DS Audio Grand Master EX Optical Cartridge

The Grand Master EX is DS Audio's current flagship cartridge, named 2025 Phono Cartridge of the Year by The Absolute Sound.

It is built around what DS Audio calls a one-piece diamond cantilever, where the diamond cantilever and stylus tip are a single integrated unit rather than bonded separately, for more direct signal transmission. It uses an Ultra Duralumin body with a stainless cantilever holder and a Micro Ridge-type stylus geometry, with channel separation improved over the standard Grand Master.

DS Audio cartridges are optical rather than moving coil or moving magnet: LEDs shine through a shading plate on the cantilever, and the stylus's movement in the groove modulates the light reaching a pair of photodiodes, generating the signal directly with no coil and no magnet. The output is not a standard RIAA phono signal, so it requires a matching DS Audio equalizer rather than an ordinary phono preamp — the equalizer also powers the cartridge's LEDs over the same cable.

US dealers disagree on cartridge-alone pricing by about 10% ($22,500 to $25,000); the figure below is the lower of the two, so confirm the current number with Musical Surroundings before quoting a customer. System pricing with its equalizer is not publicly listed; call for a complete-system quote.

Cartridge

• Stylus: Micro Ridge
• Cantilever: one-piece diamond, 0.22mm square
• Body: ultra-duralumin
• Tracking force: 2.0–2.2g, 2.1g recommended
• Weight: 7.7g
• Channel separation: 27dB or better
• Output: optical, approximately 70mV