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發表於 2021-1-26 12:39:07
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DS Audio Master1 Optical Cartridge and Master1 Equalizer
REVIEW by Jonathan ValinAug 13th, 2020
How a DS Audio Optical Cartridge and Equalizer Work?
First, to make this clear from the start, an optical cartridge is a completely analog device. There is nothing digital about it. Like mm’s and mc’s, it reads the information stored in record grooves by means of the mechanical vibrations of a stylus. But where mm and mc cartridges produce tiny voltages by transmitting those vibrations to a magnet or a coil, which subsequently vibrates within a magnetic field in sympathy with the stylus, DS audio optical cartridges do not transmit vibrations to relatively massive moving objects situated at the far end of a cantilever. Instead, they generate signals by capturing changes in brightness, using an internal LED as a fixed light source, internal photoelectric diodes (photo cells) as receptors, and a very thin opaque plate (a mere 100 microns thick) mounted directly behind the stylus as the vibrating system. (See the illo on the following page.) Moving up and down and side to side in tandem with the motion of the stylus to which it is attached, this tiny plate intermittently blocks the light from the LED that is hitting the photo receptors for the left and right channels, generating variable voltages in the photoelectric diodes by varying the amount of light and shade they see.
What’s New About the Master1?
DS Audio made some changes in the DS-002 that are carried forward in the Master1. The LED and photo sensors have been moved closer still to the stylus, as has the thin opaque plate that serves as the vibrating system, so the amplitude of vibrations can be transmitted and read with greater precision. The use of a traditional suspension, where the cantilever is held rigidly in place via a tension wire secured by a setscrew, has also been retained, where other things, such as the stylus rod and the stylus itself, have been outright improved. The DS 002’s Shibata stylus has been replaced by a micro- ridge type mounted to a sapphire cantilever. The cartridge body, once aluminum, is now constructed of light, strong, vibration-resistant ultra-duralumin.
How Does It Sound?
Thanks to its transparency, the Master1’s reproduction of detail is uncannily precise and musical. On the Festival Quartet’s recording of the Brahms Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor [RCA LSC-6068], for instance, it’s almost as if you’re not only hearing the instruments but also looking at the score unfold in front of you, as if it were superimposed in SurCaps; so when at the start of the third movement andante the lovely viola and piano melody descends by thirds, you hear the interval unmistakably (same, for another example, with the quarter-note durations of the notes in the trio section of the second movement scherzo). In other words, the Master One’s reproduction of pitch and attack is extremely accurate.
Conclusion
The Master1 cartridge and Master1 EQ are simply outstanding products, setting new benchmarks for vinyl playback in several areas (mechanical silence, neutral midband voicing, and midrange-to-low-bass realism). Even where they aren’t setting standards, they are now competitive with the finest coils and magnets. Perhaps the best part of all is DS Audio products still have room to grow: in trackability, in soundstaging, in upper midrange and treble flatness, in overall warmth. Remember, the optical cartridge with internal LED and photo sensors is a relatively new thing. That the folks at DS Audio are taking the perfection of this idea seriously is shown by the remarkable sonic progress they’ve made from the W1 Night Rider to the DS-002 to the Master1. I know this much: If I were in the market for a new phono cartridge and I had the money, the Master1 system would be at the very top of my short list of must-hears. Go listen for yourself, and discover not just a new cartridge but a new phonographic paradigm |
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