*There’s an Audiophiliac/Steve Guttenberg imposter scamming my viewers, There’s no FREE gifts. DON’T respond! I don't do giveaways or ask for money (except for my Patreon)*
@@stevenoconnor5693 Well ... is this optical cartridge the future of the phonograph before our eyes? Some of us wondering with not many months left on this Earth plane. A You Tube channel called Novalux Stereophonic has 2 months ago, uploaded a video of the 1959 year British elite's EMI 600 tube amplifier, that you know wasn't mass-market like the Marantz models he's comparing it with. The YT member doesn't play any music. he's just talking about their technical comparison. John Williams, Steve or Nelson Pass don't have any Xmas trees up, you may have noticed? Different strokes for different folks, huh?
Philco had the idea first, back in the early 1940s with their "Beam of Light" record player. It used an incandescent light bulb because LEDs hadn't been invented yet, but otherwise the concept was remarkably similar -- the stylus's movement caused the amount of light reaching a photocell to vary, and the resulting electrical signal was converted into audio.
yes, there is nothing impressive about this, at this time. Frankly, I think it's a pretty big waste of money. I do think it was impressive that Philco did this in the 40s though. The problem with reviews is that things tend to get juiced up. Sure, I'd like to hear this thing. but when I think about it I bet I think I would prefer SACD to this thing.
That device is exactly what I had in mind which Is why I said this cartridge is nothing new. But the way he acts all excited you would think that this is some astonishing new invention. It isn't.
@@steven3557What's so cool about it? It's still going to wear out your precious vinyl like every other cartridge. OK you get to watch it glowing blue or green or whatever color they choose next while it does so but you'll have paid $60,000 for the privilege!
Philco did something similar in 1942. It was called music on a beam of light. My parents bought this large floor standing radio with the record player built in. As I understand there was a light source that shined on a tiny mirror attached to the cantilever. This light from the mirror was focused on a photosensitive cell that produce the signal to the amplifier by way of the needle moving through the record groove. Sadly, in my early teens I discarded the record player as it only played 78s and I was beginning to buy 45s so I found a record player to do the job. I sure wish I had not thrown the original away but I do still have this old radio and it was working. Model 42-395.
I found a nice article about the DS-E1... called "the vinyl-enlightener" A pretty matching name I think, lol! And the price of under 3 Grand is awesome too! As far as I remember, this cartridge is a cooperation of a Japanese Father and Son, who manufacture cartridges together for quite a time now. They build pretty good MC cartridges, but the son began to develop this analog optical device 5 or 6 years ago if I remember well... Anyhow, the result is - no question - a real miracle of the analog audio world! By the way: May Einstein be praised for his Nobel prize. The technology of the DS-E1 is related to his research of 1905. (Well, yes,l he got the Nobel prize for his study of the "photoelectric effect" of light and no way for "the Theory of relativity". )
Some of my favorite audio compressors like the LA 2A by techtronics uses optical components to control the amplitude so this makes a lot of sense to me I think it's a great idea love to see it love to hear it even more
Been using an la 2a for a couple years now, crazy to think I didn’t know this. I’ll have to get a closer look at it once I figure out how to get it running again (seems to have a total no power fault, all my fuses are good, idk)
When i was at college we had a laser record player that used a helium neon laser. The laser was focused in the groove and worked by measuring the scatter with 4 photodiode sensors, 2 each differential sensors that gave a signal when the record was moving. The record turntable itself was what moved to keep the laser tracking the audeo track. The tracking signal was quite similar to an optical mouse sensor but cruder. The main problem with it was expense and that it would jump the track from a finger print or dust on the grove area. Also it has an impossible to get rid of hiss. It was made by RCA if i remember right. 🤓😁
The underlying principle of this cartridge is to remove the conventional moving mass from either an MC or MM cartridge. This is very similar in how a moving iron (MI) cartridge operates --- it keeps the magnets and coils fixed while the end of the cantilever wiggles a piece of iron between the two. The idea is to reduce mass as much as possible so the stylus can better track the groove.
This reminds me of a turntable that I saw in the'80s from Japan that used three lasers (height, left channel, right channel) to read vinyl recordings so there was no damaging stylus touching the media whatsoever.
There are models from DS audio between the E1 and the Grand Master. I started with the DS-002 some years ago and recently upgraded to the DS-003. Currently playing Close Encounters on the DS-003.. Wonderful! It is also possible to mix between the cartridge models and energizer boxes. I upgraded only the cartridge from the 002 to the 003 but kept the energizer from the 002. The DS-002 had a Shibata Stylus, the DS-003 has a Micro Ride Stylus.
