HifiNews test DS Audio DS-E1 – In de HifiNews van mei 2019 test Ken Kessler het instapmodel van DS Audio: de DS-E1. Hij noemt het element ‘The Game Changer’.
Stille achtergrond
Een groot voordeel van de optische elementen van DS Audio is hun stille achtergrond. Ken Kessler:“As I soon realised, upon learning about and hearing a DS cartridge for the first time, the technology completely eliminates the low-level hum present in all cartridges using some combination of magnets and coils. No matter how low the hum, it’s still there. These ‘optical’ pick-ups bring vinyl closer to one of digital’s inarguable benefits: much reduced background noise.”
Value for Money
Ken Kessler vergelijkt in het review de E1 met de 10x duurdere Master 1. Hij ontdekt hierbij de ‘law of diminishing returns’: de E1 komt angstig dicht bij het niveau van de Master 1…“Proving further that the DS-E1 is a bargain was the stupendous 50th anniversary edition of The Band’s Music From Big Pink [Capitol 0602567480525], the album remastered and offered on two thick slabs of vinyl playing at 45rpm. Here I turned to the organ that dominates ‘Chest Fever’, to hear the overwhelming sound of Garth Hudson’s Lowrey, the DS-E1 digging deep – almost as deep as the Master 1… at ten times the price. (Yes, you read that correctly.)By this point, I was growing disconcerted. I love the Master 1 and it has been my reference cartridge for over a year. I recognise the Law of Diminishing Returns. I understand a reviewer’s responsibility is to the reader, not the manufacturer or advertiser, but the DS-E1 was upsetting my apple-cart.”
Conclusie
En dan de conclusie van Ken Kessler:“I think it could be the sixth biggest game-changer in cartridges in three decades. The other five? Its older siblings. […]
What can I say? Being offered this level of performance at a fraction of the cost of what came before is a godsend at a time when most high-end brands seem blissfully unaware that value-for-money matters more now than it has for decades. If the thought of a radical change in technology doesn’t scare you, the DS-E1 provides the chance to hear your LPs as you’ve never imagined. I’m still shaking my head in disbelief.”
Download hier het volledige review in PDF.
