The Absolute Sound’s annual Product of the Year Awards are the US audio magazine’s “most exclusive and prestigious of honours” which celebrate the world’s very best hi-fi components. To win one is impressive, while to win two is a rare accolade achieved only by truly world-leading tech.

The 2022 awards are announced in the magazine’s January 2023 issue, including a duo of awards for Japanese brand DS Audio in two distinct categories.

Phono Cartridge of the Year: DS Audio DS-003 optical cartridge

Joint winner (alongside the Denon DL-013), DS Audio’s DS-003 features many of the innovations of its “ten times more expensive brother, the nonpareil DS Audio Grand Master”, which is the company’s flagship ‘third generation’ model. A previous Product of the Year Award winner, the Grand Master was described by reviewers as “setting new standards of fidelity in the ultra-high end”.

The DS-003, meanwhile, has also just received The Absolute Sound’s Golden Ear Award 2022, acknowledging its qualities as a “’trickle-down” masterpiece”. The tech ‘trickled’ from the Grand Master includes a dual-mono optical/electrical generator with independent LEDs and photo detectors for each channel, as well as a featherweight beryllium shading plate which reduces moving mass to 1/10th that of a typical moving-coil cartridge.

“These technological advances make for virtually the same kind of sonic improvements that they do in the Grand Master,” writes The Absolute Sound. “Channel separation is greatly enhanced – to the benefit of soundstaging and imaging.” Noise is lowered “to a near-inaudible level, increasing resolution and dynamic range” while tonality is rendered in a “lusciously rich, full-bodied, deep-reaching fashion”.

In short: “Go for the DS-003. It is a simply marvellous transducer.”

You can read Jonathan Valin’s 2022 review in full online.

Technology Breakthrough of the Year: DS Audio ES-001 Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer

DS Audio’s ES-001 is “A breakthrough product from a company that seems to specialize in breakthrough products”, writes The Absolute Sound.

Despite today’s proliferation of high-end audio products, there are still some drawbacks of recorded music that haven’t been addressed. Thankfully, the ES-011 effectively addresses “one of the most persistent of them”, namely the eccentricity of vinyl records which results in unwanted wow and flutter.

“Some degree of eccentricity (the opposite of concentricity or perfect centering) can be—and most likely is—“built into” all your vinyl recordings, either because of a slightly offset spindle hole or an imprecise pressing, in which the puck of heated vinyl was not perfectly centered beneath the stamper, or the stamper itself was slightly canted in its carriage.”

“Meet the DS Audio ES-001 Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer. It only does the one thing. But, boy, does it do it well.”

The sonic improvement that the ES-001 makes are consistent and consistently positive. They are almost exactly like the differences you see in a photo that was taken with a camera on a tripod and one that was taken handheld. Blur disappears, focus becomes tack-sharp, colors are more distinct and natural, depth of field and of image are clarified, ambient space around images is expanded, and performance/orchestration/recording details that were slightly fudged aren’t anymore.”

“If you’re deeply into analog, the ES-001 is a must-own item.”

Read The Absolute Sound’s review in full online.

Find out more at https://ds-audio-w.biz and track down your nearest dealer via UK distributor http://www.soundfowndations.co.uk

You can discover the full list of Product of the Year Award 2022 winners in the January 2023 issue of The Absolute Sound.