The Absolute Sound’s Technology & Innovation Awards 2025 feature in a special Fall issue of the US magazine, celebrating “the greatest technologies and innovators in high-end audio”. Prominent among them is Tetsuaki Ayoagi, founder and chief designer of DS Audio and pioneer of the modern optical phono cartridge. Continue reading “A revolution that deserves celebration”: DS Audio wins ‘Technology of the Year’ & ‘Innovator of the Year’ in The Absolute Sound’s Technology & Innovation Awards 2025 →

Last November, US audio magazine The Absolute Sound updated the format of it’s annual Editors’ Choice Awards, splitting the Awards into two parts. While the November issue focused on hi-fi components suited to a home living room, the March issue covers products that best fit into larger systems in dedicated listening rooms – including several of DS Audio’s game-changing optical cartridges and accessories.  Continue reading DS Audio earns six of The Absolute Sound Editors’ Choice Awards 2025 →

Launched in summer 2024, DS Audio’s new entry-level optical cartridge and equalizer borrows ‘third generation’ optical technology from the company’s flagship Grand Master model, aiming to deliver superb performance at a remarkably accessible price point. Chris Frankland puts it to the test in the latest issue of Hi-Fi Plus. Continue reading “The light fantastic”: Hi-Fi Plus reviews DS Audio’s entry-level DS-E3 optical cartridge and equalizer →

Is there an award that hasn’t been won by one or more of DS Audio’s pioneering optical cartridges? The brand and its products continue to wow reviewers and customers alike – and with good reason, given designer Tetsuaki Aoyagi’srelentless commitment to further advancing his innovative technologies and designs, and equally to bringing the benefits of optical technology to ever-more accessible price points, thanks to his judicious use of trickle-down technology.

Continue reading “Astonishing”: DS Audio’s Grand Master Extreme wins The Absolute Sound’s Product of the Year Award 2025, while the DS-003 takes an Editors’ Choice Award →

“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!” Continue reading “An absolute cracker”: Hi-Fi News review DS Audio’s new entry-level DS-E3 optical cartridge →

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.

Continue reading Stereophile reviews DS Audio’s DS-W3 optical cartridge system and applauds the company’s contribution to the industry →

“While we’ve grown used to a parade of game-changers in digital audio, analog is a different story,” writes Jonathan Valin in the April issue of US audio magazine The Absolute Sound. “There haven’t been many radical developments in the world of vinyl”… until, that is, DS Audio’s reinvention, and ongoing envelope-pushing, of the optical cartridge. The DS-W3 is the latest such example. Continue reading “A revelation”: The Absolute Sound reviews DS Audio’s DS-W3 optical phono cartridge →

“Name another recent technological advance that has changed the audio scene as much as DS Audio’s optical cartridges have. If you can’t, that’s because there is none,” says US hi-fi magazine The Absolute Sound. Moreover, the company just keeps on innovating, enhancing its offerings with technology trickled down from its top-of-range masterpieces.   Continue reading DS Audio’s innovative optical cartridges and accessories earn Five Editors’ Choice Awards 2024 from The Absolute Sound →