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DS Audio · DS-W3
$16,500
Not currently in our rooms. For a serious buyer we will often bring a piece in from the manufacturer for a private session — tell us about your system and what you are weighing it against, and we will advise.
DS Audio · DS-W3
The DS-W3 System pairs the boron-cantilever DS-W3 optical cartridge with its full-size balanced equalizer: a complete optical front end that reviewers heard as close to DS Audio's flagship.
System price includes the DS-W3 cartridge and DS-W3 Equalizer. Specify stereo or mono cartridge.
Authorized DS Audio dealer · Delivery and installation by Pearl Audio · Trade-ins welcome
The story
A DS Audio system pairs an optical cartridge with the equalizer built for it, so the two are matched from the start and you add nothing but a turntable and tonearm. The DS-W3 cartridge reads the groove with light: a beryllium shading plate on a boron cantilever moves between an LED and a photodetector, with a separate pair for each channel, and output is 70 mV. There are no magnets or coils, so there is no magnetic drag on the cantilever. A line-contact stylus and an aluminum body complete it, and channel separation is 27 dB or more.
The DS-W3 Equalizer powers the cartridge through the tonearm cable and applies the equalization. Its 2.0 mm board with 70 µm copper foil was re-optimized for the third-generation cartridges, and it delivers 500 mV at line level through two pairs of balanced XLR and two pairs of RCA outputs, with a four-position low-cut selector.
Stereophile's Michael Trei heard deep, sharply drawn soundstaging and a rare ability to untangle dense mixes, with no obvious coloration, and ran the 7.9 g cartridge happily in a 14 g effective-mass arm. Jonathan Valin in The Absolute Sound heard much of the Grand Master's character, with bass power, a very quiet background and a tape-like continuity, and reminded readers to ground the equalizer properly. The system plugs into any line-level input, so no phono stage is needed.
| Includes | DS-W3 optical cartridge and DS-W3 Equalizer |
| Cartridge output | 70 mV |
| Cartridge tracking force | Not published by DS Audio on its product page; ask us for the current recommendation |
| Cartridge weight | 7.9 g |
| Stylus / cantilever | Line contact / boron |
| Cartridge body | Aluminum |
| Channel separation | 27 dB or more at 1 kHz |
| Equalizer output | 500 mV at 1 kHz; 120 Ω; load 10 kΩ or more |
| Equalizer inputs / outputs | 1 pair RCA / 2 pairs XLR and 2 pairs RCA |
| Low-cut filter | Four selectable settings |
| Equalizer dimensions (W × H × D) | 17.7 × 4.7 × 17.1 in (450 × 120 × 435 mm) |
| Equalizer weight | 29.8 lb (13.5 kg) |
DS Audio's complete cartridge-and-equalizer systems.
Plan your DS Audio system with Pearl Audio
Pearl Audio is an authorized DS Audio dealer. We can mount and align the cartridge on your tonearm, set up the equalizer, and arrange an audition of the complete system in our Portland showroom. Call (503) 222-2599 or email sales@pearlaudio.com.
The Pearl Audio experience
A system at this level should be heard, thoughtfully matched, and properly set up. From the first audition to long-term ownership, you work with the same people, in person.
The DS-W3 System is not in our rooms at present. When it is the right piece for a client we arrange a demonstration unit from the manufacturer and set it up for a private session.
We deliver and install throughout the Portland area, taking care of placement, connections, ventilation and system configuration ourselves.
We support everything we sell for as long as you own it, whether the answer comes by phone, in your home, or through factory service.
Trade-in assistance and qualifying 100% Trade-Up options give you flexibility when your listening priorities or your system change.