At a purchase price of thousands, I won't be buying one anytime soon, but I want a few ! Great video - yes like comments made below it reminds me of the 'beam of light'.
Its been over twenty years ago but a kid on my block invited us over to play smash brothers or goldeneye on the 64. On the wall was a record player that had a door like mechanism that opened. It was tempered steel that had been twisted into a spiral and supported the bearing . (steel as in the type from printer rollers, really heavy duty). It was really fancy but it was a record player that used a laser to read the album and would project on a tiny screen in the corner sine waves of different colors for different frequencies to isolate white noise and crackling noises or something. I was 12 at the time, 37 now. Never have seen anything like it since....anywhere. They exist, I seen it and wasn't remotely interested in games anymore afterwards. His dad said that the R and D guys let him have it cause the higher arcs in suits saw no commercial value in it cause CD's were the future. Where did he work? I wish I knew.
i could also assume one next step could be the "pickup camera " takes a "picture" of the vinyl and reassemble the music in a computer thus negating even the need to play it but it would be digital unless one could make it analog- guess that next step after that
I am still using a Technics 450C-II (4 channel) strain gauge cartridge for playing LP's. It's mounted on an Hitachi Direct Drive turntable. The original quadraphonic phono amp that came with this cartridge died some time ago (probably bad electrolytics) so I built a new (stereo) amp that is powered by batteries (no AC current ripple). It sounds phenomenal, but I still miss the Shure V15 Type V cartridge that had the cantilever snap due to a clumsy accident on my part. My other TT is a B&O Beogram TX-2 Tangential Tracking unit with an MMC3 cartridge. It is also excellent.
I always thought it should be possible to create a phonograph cartridge that visually scans the groove as the record spins and converts that visual "wave" into the electrical impulses that the turntable is expecting. This would mean that there would be no need for a needle nor any contact with the record at all! Records would last far longer and you'd probably never have to replace it.
@@worldcomicsreview354 Not much of a market for it I imagine, especially at that price. Kind of like Betamax, which was definitely superior to VHS but was just too expensive. If Sony had licensed the tech to others like JVC did with VHS that may not have been the case, but what's done is done.
The technology this cartridge uses is perfectly sound and probably pretty good too. But as you have pointed out it is inherently "soft" for one simple reason, using an optical device adds another "layer" to the signal translation. The beauty of analog is that gradients in pressure that we know as sound waves are directly translated into an electrical signal, there is no sampling involved. It is a true physical representation of the wave. This in turn, is physically etched without any bits, or sampling, or whatever into the record groove. When you use an optical system to translate those vibrations to an electrical circuit there are inevitable loses in the process. As expected, the result is "warm" and smoothed out. That why that old crappy record sounds "nicer". It's like the endless arguments between tubes and transistors in amps, tubes make everything sound "good" since their inherent distortion does not allow the resolution necessary to tell the difference between so-so and great.
I have a little known CD accessory that plugs inline between the player and amplifier. It’s called VINYLNESS. it creates a unique background noise track with occasional understated pop, a bit of scratch and adjustable “drag”. It was privately distributed in the Seattle area in the 90s. Pretty cool party trick.
This is a pretty straightforward implementation to an optical based transducer. My question is how is the mass of the parts the cantilever has to move compared to normal MM or MC carts. If the mass is significantly lower that would give it a big advantage. If the mass is similar I would expect more conventional designs to be very competitive with this. Thanks for the review.
Mass is only one thing. The principle is very different (it is a modulator not a transducer) so things like electrical behaviour come into the comparison. For one, this seems to be a purely resistive load. Also effects like magnetic damping do not exist. Linearity should in principle be better also.
Interesting idea. It's still tracking the groove by dragging something mechanical through it, though: it's just how you detect the results of that dragging that's different.
I've heard different models of DS Audio setups several times and have always been blown away. I seriously considered one, but only decided against it because I was needing upgrade both line and phono stage. Do not let your suspect perceptions fool you - go listen.
I heard a similar cartridge in a high-end store in Verona, NJ. Garth Leerer, of Musical Surroundings, brought it in. He also brought in a Clearaudio Goldfinger cartridge. I do not remember which optical cartridge he demonstrated. But it was very good. It was realistic, and that was on a highly resolving stereo system. However, the Goldfinger cartridge was the winner, in my opinion. That was approximately 8 - 10 years ago. So the current lineup of optical cartridges would probably give the Goldfinger a photo-finish challenge, or perhaps win? Clearaudio probably had someone improvements in their line, too. The optical cartridge was impressive, and exceeded my expectations. But that Clearaudio Goldfinger cartridge was amazing!
