⌈ DS AUDIO brand belongs to Digital Stream Cooperation (DSC), based near Tokyo. The parent company has specialized in high-end optical products for devices such as CD, DVD, and Blu-ray players for more than a quarter century. DS Audio, founded by the son of DSC's owner, who has been fascinated by the sound of vinyl records, has utilized the knowledge and experience of the parent company to develop products dedicated to black records playback. This time we test one of the top models, Master 3. ⌋

WHILE DS AUDIO cartridges have been on the market for several years now (the brand was established in 2014), and the first optical cartridge, manufactured at the time by Toshiba and sold under the Aurex brand, dates back to the 1960s, perhaps not everyone has had contact with them. We first wrote about it when we tested the DS W2 model, but that was long enough ago so that we decided to repeat the highlights for you; test → HERE.

▌ Optical cartridge

THE USE OF THE WORD “OPTICAL” in relation to a phono cartridge may cause surprise, or even concern, because in audio it is primarily associated with digital, not analog sound. And this is, let me emphasize it, an ANALOG technology. From a practical point of view, or rather from the user's point of view, the only difference compared to other cartridges is the requirement of a special phono preamp dedicated to optical cartridges. Some may point out, that the lack of ‘traditional’ settings is another one - we'll come back to that.

This, in itself, however, is not so special, not really. After all, when a fan of MM cartridges (i.e., those with moving magnets) wants to replace it with, or simply try out, a model with a moving coil (i.e., so-called MC, where it's the coils that are installed on a cantilever) he or she must either add a matching transformer to his/her MM phono preamplifier, or use a specialized one dedicated to such pickups. A completely different preamplifier for DS Audio's optical cartridges thus only highlights the technological difference. Everything else is the same. The cartridge is set up the same way, connected similarly, and the information from the groove is also read by a needle mounted in the cantilever (or, as in DS Audio's top model, a lab-grown one-piece cantilever and stylus). The difference lies in the way the stylus’ vibrations are converted into electrical impulses, or in the so-called generator.

In DS Audio cartridges, the role of magnets or coils mounted on the cantilever is taken over by a system consisting of a LED, aperture and photoreceptor, i.e. a semiconductor diode working as a photodetector. The role of the latter is to receive light pulses from the former, which are modulated by a vibrating aperture (a super-thin beryllium film) mounted on an almost classical needle (cantilever, to be precise). The need for a dedicated preamplifier, or, as the manufacturer calls it: equalizer or energizer, comes also from the fact that the aforementioned diodes need a power source. This is supplied to the cartridge (via the “-” pins) by a dedicated preamplifier.

Why use these solutions at all? They offer two significant advantages. When cartridges with a moving magnet(s) attached to the cantilever were replaced by an alternative solution, in which miniature coils were placed on the cantilever instead of much heavier magnets, it was thus possible to significantly reduce the mass of the whole vibrating system ending in the stylus, which reads information from the groove of a record. This was an obvious advantage, allowing for more precise reading of even the finest information.

The downside of this solution was the much lower output signal from such cartridges, which had to be amplified thousands or even tens of thousands of times (!) in a phono preamplifier. Amplifying the signal in such a way that the preamplifier does not add its own interference and noise to the musical signal is extremely difficult. And the condition of the records plays an even bigger role because artifacts caused by scratches, but also every tiny speck of dust or any other ‘dirt’ in the groove, are amplified just as much as the actual music signal.

In optical cartridges, in which an ultralight aperture is attached to the cantilever instead of magnets or coils, another large (even by another 90% compared to MC cartridges) reduction in the mass of the vibrating system reading the signal from the groove has been achieved. Let's repeat once more - the lower oscillating mass means greater precision in reading even the finest information. At the same time, the optical way of converting needle movements into an electrical signal results in a much higher signal level at the output of the cartridge.

