new cartridge - DS Audio Master1

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pweg

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So today i had installed a new DS Audio Master1 cartridge and matching phono stage. It replaced the DS Audio DS002 cartridge and matching phono.

the changes are spectacular and quite in awe of how a simple piece of plastic can sound so so good. I thought it sounded good before but this has taken it to whole new level.

obviously it needs to break in but already the soundstage is so much more spacious and extends well beyond speakers both laterally and in depth. Also the bass seems to have gone up a notch - sounding deeper, sharper and with more texture. But its the spatial cues that have me excited - its sounds way more 3 dimensional.

here are some pics:

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Am very curious about this cart. What was your previous cart? How does this cart compare to the magnetic ones? TIA! :)
 
the previous cart was another DS Audio one.... havent compared to magnetic ones
 
I read a review on this cartridge system , sorry, I can't recall where, that explained how the optical worked and the virtues of not having a cantilever, and the sonic differences between it and MC/MM carts. I found the review some time back with a browser search so hopefully you'll be able to run across it. I'll see if I can find it for you.
 
This review is familiar enough I know I read it, not sure if it's what I was thinking of though. Seems I misspoke, there is a cantilever.

In my review of the DS-W1, I talked about how exceptional the cartridge is when it comes to temporal realism. This is also true for the DS Master1. Temporal realism is one of the things that most sets live music apart from recorded music. The timing and flow of music seldom seem correct for music played on an audio system. It seems to me that tape and phono cartridges that are displacement-reading devices are better at this than phono cartridges that use magnets. I’m guessing that the movement of the coils or the magnets simply blurs the timing to some small extent. Moving iron cartridges do this less than moving magnets or moving coils, but none that I have heard can match the DS Audio optical cartridges or the Soundsmith Strain Gauge. I have no idea what messes up the temporal realism on digital playback, but it is one of the format’s real weaknesses, in my opinion. The ability to come so much closer to getting the timing and flow of a musical performance correct is part of what makes the DS optical cartridges so enjoyable to listen to.

https://www.dagogo.com/ds-audio-ds-master1-optical-phono-cartridge-and-preampequalizer-review/

This is the review here I was thinking of, it's on the prior version but explains the technology. The cart has a cantilever, it's the magnets or coils that are gone.


Here’s how the Nightrider works: The cartridge uses a light source (a miniature LED) that is powered by the included equalizer/power supply (which replaces your phonostage) via the tonearm cables and internal tonearm wiring. The record-groove vibrations transmitted by the stylus/cantilever modulates this LED light via a moving screen, and the modulated light is picked up by a photoelectric sensor. This photodiode converts the light into an electrical signal, sending it back through the tonearm cabling to the equalizer/power supply unit, which amplifies the signal into a RIAA-equalized line-level output. Unlike the ELP, there are no lasers in the Nightrider. As with the ELP, there is nothing digital about the DS-W1. It is an entirely analog device.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/ds-audio-ds-w1-nightrider-optical-cartridge/

From the reviews I sure would love to hear a DSA set up.
 
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