What innovative, unconventional cartridge designs can you recommend?

By the way, it takes 28-Watts a long time to warm up nearly 10-kgs of phono stage.
 

Lol

Back to cables…shorter run = better cables for less. You’ll get a feel for the sonics even with cheap cables though. 

The W3 seems significantly higher design/performance than the 03, unfortunately its price is much higher out of budget. Looking at options of used DS equalizers, or try to buy in Japan during a tourist trip.  I have a variety of carts, but what’s unique about DS is its low noise floor, eliminating hysteresis in magnets/coil rebound, and neutral presentation.  

@devinplombier ’ Contempt Prior to Investigation’ 

What have you actually sat in front of and received a demo, especially in a audio system where there is a familiarisation through personal experiences???? 

For others interested in DS Audio Products 

As stated, when searching for the comments supplied across a near four year period from others, which are attached to the earlier post. I did also discover concerns from some who were reporting. Where these individuals were making known issues about the received DS Audio Product.

Stylus alignment is being seen reported on as being noticeably askew, this is something that should be put forward for others who do own or intend to own a DS Audio Product to be aware of.

I would be quite discontented with a purchase that was supplied, that was discovered to have such a undesirable alignment of a Stylus.

For myself I am more than aware of such a poor mounting of a Stylus being supplied, it extends as a discussion across a broad range of forums, on a variety of Cart’s that extends beyond the DS Audio Brand.

The general consensus being the Buyer gets a poor product from the Seller and the Seller gets a poor product from the Manufacturer/Distributor. There is not much in place for certain Cart’ Models to capture quality issues, it is left to the buyer. Unfortunately many buyers are unaware of what condition the Cart’ is in that is put into service. 

In all my experiences had in audio, both personal and using forums, I can easily deduce, there is a small number of individuals who concern themselves with taking on the task of checking a Stylus Mounting on a Cantilever. This leaves me with the notion there are quite a number of DS Audio Cart’ users with a poor Stylus alignment on the Cart’ being used.

A much much more respected member than myself on this forum, quite recently made it known, that a poor Zenith alignment has a substantial impact on a replay of a recording for being noticeably poor. This same person assessment is well worthwhile considering, as a result of their vast experience with the Vinyl Source.

I’m sure others can chime in, and let their experiences be known of the impact on sound quality, as a result of poor stylus alignment being discovered.

I suggest anybody looking to purchase a DS Audio Cart’ inquire as to what their quality control is for a Stylus mounting and what degree of fault on a Stylus mounting is classed as a reject. Anything suspected or proved to be outside of this control parameter, can then be reported on and returned for checking or replacing.

I really do hope, the general idea is, it is not OK for these quality issues to occur on Cart’s costing between £2K - £19K.

Anyway, at least I kept the topic on DS Audio.

@pindac 

Anyway, at least I kept the topic on DS Audio

Yes, while also slinging mud at other unspecified brands!  

I guess when you say Zenith you mean Azimuth?

Talking of product variation, I believe the Audio Technica ART-1000X cartridge comes with an individual tracking force recommendation for each cartridge, due to the extreme difficulty of consistent manufacture. 

The TOTR DS Audio stylus is a single synthetic diamond which incorporates the cantilever, all grown as a single crystal from vapour, as far as I know  Tricky stuff!

There is no doubt in my mind that these high-end items are fragile.  No doubt ultra-lightweight beryllium shade plates need careful handling during transit.

@richardbrand It is not difficult to see on the Gon, across a few years you have been active in Threads about the Stylus on the Cartridge. 

Common subjects on the Stylus is leaning about the set up geometry and weight to be used, where there is concern for the Cartridge / Groove wear and the risk of damaging a source material if the set up is incorrect.

Typically what is learnt is a Cartridge users preference for a set up, a guidance to a set up, and a reference of specialist tools to assist with achieving the most optimised set up.

Near parallel to the above will be the want to learn of how long a Stylus will last, which is typically seen through usage wear only to be 300ish hours through to 2000ish hours, of which my experiences are to suggest are totally acceptable as a period of time for optimised condition to be lost with the stylus profile.

What is learnt from these discussions is both educational and how certain info can be quite influencing, i.e, if a Cart' of a particular model is using a specific Stylus, that is becoming commonly recognised for needing a retip after 300ish hours and this is to be found as the norm, when seen across the wider available forums. The Cart' with said Stylus does lose some of the attraction, when another Cart' with a different Stylus is commonly seen reported as offering a 1000 hours as a typical report.

Discussion about Geometry and Set Up are not at the hands of the manufacturer they are the choices of the Cart's owner. How they invest in this is their choice and the rewards to be had will vary, depending on the investment given up.

Discussion about Stylus Longevity is different, as it influences choices being made. If somebody like myself who budgets on a per album replay basis for the cost of the Cart'.  I usually work close to £2 per Album, when using the typical 1000hrs as the directive, even though my rebuild Cart' in use at the current time is working towards £00.70p per replay.

If a Cart' of interest was to be one with a Stylus being discovered to be a 300ish hour as the timeline to have a Stylus profile remain optimised, will reveal itself as a £6 per Album replay Cart'. This is something I would steer away from.

Does the discussion about the Stylus Usage life of a Brands Cart' model constitute the notion that Mud is being Slung - No it does not.

When it comes to the Brands selection of the Stylus, the Purchaser has very very little influence on this they get what is the design for the particular model. ( This will usually only change, when a retip is required and if the Cart' owner chooses to have an alternate Stylus attached to the Cantilever. 

When it comes to the Brands selection of the Stylus, the Stylus to be used in nearly all situations will be Hand Mounted to the Cantilever. The Purchaser has very very little influence on this, they get what as been created by the employee. More often the purchaser receives an alignment of the Stylus that is poor on all three critical axis. Less common, but occurring is the purchaser receives a mounted Stylus that is not acceptable for the alignment in at the least one of critical axis.

The Purchaser should not receive such poor workmanship for the mounting of the Stylus.

Making poor mounting of a Stylus known to a broader community is not Mud Slinging.

Cart's of all Values at some point have been discovered to have a Stylus mounting that has raised quite a few questions.

 https://korfaudio.com/blog37

 https://www.analogmagik.com/zenith