When it comes to MM cartridges what we get from them is usually in the range of 5-7 mV. MC cartridge signal level can be as low as 0.1 mV, and a level of 0.5 mV is already considered quite high (among low-level models). Meanwhile, optical cartridges output a signal at the level of 50, or even, as in the case of the tested Master 3, 7 mV. So it doesn't need to be amplified thousands of times, but just a few dozen times are enough.

The advantages of optical cartridges don't end with these two main ones, as they feature yet another solution that fits perfectly with the way sound is recorded on and read from a vinyl record. Due to the physical limitations of the medium, the signal is not recorded on them linearly. The low end’s level (which requires the widest groove) is lowered, while the treble level (which requires a narrow groove) is increased. After reading this signal, the task of a phono preamplifier is to reverse this process (increase the bass and lower the treble), so that in the end a (relatively) flat frequency response is played.

In the case of MM and MC cartridges, as well as the much rarer MI, or Moving Iron, as the velocity (the movement of the needle in the groove) increases, a stronger signal is generated, i.e. a higher output voltage, and because of the way low and high frequencies are recorded, the needle moves slower reading the former and faster the latter. This de facto exacerbates the disparity between the top and bottom end of the range, which further increases the difficulty of the phono preamplifier’s job, which now must first correct these differences (equalize the bandwidth), and then amplify the signal accordingly.

Let’s get back to optical cartridges. Their next advantage it is the way of reading information from the groove. For here it is not the velocity that matters, but the amplitude of the vibration. Thus, the generator of such a cartridge makes the task of a phono preamplifier easier, not harder. The latter, however, must be a design dedicated to this very solution. It is worth noticing, that there are other manufacturers, such as Soul Note, Esoteric, or Westminster Lab, who also offer models that work not only with “normal” cartridges but also with optical ones.

DS Audio, obviously, for most of its cartridges offers dedicated preamplifiers and sells them as sets. A fun fact - while I was writing this text a press release announced, that that the Japanese company has just introduced their first tube model. It is worth noting that changing a cartridge to a higher (or lower) model from this manufacturer does not entail replacing the preamplifier, as the any DS Audio cartridge will work with any of their phono equalizers. Obviously, it is recommended, at least if you want to take full advantage of a more expensive cartridge, to pair it with a phono stage from (at least) the same level.

Here’s another fun fact for you. The only DS Audio cartridge that, as of today, does not have a dedicated preamp is the top-of-the-line GrandMaster EX model, which is offered with an equalizer for the GrandMaster. I mention this first, top-of-the-line DS Audio cartridge as something special not even because of its position in the portfolio, but because it is distinguished by its diamond cantilever and stylus, which are “grown” in the lab as a one-piece (!). Already in lower models feature diamond cantilevers, but styluses are still separate elements that need to be fixed in the cantilever. In the GrandMaster EX model, let me repeat it once more, the stylus and cantilever form a whole.

▌ Master 3

AS I HAVE ALREADY MENTIONED, the Master 3 belongs to the only category of phono cartridges in DS Audio's portfolio, namely optical cartridges. Under the name Master 3, the manufacturer hides both the cartridge and the phono preamp (equalizer, energizer) dedicated to it. These three terms are used interchangeably, and interestingly, the former is used (by the manufacturer) the least often. The number '3' in the name indicates that this model belongs to the latest, third generation of the brand's products, and additionally, though probably coincidentally, also indicates the position (from the top) in the current lineup.

The body of the Master 3 cartridge is made of ultraduralumin, and the glowing vertical “window” is made of amethyst. The whole thing gives the impression of a large and heavy construction, but in reality it weighs only 7.9 g, which is a relatively small mass for a pickup. One of the distinguishing features of this and higher DS Audio models is the square cross-section diamond cantilever. This shape improves the rigidity of the cantilever, or resistance to flexing during operation. In the Master 3 model it features a refined Micro Ridge stylus. The recommended tracking force (VTF) is 2.1g, although for those who like to experiment, the manufacturer allows deviations within 2 to 2.2g range.

