Michael Trei of US hi-fi magazine Stereophile figures that over the past 50 years, he must have installed “well over 1,000 phono cartridges” so it’s safe to say he knows a good thing when he hears it – and he hears it in DS Audio’s DS-W3! Equally impressed by the ethos of the company as he is by the performance of its products, Trei opts to dig a little ‘behind the scenes’ to discover more about the genesis of DS Audio’s pioneering optical cartridge system and its vision for the future.

It’s a fascinating story. “Shortly after leaving university, Tetsuaki Aoyagi, DS Audio’s CEO and founder, set himself a life goal of creating a unique product that would bring people joy,” writes Trei. After acquiring the skills that he knew he would need to run an effective business, it was a chance encounter with an audiophile employee at his father’s optical-engineering company that led Aoyagi to the realization that he had found his unique product – one that didn’t currently exist anywhere in the world. To his enormous credit, Aoyagi therefore painstakingly created it – and did so brilliantly. Since their launch a decade ago, DS Audio’s optical phono cartridges have become widely recognised as world-leading in performance, while also remaining completely unique.

While most people would seek to capitalize on, and profit from, that, “DS Audio has made it clear that their goal is to promote optical cartridges as a concept,” notes Trei. “Instead of trying to lock down the company’s work behind patents and hidden ‘secret sauce’ circuitry, they have made their design specifications public while supporting manufacturers who want to create their own optical cartridge platforms.”

As for the DS-W3, “I feel that [it] sits right in the sweet spot of the DS Audio range, benefiting from technology trickled down from the $60,000 Grand Master model,” Trei writes in his review. “[It] is one of those cartridges that makes you want to dig through your records, asking yourself, “How is that one going to sound?”

“Whether optical cartridges become widespread the way Tetsuaki Aoyagi hopes is yet to be determined, but, based on how the DS-W3 sounds, I feel optimistic that more companies will embrace this reborn technology. In the meantime, the DS-W3 is enthusiastically recommended.”

You can read Michael Trei’s article and review in full online at www.stereophile.com/content/spin-doctor-11-alternative-phono-cartridge-technologies-and-ds-audio-ds-w3-optical-cartridge

Discover DS Audio’s complete range of optical cartridges and accessories at https://ds-audio-w.biz and track down your nearest specialist retailer via UK distributor www.soundfowndations.co.uk