Lots of confusion. Does it play better in the dark? Can you get better sound by greening the outer edge perimeter of the lp? Will tightening the collar of a removable headshell tonearm really tight, improve the sound? Is there still inner groove distortion? Is cartridge alignment critical? Are warped records suddenly not a factor? Would there be wow and flutter when playing a very warped record? Would cleaning the part the light comes out really good with Windex, improve the sound? Would getting the cartridge screws really tight, improve the sound ? Is the light bright enough to read by? If a record skips with a regular cartridge, will it skip with that? Where am I going to get $2,700 at this time of the year? Will it play 45s and 78s? Will cartridge demagnetizers help? Remember those? Am I the only one?
Steve, thank you and Merry Christmas, you convinced me to get a DS-Audio cartridge, I trust your verdict, it sound like an absolutely amazing cartridge. And no more need of 2 box phono preamp, less noise, clearer definition, more music, yeeeesss!
I guessing a similar technology to an optical mouse, with greater resolution and demodulation of the returned light. Surface wear improvement over typical stylus? Very cool. Thanks for reviewing.
This kinda reminds me of a formerly mainstream technology that would play music from a reflective disc using light. It could also be used for video, and even data!
The laser pickup (ELP) was introduced about 30 years ago and worked (badly). The problem was (and is) that the laser would "read" everything in the grooves including micro dust. A conventional mechanical stylus can plow through that dust to read the grooves better. (BTW; the ELP did not require a reflective disk, a conventional disc was satisfactory, which make it more useful to play vinyl.)
Funny - When I was young and didn’t have much disposable income I was constantly chasing the latest, next best development in hifi. Now that I can easily afford almost any equipment, I’m very happy with and completely enjoy my rather modest system - McIntosh pre & power amp from the 70’s, Revel M22 speakers, $300 NAD CD player, and late 80’s Denon turntable with same vintage Grado cartridge. Enjoying the music!
Glad to see you’re doing okay Steve! I liked the viewer system today, especially the turntable. The Sumiko Bluepoint is the cart I’m planning to upgrade to
I'm no expert, probably not even qualified to express an opinion, but I've used Sumiko cartridges for over 30 years (just bought another) and think they're wonderful. Living in Southern California, I've been to a number of "high-end" shops and shows (Stereophile, T.H.E. etc.), and when I get home I'm happy as a clam with my rather low end, entry level VPI Scout and Sumiko cartridge. As far as I'm concerned, one can spend 50 -100 times as much and not get much better sound. Enjoy your Sumiko!
@ItsJim thanks! I had an Ortofon Red and it was outrageously bright. I bought an Sumiko Moonstone and couldn’t be happier with it. The Bluepoint seems like the next logical step 🤝
@@jeremyr722 did you try the Ortonfon Blue as a replacment stylus for the Red? Everyone talks about how much better it is. I'm using the Red for now on my U-Turn Orbit Special, but am torn between getting a Blue (easy 5 minute change out job) or upgrading to a Sumiko Moonstone for a smoother sound.
@Ross Warren no, I didn’t bother. The sales rep (whom I trust) said bright is part of Ortofon’s house sound. He said the Sumiko lineup is much warmer and smoother, and he was right!
1 year for cartridge is actually LONG! Considering how many opportunities there are for customers to “accidentally” damage a cartridge, I would say that 12 months is a very long warranty.
optical pickup is just the next step but i guess the dust might have a huge impact or angle or even differnt reflections -i would guess a mechanical has some deley and i also guess and optical could be made so its skips real bad scratches making old bad records playble again unless the groves are totally worn out
This idea was first used and sold by Philco in the 1940’s and i think Toshiba did one in the mid 60’s.. it didnt go anywhere then and I doubt this will either, but for heavens sake its ancient not new at all
Sorry to hear you are not a John Williams fan but I'm so glad you gave 'Close Encounters' the credit it deserves. Now do me a favor and please listen to the great John Barry.
Oh yeah, I would love to hear you review Tekton's Polycell 15's. Yes I own a pair and you won't offend me. I'm running mine on a very old Pioneer VSX Receiver at 4 ohms. I listen to a lot of classical, R&B and rock. Even at really low volume I love these speakers. Please let me know what you think.