As I mentioned earlier, the use of diodes and an ultra-lightweight (about 50% lighter than one used in the older model) aperture made of beryllium film assures an extremely low mass of the vibrating system. It is true despite the fact that this model uses independent diodes and photodiodes for each channel. This solution allowed to increase the output signal level from 40 to 70 mV, which requires an even lower gain provided by the phono preamplifier. In addition, according to the manufacturer, it has managed to significantly improve the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) by lowering the level of background noise, thus improving the clarity and purity of the sound. The traditional gold-plated pins differ somewhat in function from “normal” cartridges, as those marked “+” output the signal from the cartridge, and those with “-” feed power to the diodes in the cartridge.

The DS Audio Master 3 equalizer is a large and heavy device, measuring 452 x 153 x 484 mm and weighing 23 kg. Its black chassis looks very striking with its convex front, which features an on/off switch (same color as the chassis) and a vertical illuminated window in exactly the same color and shape as the one in the cartridge. This is a dual mono design, which uses a total of as many as three independent transformers and a huge battery of capacitors. One transformer powers the diodes in the cartridge, while the other two are dedicated to completely separate right and left channels.

The set of rear-panel connectors is quite impressive, yet serves a slightly different function than usual. The unit features one input on RCA jacks and as many as three outputs, each duplicated on RCA and XLR jacks. These three outputs and the accompanying switches are, in a way, equivalents of the adjustments we get in MM and MC preamplifiers. Only that we do not adjust gain or impedance loading.

Depending on the selected output and the setting of the accompanying switches, users have the option of cutting off the lowest frequencies at different points and adjusting this characteristic to their own preferences. The switches are subsonic filters that cut the signal at 30 or 50 Hz, and each output has a slightly different filter slope (either 6 or 12 dB/octave). The Manufacturer recommends experimenting in any given system and choosing the option that simply best suits the user.

▌ SOUND

HOW WE LISTENED • DS AUDIO products not only can, but almost must be tested as sets containing cartridge and phono preamplifier. They ‘must’, because, as I’ve mentioned above, the brand's cartridges do not work with “standard” MM/MC phono preamplifiers. ‘Almost’, because due to the recognition that DS Audio cartridges quickly gained, one can find other brands’ phono equalizers on the market that work with optical cartridges. For the purposes of this test, I used the Master 3 cartridge in a J.Sikora KV12 Max Zirconium Series tonearm with Soyaton cabling, installed in a J.Sikora Standard Max deck. The signal was sent to the DS Audio Master 3 equalizer, which, due to its size, was set up on a separate ALPINE-line rack.

Then, via an unbalanced Bastanis Imperial interconnect, the signal was sent to the GrandiNote Shinai integrated amplifier, which in turn powered the same brand's MACH 4 speakers via Soyaton Benchmark Mk 2 speaker cables. For obvious reasons, my two phono preamplifiers could not be used as direct references the DS Audio's equalizer, and I couldn't listen to the Master 3 cartridge with my own preamplifiers either. I could only compare the performance of the whole DS Audio set with one that I use everyday, that is Air Tight PC-3 MC cartridge and the GrandiNote Celio Mk IV phono preamp, or other top products I had tested before.

SO FAR, THE ONLY DS AUDIO SET I got to listen to in my system (several years ago) was E1, a (relatively) inexpensive representative of the first generation of the brand's cartridges (and preamplifiers). This set left quite a good impression on me at the time, costing as much as a good MC cartridge, and offering a class of sound that would require to add a good MC phono stage’s price to that MC cartridge to achieve similar level of performance.

Long story short, it was a very good, and at the same time not a particularly expensive proposition. The Master 3, however, is in a completely different league, and the price of this set allows you to buy one of many even very expensive MC cartridges and a suitable preamplifier for it. The bar for the tested DS Audio proposal must therefore be set very high, and it was with this attitude that I approached the test.

