“Those wizards of trickledown tech are at it again,” writes Ken Kessler in the magazine’s October issue, as “DS Audio’s new entry-level model gives you a taste of the [flagship] Masters series at less than a tenth of the price!”

“DS Audio’s optical cartridges are among the few truly revolutionary high-end hi-fi products of the past decade or so,” writes Kessler, who finds himself “hard-pressed to name something in hi-fi as exciting”.

In the decade since DS Audio’s launch, designer Tetsuaki Aoyagi has continued to advance and refine the company’s optical cartridge design, as well as openly sharing his technology with the outside world in order to enable other companies to join him in manufacturing compatible phonostages. Importantly, Aoyagi has constantly strived to make the considerable benefits of optical cartridges available to an ever-wider range of music lovers, thanks to his judicious employment of trickledown technology to craft models at a variety of price points.

The DS-E3 is DS Audio’s new entry-level model, replacing the earlier DS-E1, and it sports much of the ‘third generation’ of optical technology found in the brand’s flagship ‘Master’ models.

“What you’re getting today for £2,295 is akin to what would have cost you £10,000 three years ago,” writes Kessler. “Rarely have I seen such beneficial use of trickledown technology, and in such a short time”.

Want to know how it sounds? Kessler unpacks that in some detail, which you can read in full here: View / download Ken Kessler’s DS-E3 review from Hi-Fi News October 2024

Ken’s conclusion: “DS Audio does it again! If you’ve been waiting to try a DS cartridge, wait no longer.”

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