I imagine a TRUE optical cartridge, that does not use a stylus, but an incredibly accurate optical/laser based sensor that uses light to read the vinyl. Doesn't wear out your record, and in theory, if designed well enough, can give you perfect/ideal playback of your vinyl. Objectively superior reproduction of the information on the vinyl. Doesn't matter if you subjectively prefer another cartridge, that's fine and dandy. The optical cartridge can, in theory, simply give you a more accurate (read: perfectly accurate) retrieval of the information on vinyl. It is superior, period. If you prefer something else, then you prefer an inferior sound... this is common in many components and situations. "softness" "roundness" "naturalness", even ordered harmonics... many people prefer inferior audio. I'd rather let the final piece of the puzzle, the speakers (or headphones), be the only component with any discernable or measurable degree of imperfection. This device is only a half-way technology. Still cool, but not nearly as cool as optically reading the vinyl would be. Granted that must be technically difficult.
@@razisn Its almost impossible to get those things to work right. The system has no way of telling the difference between what's on the grove, and dust/dirt, so it amplifies both. The record has to be absolutely perfect. The upside is you hear no ticks and pops.
@@razisn I wouldn't go that far. Its still a fully analog turntable. Someone who buys a turntable like this won't buy it over a cd player, or any other digital source. Its real competition are traditional phono cart based designs. If it converted the signal to digital, you can definitely make a case. However, turntables are far from dead and laser designs have none of the traditional tics and pops that annoy most people. That was always their target customer. The excessive cleaning is what really kept people from buying them. As for the technology, the fix would most likely come in the form of a better way to clean records. Dust and dirt was blocking the laser from hitting the groove.
These people like to be fooled, damn! First was MOFI using SACD as a source and "audiofooled" people claimed 100% they could hear differences if there were a digital source in the process. This thing has 24 dB of channel separation, any basic CD player has 90 dB.
Interesting that laser pickup turntables haven't replaced the old fashioned diamond/cantilever styles that dominate the turntable market. Seems like there would be lots of advantages to lasers extracting groove info, but probably not a lot of incentives for makers to look into the technology since the VC seems happy with the way things are.
Laser turntables were killed by digital. They were never perfected because it wasn't worth the investment in R&D. It was a big tech endeavour not a specialised small shop thing.
The biggest downside was the record had to be perfect. If it wasn't completely clean, the TT had no way of telling between the grove and dust/dirt, so it would pick up and amplify both.
@@AT-wl9yq Hi, to me the great problem beyond the high price is the people wants the laser turntable do miracles with the used and dusted disc, wear and dust are problems from discs not from laser turntable.
Try a 1974 Philips 312 it's the Aristona 1312 brother that I have with a new or new old stock sylus. Can be Elips or non-elips. Sometime when you have the opportunity.
I have a 1930s console radio phono that originally used an optical pickup. but some former owner hashed it with a later turntable that doesn't even fit the mounting board.
So it is possible to buy just the cartridge and insert it on a traditional turntable? You said you needed a preamp but systems that don't have an external preamp have a built in preamp or you can have one separate as you do. Without having to buy the $2700 system you referred to? Because what you were saying at 1st really contradicted that. You described it as a stand alone system where the cartridge only worked with the $2700 Or $60000 system...
Sounds like the E1 is lighter and has less inertia than the moving coil cartridge. Explains the "better tracking" that you suggested about crappy recordings. And it may explain the "more punch" in the bass on the moving coil cartridge. Like a weight on a woofer can make bass "punchy" by overthrowing.
Vinyls will come back into popularity once somebody invents an alternative to the stylus: a device that just "reads" the grooves without needing physical contact.
I think Vinyl has already reached everyone it's going to reach. Hipsters don't care about groove wear. Audiophiles who may be interested due to a mix of some records being mastered better and some outright misconceptions about the technical capabilities of the format, don't need this to sell it to them. Audiophiles like me who consider vinyl to be an expensive pain in the ass that is inferior to every format I currently use and would just inhibit me from collecting and enjoying the music, wouldn't be sold by this at all, because all those reasons still stand. And for what it's worth, the device you're describing exists, and it's dozens of thousands of . And it's not very good, because it picks up microscopic particles that a stylus would just brush out of the way, so you have to wash the record every time.
i wish i was online and could hear and see this.... some had Covid and others have a leasing company that won't pay it's bills ;) GLAD TO SEE YOU ARE UP AND WELL... hoping to have your show again soon! :) - m.
I think this tech is special too. Please get the ds003 system in, as this has the latest tech and still attainable pricing. Would love your feedback as think it is way better than the dsE1 (which is still fantastic).
Totally agree. I have spent considerable time with the DS-E1 and 003 and it’s not close. Also the 003 cartridge is my only cartridge and it’s the best upgrade I’ve ever made in my system that includes Devore Super Nines.