I won't claim that the tested set brought me to my knees from the first seconds of the first album I played with it, because it didn't. When I later wondered actually why (which, spoiler alert, suggests that I became truly impressed after a while), the only sensible answer that came to mind was that the Master 3 played.... simply the way I expected it to, which is also true for any, especially a high-end audio component (and which happens less often that I would like). What does it mean, exactly? First of all, extremely naturally and accurate. I've mentioned about this before more than once - the latter term (accurate) in Polish doesn't have that much power, but in my opinion it best describes some of the top audio components available on the market.

This accuracy is simply (there's nothing simple about it, it's just an expression) the ability to play music in such a way that you immediately forget about all those audiophile terms, features, advantages, or whatever you want to call them, which we usually start listing or checking when listening to any new component. In the presentation of the Master 3 there was everything that should have been in it, shown in the right way, in the right proportions and based on the played musical material.

Therefore, with the tested set it is really easy to forget that what we hear is ‘only’ a playback of a recording, only an interpretation of events that took place on some stage or in some studio and were recorded on the medium. As a result, at least initially, such a presentation doesn't cause a ‘wow!’ effect at all. This, as I also often say, was a very promising introduction to the rest of the listening experience.

The ‘wow!’ effect comes only when there is something special happening in the music, or in the performance, something that naturally evokes delight. So when such a delight finally reached me, and my brain began to process it, I ultimately came to the conclusion that it was this specific, tested system that played a well-known to me recording in a way that allowed me to be wowed by the music, or some special element of the performance because.... they sounded so remarkably natural and real, in fact, so.... accurate, that everything but the music and the emotions related to it and the performance ceased to exist for a moment.

Then, searching my memory for similar impressions, I found that I had heard something like this, or at least something of this kind and class, very few times before, even though over a thousand different devices had passed through my system, including more than a few from the highest analog league. What came to mind were encounters with Kondo sets (cartridge, phono and step-up), Tenor Audio, AudioTekne, Doshi Audio, or Destination Audio combined with Air Tight, Aidas, Analog Relax, or Murasakino cartridges. In a word, the best of the best that I have ever experienced in my room.

Take, for example, the DUKE JORDAN TRIO album So Nice Duke prepared by Mr. Kazuo Kiuchi as part of the Harmonix Master Sound series. On the one hand, it was impossible not to notice immediately the distinct noise of the tape on which the music was recorded. It's just there, the Master 3 made it clear, but the human ear (at least mine) quickly became accustomed to it, the brain accepted it as an element of the recording and allowed me to focus completely on the music and the fantastic performance. The Japanese system achieved it by not exposing, not imposing this noise on the listener, but rather focusing his/my attention on what was really important, and placing the noise, as a minor element, somewhere behind the music.

And while there are more non-musical elements on this album, for example, the clanking of dishes, which can also be heard perfectly in the background, still the piano is usually in the foreground, sometimes the bass, and the drums form this actually vital, lively, necessary, but nevertheless background for the other instruments. The piano on this album has a natural lightness and agility, and at the same time depth and mass. It is sonorous, open, breathing, but not for a moment there is any doubt that it’s as powerful as it should be. That is, it has it all when the album is played on such a remarkable set as the one offered by DS Audio.

The double bass sounds quite ‘light’, it is fast, tight, but at the right moments its big wooden body steps out of the shadow, so to speak, reminding listeners that it can sound as befits a large, heavy instrument it actually is. However, it does not do this all the time, but only when such an effect is desired, when musician plays it like that. When this happens, the bass not only has proper mass, saturated color and texture, but all of this and every last piece of the musician's performance is presented with the utmost precision and clarity. It is this extraordinary combination of density, tonal saturation, and depth of sound with clarity, transparency, and high precision (where all of these elements result to some degree from outstanding resolution) that is, in my opinion, the “leitmotif” of the DS Audio Master 3. It is what makes it such an outstanding system.

