DS Audio's flagship optical cartridge, with a cantilever and stylus cut from a single piece of diamond.
The Grand Master Extreme takes the Grand Master and changes one critical part. Instead of a stylus glued to a diamond cantilever, the cantilever and Micro Ridge tip are made from one piece of diamond, with no adhesive between them. That way the stylus's motion reaches the generator more directly. The generator is DS Audio's third-generation optical design. A small beryllium shading plate moves between an LED and a photodetector for each channel, so there are no magnets or coils and the output is a high 70 mV. The body is ultra-duralumin with a stainless steel cantilever holder.
Hi-Fi News found that the one-piece diamond assembly made a clear, audible improvement over the standard Grand Master, even though the two measured almost identically. It also found the Extreme still beat the Grand Master when both ran on DS Audio's entry-level equalizer, which supports the reviewer's view that the cartridge matters more than the equalizer. Like every DS cartridge, it needs a DS Audio equalizer to power its LEDs and equalize the signal, and it will not work with a conventional MM or MC phono stage. At 7.9 g it suits most medium-mass, high-quality tonearms.
| Type | Optical (photo-electric) cartridge; requires a DS Audio equalizer |
| Output | 70 mV |
| Channel separation | 27 dB or more at 1 kHz |
| Tracking force | 2.0–2.2 g (2.1 g recommended) |
| Weight | 7.9 g |
| Stylus | Micro Ridge, integral with cantilever |
| Cantilever | One-piece diamond (0.22 mm square) |
| Body | Ultra-duralumin; stainless steel cantilever holder |
| Equalizer | Not included; works with any DS Audio equalizer |
Pearl Audio is an authorized DS Audio dealer. Call or visit our Portland showroom to talk about matching a cartridge to your tonearm and phono stage.