The vinyl resurgence over the last 15 years has been a head scratcher for me..... CDs and streaming is clearly superior but some people dump ungodly amounts of money on Turntables and LPs, it's just pure craziness. My dad who was an Audiophile, I remember him leaving behind Vinyl in the 80s....
I see comments like your frequently. I use CDs and I stream using Tidal Hi-fi. But I also have a turntable system and quite often it is superior. Just better sound. Not in every case but where it fails it is always a direct result of a less than optimum sounding record or poor pressing. When vinyl is good, it can be outstanding and to my ears it can be superior to CDs or streaming.
For Many, audio is just a way to keep life fun, not music, not engineering. Take look at head-fi forum for sale headphones , there are freaks keep buy and sell headphones just to keep that life going. Try transactions with them, they Not like to use phone or email as a human. It‘s sick
Joseph quit scratching your head and thank the music Gods for blessing you with golden ears, look at all the money and time you save. And feel compassion for those of us with tin ears and our tendency toward craziness. Remember it's not nice to make fun of people with mental and emotional disabilities.✌✌✌😀😀😀
theres the conundrum for you, some people think that vinyl 'is superior'. I like the way you put it on and the 'vinyl' sound and collecting them with them being larger and more 'arty'. i have a £1000 dac playing from qobuz on my pc and my planar 6 sounds markedly better too.
I am curious about the sound of this "light stylus". I have always thought that someone sooner or later would build such a thing, and that it would sound "digital", because in my opinion the "turntable sound" that many love is due to mechanical inertia and elastic properties of the stylus and their coupling with the magnetic interface that transduces it and produces the electric signal. In other words, I think that the particular "color" to the sound comes from that rather than from the fact that the recording is analogue. This kind of cartridge looks like the perfect experiment to disprove my belief, so it's an intersting one. What is your impression?
The fact the this system has a "shutter" means that the signal received from the LP is quantized. I mean, when the shutter is in the "shut" phase you don't have any sound. It's really dependent on the the frequency of the shutter. As in CD and any quantized "liquid" music. It is not analog anymore.
I can imagine that this phono cartridge will not sound like any others just the same as the others are not sound the same as well, because I strongly believe that the sound we hear from LP is not exactly the sound in the LP itself. It is the combination of sound in the LP, cartridge, phono preamp and the equalizer (quality of parts used as well). The cartridge is the most influence. Despite what I love the sound from my LP I know that it is not the sound in the LP or the original sound before cut/press in to LP. That make me think I may or may not like it if I can hear the original.
I think in the 70s Toshiba and some other may be trying the photo sensor cartridge also, but not commercially successful. While STAX had a capacitive cartridge. Not sure how many people still crazy about turntable. I am in the process of letting go my SME 20 first edition with Graham 2.1... i use digital playback with ordinary media player, but modified with my 55 years of electronics tweaker hands...
8:21 I know that this is totally off topic, but you bought this album at Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton, NJ. It's the greatest record store I've ever been to!
Steve: Glad to hear you're recovering from COVID-19. Hope Robin is well too. It was only a matter of time, now that it's endemic. My bout right after my omicron booster allowed me to finally get back to the UK to visit family! 🎶😷🎶 PS this review is quite a contrast to my morning of having my Bluesound Vault2 ripped CD collection of 26,500 flac files backed up to a SanDisk 1TB SSD so I can take my music to my friend's house. (I ordered a nice simple Bluesound PowerNode and Wharfdale 12.4 system for her. $1600 total including cables! She'll be subscribing to Spotify. Modern simplicity. Setting up next week;-)
Good album examples you used, esp. the 2nd one. I think that most people know how that one came across. - And you're right, it's not laser-on-phonograph. Which begs the question... Isn't that what CDs and DVDs are... so what's the problem? I bet that DS Audio is working on that very thing as we speak.
I was questioning the stylus shape because of the price and quick wear compared to other shapes, but the provided perspective of this product probably being used in a rotation, made the product a lot more understandable. Glad to see some competition in this type of very interesting design, since it seems to hold the key to minimum moving mass. the skeptical side of me supposes they couldn't have provided a better cantilever for the money, least they undercut the $60,000 job, they sell, because there can't be much different going on with the optical readers. I hope that this product does well, and attracts more people willing to risk trying to sell a cartridge and a box into a mass market that typically already has a phono box and is used to only spending on just a cartridge. Being just as good in that situation won't cut it, but the potential of a simple optical reader providing high end results at low cost might be the key. And then of course, the next evolution would be to remove the stylus assembly completely . Last I read about such stuff, the library of congress has a laser record player , and I wonder how the design has matured after so many years, if it is still being made.