The amount of information in the sound is extraordinary, including the finest details and subtleties, so that tonal and dynamic contrasts are precisely reproduced at both the macro and the micro level. What is surprising is that this aforementioned, clearly shown tape noise does not cover, does not hide from the ear these tiniest crumbs of information. On the one hand, this shows that the stylus and the entire super-light Master 3 vibrating system reads everything from the groove of the record that is there to be read, and on the other hand, that the optical way of transmitting vibrations to the generator functions perfectly, that there are no major losses at this stage, so as a result we get an incredibly rich, full sound given to us as if on the palm of our hand, but at the same time in a completely unobtrusive way. To be clear: losses are always there, regardless of the solution, but in this case, they are very, very small.

All of these features put together translate into a incredibly smooth and coherent presentation with a high level of that inner musical energy, a large portion of which is always lost in the recording and playback process. No component in a playback system has the power to affect what has been recorded, but some, such as the DS Audio Master 3, minimize the losses at this stage, at which point the music begins to sound decidedly more like what we know from live performances.

It is lively, present and remarkably exciting. Playing records simply becomes more than just listening to recorded material, but rather a unique experience, rich in information and emotion, vivid, sparkling, pulsating and evoking real, irresistible emotions in the listener. Just like how live music sounds and makes people feel, let me add (to be clear, I mean sounding similar to, not reaching quite the same level of realism).

Duke Jordan's trio concert was not the only one that sounded so lively, fresh and invigorating. My old original edition of Jazz At The Pawnshop, which I bought second hand and which is by no means in perfect condition, evoked equally intense emotion and engagement on my side. The record, which I have certainly listened to far more often over the years than Duke Jordan’s, surprised me first of all in that I could hear less, or paid less attention to, its less than perfect condition. Normally, the better the cartridge, the more you can hear individual crackles resulting from minor scratches, but with the Master 3 they almost completely disappeared under the music.

And yet the Master 3 set at every step shows fantastic resolution, serving an (almost) overwhelming amount of information, which it also perfectly differentiates. So you can get the impression (I emphasize - the impression, because of course it can't actually do it) that it is able to distinguish the important information from the unnecessary (crackles) and focus the listener's attention exclusively on the former. Another point - the sound with the tested set is extremely clear and transparent. So it gives you an insight into even the deepest layers of recordings, but at the same time the presentation is beautifully saturated, colorful and smooth as silk. This is an extremely rare combination marking the top class of any in general, and this specific one particularly, audio system.

Usually, even at a very high level, either the sound is a little dominated by density and smoothness (examples include Aidas Mammoth Gold, → ANALOG RELAX EX-1000 ˻ PL˺), or brilliant resolution and clarity (as with → MURASAKINO SUMILE, or Air Tight PC-1). It's not that any of these cartridges lacks something, because each of them offers a complete and competent sound in regard to all its aspects, but only some subtle advantage of some features over others determining the character of the sound. With the Master 3 it seemed (because, after all, I had no direct comparison, and memory is unreliable) that its makers managed to achieve an even better balance between these elements of sound.

With DS Audio Master 3 we get an utterly remarkable, brilliant combination of all these sound qualities (and many others) in perfectly weighted proportions. As a result, listening even to the same album for the nth time, one can still marvel at how perfect an insight one gets into the playing not only of the soloist, or the frontman vocals, but also of the musicians (choruses) in the background, and at other times how coherent, rich, full and smooth the presentation as a whole is. This is this accuracy, understood as a perfect approximation of live music, in which we can find all those features and qualities and which, unless the sound system at the venue is poorly set up, we don't really pay attention to, but just accept it as a whole, and as the “only right” sound.

Have I forgotten about vocals? No, here we go. How about some live performances? Say, PATRICIA BARBER from Companion, the MoFi's two-disc 45 r.p.m release. When the music began to flow from the speakers the amount of information at first was downright overwhelming, despite the fact that I am very familiar with the album and had listened to it while testing many very expensive, even much more expensive systems than the DS Audio Master 3. Without being able to put them side by side and play the same records on one and then on the other system, it is difficult to make a super-accurate comparison, but there was something new about this presentation, not to say revealing, and certainly exciting.

