DS Audio Launches PH-001 Optical Cartridge Phono Cable

Since 2013, when Japanese pioneers DS Audio launched its first optical phono cartridge onto the worldwide audio market, the company has continually advanced and refined its offerings, currently in its third generation. Still unique in the world, DS Audio's optical cartridges dispense with the usual moving magnet (MM) and moving coil (MC) designs and instead use an optical system that converts stylus/cantilever movement into audio signals which, claims the company, completely eliminates the unwanted electromagnetic forces that are rife in MM and MC designs.

In phono cables in an MM or MC cartridge set-up, the 'cold' side of the phono cable serves only as a ground. However, with an optical cartridge, the cold side is used to supply power from the equaliser to the cartridge; hence, the cold side is equally as crucial as the signal-carrying 'hot' side. Therefore, DS Audio's new PH-001 phono cable features identical materials and construction on both the hot and cold sides, ensuring that the power supply is kept highly stable.

Furthermore, partly due to the photo sensors used in optical cartridges, they have relatively high impedance, so some external noise could be picked up if an unshielded phono cable were used. The DS Audio PH-001 is fully shielded with a silver-plated copper braid to mitigate this.

The PH-001 features silver-plated, pure copper conductors. Each conductor comprises 37 strands of 0.26mm diameter wire, giving a sizeable overall conductor cross-sectional area of 1.964mm2.

The RCA phono terminals are also machined from pure copper, and the pure copper base conductor is then gold-plated. We are told that this enables "even more musical detail and texture to shine through, along with a heightened sense of openness".

Finally, should you wish to retain the option of switching between phono cartridges, the PH-001 cable can also be used with moving magnet (MM) and moving coil (MC) models.

The DS Audio PH-001 phono cable is available now, priced at £1,895 (inc. VAT).

Visit DS Audio for more information