This video reminded me of a record player with a similar concept released by Toshiba around 1973. TOSHIBA SR-50 At that time, I was still a child and could not buy it, but in the image of the catalog, the cartridge was a ball-shaped spaceship, which reminded me of 2001: A Space Odyssey. de gozaru !! このビデオを観て７３年ごろに東芝から出たSR-50を思い出しました。当時はガキだったのでもちろん買えんかったが、カタログの写真を見る限り ２００１年宇宙の旅に出てくる宇宙船の球形の居室を思わせたでござる！！
Thanks for the review; I had assumed that these carts were not touching the record in any way and I wondered about the setup of that. The separate EQ makes switching carts a little bit more involved, since you also have to swap preamps when you change carts?
Soo there is still a needle in the groove, but the movement left/right or up/down modulates somehow light that shines on some photoresistors or something? A tad bit more technical background would be welcome on this novelty.
No novelty. It has been around for more than 10 years and the technology it uses is well established. Not to mention that the principle has been used since the 1940s but never gained any traction. Yes, that's roughly how it works. Cantilever movement controls shutters which modulate the light in a LED to silicon optocoupler.
I feel like with this, you are talking a half step back to digital which defeats the point of going to the all mechanical vinyl sound. Like getting a mechanical watch with a built in battery.
no digital involved at all, in this. Vinyl reproduction is not all mechanical as you like to think. There is a mechanical to electrical transducer involved. So it is electromechanical. This is a just another type of transducer. Btw, in theory you can have a mechanical or electromechanical digital system. You seem to confuse your digital, analogue, mechanical and electrical concepts. Get educated. Less time spent making stupid comments in youtube and more in reading may help.
Great stuff, Steve! This is not a device that I'd =ever= consider purchasing, but it's cool to know what is going on in the world of high end consumer audio technology. Also, I am grateful to be pointed to music I haven't yet experienced, like the Close Encounters soundtrack, or reminded of music that I haven't listened to in a while, like the first album from Steve Winwood's group, Traffic. Turns out that Steve W. is a couple of years older than me, and was only 19 years old when the album was recorded, early in 1968. Thanks for this video, and all the work you have shared with us over the years. All the best to you and Mrs. Audiophiliac! ♥
Not new, Toshiba did it in the late 1960's. It was remarkable, that they underlined, the record won't be played optically, that it needed an extra box and that the frequency response was not very good, up to 14 kHz only.
The WOW FACTOR..I never heard of this before, exciting 😳. Leave it to Steve Guttenberg to tell it like it is.Its not in my orbit cost wise.Thank you Steve for the uptake on this.Glad that you are feeling better. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year..Cheers.PS. I saw Janis Joplin and Big Brother and The Holding Co. back in the day when promoting that album..they were incredible..after their encode song the bass player Peter Albin blew out his speakers..a great concert.!!!!
Cheers for the great vid🙏, very interesting… But if vinyl experts are chasing the secrets off into …??, then as someone with no vinyl.. , not sure I see the point of starting into it..?🙏
As someone who's fiddled around with synthesizers for years, and loves using Vactrol filters for their sound, I often wondered what it'd be like if someone created an optical cartridge in some way. I can't wait to find out what this sounds like.
That's a waste of time. Doesn't matter how perfect the playback, most of that sound isn't pressed onto the record in the first place. Almost as if pursuing vinyl to hear the "original analogue sound as the artist intended" was a fool's errand all along...
*There’s an Audiophiliac/Steve Guttenberg imposter scamming my viewers, There’s no FREE gifts. DON’T respond! I don't do giveaways or ask for money (except for my Patreon)*
Well, hello.
Wow you don’t like John williams I’m surprised I think he’s great
@@stevenoconnor5693 Well ... is this optical cartridge the future of the phonograph before our eyes? Some of us wondering with not many months left on this Earth plane. A You Tube channel called Novalux Stereophonic has 2 months ago, uploaded a video of the 1959 year British elite's EMI 600 tube amplifier, that you know wasn't mass-market like the Marantz models he's comparing it with. The YT member doesn't play any music. he's just talking about their technical comparison. John Williams, Steve or Nelson Pass don't have any Xmas trees up, you may have noticed? Different strokes for different folks, huh?
Its probably john williams since you dissed him so hard.
@@joefanboy Ha ha, I think he can take it.
Philco had the idea first, back in the early 1940s with their "Beam of Light" record player. It used an incandescent light bulb because LEDs hadn't been invented yet, but otherwise the concept was remarkably similar -- the stylus's movement caused the amount of light reaching a photocell to vary, and the resulting electrical signal was converted into audio.