After all, vocals are only part of the whole experience and not necessarily the most important at all. Nevertheless, when Patricia started singing her dark, gently hoarse, charismatic voice indivisibly grabbed my attention. The same effect occurred when PETER GABRIEL or STEVEN TYLER started singing on completely different (in terms of genre and style) rock albums. More important than the quality of the production as such (flawlessly demonstrated by DS Audio) were the charisma of the singers, their vocal talents, the distinctive elements of their voices and their vocal mannerisms. Each such recording proved that the Master 3 is not one of the “ruthless killers” of weaker recordings, and allows the listener to focus on their best musical and artistic aspects instead of their flaws.

Each time, I got the impression that the Master 3 created an extremely present, very ‘here and now’ rendition of a given musical event, whether recorded live or in a studio. There was no pushing the foreground in front of the line connecting the speakers, no creating some ‘cosmic’ space where there was none in the recording, no, finally, losing details in the depth of the stage behind the foreground, which, when happening is some presentations, is also a way of boosting everything what is happening close to the listener.

In this case, however, it was a matter of using superb resolution and imbuing every element of the recording with information, including spatial cues, venue’s acoustics, non-musical elements, and so on. It was only all that so seamlessly put together into a coherent whole that created this eminently convincing, refined, tasteful musical performances.

I would venture to say that all the distinguishing features of this optical cartridge (the diamond, square-cut cantilever, the optical generator, the better way of reading information from the groove), including the much lower gain the preamplifier had to deliver translate into a significant reduction in background noise. This, in turn, results is far better, easier access to the vast wealth of fine information that other good needles also read from records, but which is partly lost to the higher noise. The solution proposed by DS Audio means that even well-known records can still surprise you with the amount and precision of information. This in turn translates into a unique, exceptionally convincing and engaging (at least in my opinion) presentation of music.

This is because, importantly, all that information, details and subtleties are not served in a pushy, aggressive manner. This is not at all a sound I would describe as highly detailed, and definitely not cold or ‘clinical’. It's a sound that's super-rich, resolving and clear, but all of that is used to present an extremely coherent, smooth, colorful and, simply put, complete musical picture. It's not just technically perfect sound reproduction, either, as the music even brims with emotion. Listening to, for example, “Black Magic Woman” from the aforementioned Patricia Barber album, I was was focused and engaged all the time until the last applause rang out. This shows the communicativeness of the tested set, which is able to create a very convincing substitute for participation in an event, and this is something I (!) look for in every component and audio system.

So as a fan of live sound, I listened to a whole lot of concert recordings with the Master 3. However, I could not limit my assessment only to them. After all, there are more studio recordings, so on a daily basis they are the most people listen mostly to. They are devoid of most (because not necessarily all) of the non-musical elements, which in turn makes us pay more attention to the sound of the instruments themselves, or the performances of the musicians and vocalists. Such was the case, for example, with ADAM CZERWIŃSKI's No Name Yet album. The title, as Adam recounted during the last AVS, came about somewhat by accident. This is because it was an answer to a question asked (in English) about what the album would be called: “no name yet,” he answered, which evoked a comment: “that’s a good title!” and so it remained.

With the Master 3 set, the experience offered to me by this album wasn't all that different from a concert one. There was no audience, no vivid acoustics of some venue’s interior, no non-musical noises (such as the clanking dishes, coughing audience members, and so on), but there was still a unique sense of closeness, of direct contact with the musicians, as the sound seemed expansive, as if it even went a bit ahead of the line connecting the speakers. Such a close way of recording and presenting the music easily engages the listener, as some of the things happen almost at arm's length.

