DS Audio DS 003 Optical Phono Cartridge
$2500 ($6000 with matching equalizer)
After setting new standards of fidelity in the ultra-high end with his POY-winning $15,000 Grand Master optical cartridge (and $45k, two-box Grand Master equalizer), DS Audio’s ingenious Tetsuaki “Aki” Aoyagi has turned his attention to the rest of us. The $2500 DS 003 ($6k with its matching DS 003 equalizer) is a “trickle-down” masterpiece. Using many of the technical innovations first found in the Grand Master (such as a dual-mono optical generator with independent LEDs and photo detectors for each channel and a beryllium “shading plate,” which reduces moving mass to 1/10th that of a typical moving-coil cartridge), the “third-generation” 003 sounds almost exactly like a slightly less finely detailed, slightly less spacious Grand Master. Every bit as standard-settingly quiet, explosively dynamic, and robustly rich in color as its big brother, the DS 003 makes opting (or optical’ing) for a new-tech oc a lot easier (and a lot less of a trade-off) than it once was. With channel separation measurably approaching 33dB in the midrange and tracking that is as smooth and glitch-free as that of the far pricier Grand Master, the DS 003 does not compromise soundstaging and trackability in the ways that earlier-gen, “affordable” DS Audios did. If you’ve longed to sample a top-line oc but haven’t had the moolah to do so, now’s your chance. The DS 003 opens the door—and opens it wide—to a new world of noise-free, tape-like playback, with bass response and treble sweetness and bloom that you could previously only get with reel-to-reel. Another sure-fire nominee for a 2022 TAS Product of the Year Award.
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