 Compared (and One to Skip) comparison.
The AT-LH13H is the most useful shell here because it adjusts azimuth as well as overhang, and because the same design exists at 11, 15 and 18 grams if 13 turns out to be the wrong number for your arm. The AT-HS6 does the basic job well at a fraction of the outlay, and its low mass suits the high-compliance moving magnet cartridges most people are actually running.
Audio-Technica AT-LH13H
Buy itA hard-anodised aluminium shell with an adjustable cylinder for azimuth and overhang, sold in four published masses so you can match your arm instead of hoping.
- Audio-Technica states the adjustable cylinder sets both azimuth and overhang, which no other shell here publishes.
- The same design is sold at 11 g, 13 g, 15 g and 18 g, so mass becomes something you choose rather than accept.
- OFC lead wires, plastic washers, M2.6 cartridge screws and a hex wrench are all in the box.
- Audio-Technica's Japanese spec sheet lists about 13.4 g bare and about 14.2 g with lead wires, so the 13 gram name understates what actually lands on your arm.
- The cartridge screw holes are round rather than slotted in Audio-Technica's own product photo, so all fore and aft trim has to come from the cylinder.
- It costs several times what a plain die-cast shell costs, and a lot of that money buys adjustment you may only use once.
Audio-Technica AT-HS6
Buy itA die-cast aluminium universal half-inch shell that weighs 9.3 g with its lead wires fitted and does the fundamentals without asking for much.
- Audio-Technica's manual puts it at about 9.3 g with lead wires and about 8.4 g without, both figures excluding the cartridge screws.
- Slotted mounting holes are clearly visible in Audio-Technica's product photo, and the manual tells you to leave the screws loose while you set overhang.
- Colour-coded gold-plated lead wires, mounting screws, nuts and washers are supplied, and there is a moulded finger lift.
- No azimuth adjustment is published, so you are relying on the arm and the shell being square.
- At 9.3 g it is on the light side, which is the wrong direction if you are running a low-compliance moving coil.
- The finger lift is part of the casting, so you cannot remove it to shed mass or change its angle.
Side by side
| Audio-Technica AT-LH13H | Audio-Technica AT-HS6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Our verdict | Buy | Buy |
| Best for | Someone who swaps cartridges, or who wants to dial azimuth rather than trust the arm to be perfect. | A high-compliance moving magnet cartridge on a bayonet arm, where light is what you want anyway. |
| Price tier | $$ · mid-range | $ · budget |
The bottom line
Our overall pick is the Audio-Technica AT-LH13H - A hard-anodised aluminium shell with an adjustable cylinder for azimuth and overhang, sold in four published masses so you can match your arm instead of hoping. Choose the Audio-Technica AT-HS6 instead if a high-compliance moving magnet cartridge on a bayonet arm, where light is what you want anyway.
Want the full picture, including the other options we compared and the popular one we'd skip? Read the complete The Best Turntable Headshells: 4 Compared (and One to Skip).