Leading manufacturer of optical phono cartridges, DS Audio presented a mono version of its entire range at the Munich show.
With a catalog of six cartridges ranging from the affordable DS E3 (1 200 €; optional Phono EQ at the same price) to the benchmark DS Audio Grand Master Extreme (20 000 €) with dedicated phono EQ Grand Master monoblocks (40 000 €), the Japanese manufacturer that appeared in 2013 is still one of the few to offer photoelectric conversion technology, which use light to pass through the diamond cantilever and read the information in the grooves of vinyl records.
In response to demand from customers unable to switch back to other technologies after testing the photo-detector products, all cartridges are now available in mono. From the first to the most sophisticated, they feature a machined solid brass base on which the suspension system has been redesigned to include only the lateral movements of the stylus, and remove components not needed for purely mono playback.
Sold at the same price as the stereo versions, the mono cells are compatible with all DS Audio phono preamps, as well as those of competitors capable of reading the signal from an optical cartridge.
12/06/2025