Not all of them, obviously, because the arrangement of instruments on the stage, the distances between musicians, all these spatial aspects were clear and accurately represented by Master 3, even though there is no particularly great depth in this case. The DS Audio set, on the other hand, offers exceptional precision in locating phantom images on the stage and determining the distances between them, thus drawing a clearly three-dimensional picture. And this is something I like very much, also, or perhaps especially, when the equipment doesn't try to add anything from itself, when it doesn't blow up the stage beyond what is recorded.

On JACQUES LOUSSIER's Pulsion album, where the maestro and his piano are accompanied only by drum set, although this is also a studio recording,when played as the Master 3 did it, it sounded not only extremely authentic, incredibly dynamic, but also very ‘here and now’. Sure, the decibel level coming from these instruments, had they actually been in my room, would have been unbearable, but all the precision, the incredible wealth of information, the tangibility of both instruments, their size and weight, as presented by the tested set, it all added up to an adrenaline-pumping, heart-racing spectacle. One that did not allow me to stay still, one that engaged, and drew me in, forced me to listen in full-focus mode not to miss a single note. And all this happened with a recording I'd listened to dozens of times before, one that should have become boring by then....

▌ Summary

THE DS AUDIO MASTER 3 SET belongs to that class of audio components, that make discussing individual advantages or disadvantages of the presentation while listening to it is not so much out of place, but simply seems irrelevant, even pointless. Music flows with it in such a natural, smooth, coherent, but also dynamic way, it is so saturated with energy, emotions and information that none of the qualities from audiophile’s checklist matter. Even less so, as all the information, all the contrasts on both, macro and micro scale, are shown in an incredibly precise, clean, and transparent manner.

But, circling back to the beginning, at the same time Master 3 presents shows the sound in such a coherent, fluid way that it all comes down to just the quality and type of the recording. Either the musicians (almost) materialize in our room, or it is we who are transported somewhere out there to the space in which they perform. Which, by the way, proves the versatility of the Japanese system, that shows as faithfully as possible what has been recorded, instead of imposing its ‘vision’, whatever it may be.

For me, even though recordings are only a certain approximation or interpretation of a given musical event, the most important reference point always remains live music, or rather the emotions and energy that accompany it. The DS Audio Master 3 set comes so close to my (conventional) reference that while listening to music I focused solely on it, forgetting completely about all the technical aspects of its recording and playback. In a word, it served me an experience as close to live music as possible. It did it displaying an extraordinary refinement and so-called ‘feeling’, and all I had to do was to pull out more and more records to take maximum advantage of the DS Audio Master 3's presence in my system.

If you love black records and music and are not familiar with DS Audio optical cartridges, you absolutely must make up for it! If not for other reasons, then at least because if there has been any significant progress in vinyl playback technology in recent decades, it has been expressed via optical cartridges! From us an fully deserved ˻ RED FINGERPRINT ˺. RED

▌ Technical specifications (acc. to the manufacturer):

»» DS Master3 Cartridge
Signal output: photo-electric conversion
Channel separation: >27d dB (@ 1 kHz）
Output signal level: 70 mV
Cantilever: square cross-section diamond
Body: ultra duraluminium
VTF: 2g～2.2g (2.1g recommended)
Stylus: Micro Ridge
Weight: 7.9 g

»» DS Master3 Equalizer
Output voltage: 700 mV (@ 1 kHz)
Output impedance: RCA 120 Ω; XLR 120 Ω
Preamp input impedance: >10 kΩ
Input: RCA
Outputs: RCA × 3, XLR × 3
Dimensions: (W x H x D): 452 × 153 × 484 mm
Weight: 24 kg

»«

THIS TEST HAS BEEN DESIGNED ACCORDING TO THE GUIDELINES adopted by the Association of International Audiophile Publications, an international audio press association concerned with ethical and professional standards in our industry, of which HIGH FIDELITY is a founding member. More about the association and its constituent titles → HERE.

→ www.AIAP-online.org