Yep. I have one which I restored.
That's the turntable I play my Slugbug LPs on!
yes, there is nothing impressive about this, at this time. Frankly, I think it's a pretty big waste of money. I do think it was impressive that Philco did this in the 40s though. The problem with reviews is that things tend to get juiced up. Sure, I'd like to hear this thing. but when I think about it I bet I think I would prefer SACD to this thing.
That device is exactly what I had in mind which Is why I said this cartridge is nothing new. But the way he acts all excited you would think that this is some astonishing new invention. It isn't.
@@steven3557What's so cool about it? It's still going to wear out your precious vinyl like every other cartridge. OK you get to watch it glowing blue or green or whatever color they choose next while it does so but you'll have paid $60,000 for the privilege!
Philco did something similar in 1942. It was called music on a beam of light. My parents bought this large floor standing radio with the record player built in. As I understand there was a light source that shined on a tiny mirror attached to the cantilever. This light from the mirror was focused on a photosensitive cell that produce the signal to the amplifier by way of the needle moving through the record groove. Sadly, in my early teens I discarded the record player as it only played 78s and I was beginning to buy 45s so I found a record player to do the job. I sure wish I had not thrown the original away but I do still have this old radio and it was working. Model 42-395.
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I found a nice article about the DS-E1... called "the vinyl-enlightener" A pretty matching name I think, lol! And the price of under 3 Grand is awesome too! As far as I remember, this cartridge is a cooperation of a Japanese Father and Son, who manufacture cartridges together for quite a time now. They build pretty good MC cartridges, but the son began to develop this analog optical device 5 or 6 years ago if I remember well... Anyhow, the result is - no question - a real miracle of the analog audio world!
By the way: May Einstein be praised for his Nobel prize. The technology of the DS-E1 is related to his research of 1905. (Well, yes,l he got the Nobel prize for his study of the "photoelectric effect" of light and no way for "the Theory of relativity". )
Some of my favorite audio compressors like the LA 2A by techtronics uses optical components to control the amplitude so this makes a lot of sense to me I think it's a great idea love to see it love to hear it even more
Been using an la 2a for a couple years now, crazy to think I didn’t know this. I’ll have to get a closer look at it once I figure out how to get it running again (seems to have a total no power fault, all my fuses are good, idk)
When i was at college we had a laser record player that used a helium neon laser. The laser was focused in the groove and worked by measuring the scatter with 4 photodiode sensors, 2 each differential sensors that gave a signal when the record was moving. The record turntable itself was what moved to keep the laser tracking the audeo track. The tracking signal was quite similar to an optical mouse sensor but cruder. The main problem with it was expense and that it would jump the track from a finger print or dust on the grove area. Also it has an impossible to get rid of hiss. It was made by RCA if i remember right. 🤓😁
The underlying principle of this cartridge is to remove the conventional moving mass from either an MC or MM cartridge. This is very similar in how a moving iron (MI) cartridge operates --- it keeps the magnets and coils fixed while the end of the cantilever wiggles a piece of iron between the two. The idea is to reduce mass as much as possible so the stylus can better track the groove.
Optical cartridges are immune to magnetic induction, that's an advantage mentioned in the review to the Toshiba OPT 1
nothing removes conventional moving mass like digital does. It is debatable if that improves anything once u get to a certain point.
This reminds me of a turntable that I saw in the'80s from Japan that used three lasers (height, left channel, right channel) to read vinyl recordings so there was no damaging stylus touching the media whatsoever.
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Damn it! I "invented" this just last week. Just goes to show, no matter how smart you think you are...
. is this place called " Japan " in your head ?
It still exists. It sells new for $25k-$50k depending on the model
ELP (Japan) (laser turntable)
czcams.com/video/mE4tO_dIDKA/video.html
There are models from DS audio between the E1 and the Grand Master. I started with the DS-002 some years ago and recently upgraded to the DS-003. Currently playing Close Encounters on the DS-003.. Wonderful! It is also possible to mix between the cartridge models and energizer boxes. I upgraded only the cartridge from the 002 to the 003 but kept the energizer from the 002. The DS-002 had a Shibata Stylus, the DS-003 has a Micro Ride Stylus.
At a purchase price of thousands, I won't be buying one anytime soon, but I want a few ! Great video - yes like comments made below it reminds me of the 'beam of light'.
Its been over twenty years ago but a kid on my block invited us over to play smash brothers or goldeneye on the 64. On the wall was a record player that had a door like mechanism that opened. It was tempered steel that had been twisted into a spiral and supported the bearing . (steel as in the type from printer rollers, really heavy duty). It was really fancy but it was a record player that used a laser to read the album and would project on a tiny screen in the corner sine waves of different colors for different frequencies to isolate white noise and crackling noises or something. I was 12 at the time, 37 now. Never have seen anything like it since....anywhere. They exist, I seen it and wasn't remotely interested in games anymore afterwards. His dad said that the R and D guys let him have it cause the higher arcs in suits saw no commercial value in it cause CD's were the future. Where did he work? I wish I knew.
This works similarly to my 1942 Philco Beam of Light console which I restored a few years ago.
i could also assume one next step could be the "pickup camera " takes a "picture" of the vinyl and reassemble the music in a computer thus negating even the need to play it but it would be digital unless one could make it analog- guess that next step after that
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I am still using a Technics 450C-II (4 channel) strain gauge cartridge for playing LP's. It's mounted on an Hitachi Direct Drive turntable. The original quadraphonic phono amp that came with this cartridge died some time ago (probably bad electrolytics) so I built a new (stereo) amp that is powered by batteries (no AC current ripple). It sounds phenomenal, but I still miss the Shure V15 Type V cartridge that had the cantilever snap due to a clumsy accident on my part. My other TT is a B&O Beogram TX-2 Tangential Tracking unit with an MMC3 cartridge. It is also excellent.
I always thought it should be possible to create a phonograph cartridge that visually scans the groove as the record spins and converts that visual "wave" into the electrical impulses that the turntable is expecting. This would mean that there would be no need for a needle nor any contact with the record at all! Records would last far longer and you'd probably never have to replace it.
There is a laser record player, it's about $11,000, only plays black records and reportedly isn't all that good anyway.
@@worldcomicsreview354 Not much of a market for it I imagine, especially at that price. Kind of like Betamax, which was definitely superior to VHS but was just too expensive. If Sony had licensed the tech to others like JVC did with VHS that may not have been the case, but what's done is done.
It happened around the year the CD player came out. You can probably guess who won. I was starting out as an electronic tech in audio, at that time.
There’s archival software that can pull sound from a scan of a record… no rotation needed!
@@AuntieFan Hi, give the name the price and where I can find this software. But the dust issue still happens.
The technology this cartridge uses is perfectly sound and probably pretty good too. But as you have pointed out it is inherently "soft" for one simple reason, using an optical device adds another "layer" to the signal translation. The beauty of analog is that gradients in pressure that we know as sound waves are directly translated into an electrical signal, there is no sampling involved. It is a true physical representation of the wave. This in turn, is physically etched without any bits, or sampling, or whatever into the record groove. When you use an optical system to translate those vibrations to an electrical circuit there are inevitable loses in the process. As expected, the result is "warm" and smoothed out. That why that old crappy record sounds "nicer". It's like the endless arguments between tubes and transistors in amps, tubes make everything sound "good" since their inherent distortion does not allow the resolution necessary to tell the difference between so-so and great.
That was actually traffics 2nd LP, first US release. Steve was 19 turning 20 during the recording.
I have a little known CD accessory that plugs inline between the player and amplifier. It’s called VINYLNESS. it creates a unique background noise track with occasional understated pop, a bit of scratch and adjustable “drag”. It was privately distributed in the Seattle area in the 90s. Pretty cool party trick.
Just a thought, this cartridge wouldn't have the problems of magnetic damping that exists on other cartridges. Like to hear it.
When I have a bad day I watch Steven being entusiastic about something. That joy is contagious. Keep it up Steven, you are my serotonin dealer ;)
This is a pretty straightforward implementation to an optical based transducer. My question is how is the mass of the parts the cantilever has to move compared to normal MM or MC carts. If the mass is significantly lower that would give it a big advantage. If the mass is similar I would expect more conventional designs to be very competitive with this. Thanks for the review.
Mass is only one thing. The principle is very different (it is a modulator not a transducer) so things like electrical behaviour come into the comparison. For one, this seems to be a purely resistive load. Also effects like magnetic damping do not exist. Linearity should in principle be better also.
Interesting idea. It's still tracking the groove by dragging something mechanical through it, though: it's just how you detect the results of that dragging that's different.
I've heard different models of DS Audio setups several times and have always been blown away. I seriously considered one, but only decided against it because I was needing upgrade both line and phono stage. Do not let your suspect perceptions fool you - go listen.
I heard a similar cartridge in a high-end store in Verona, NJ.
Garth Leerer, of Musical Surroundings, brought it in. He also brought in a Clearaudio Goldfinger cartridge.
I do not remember which optical cartridge he demonstrated. But it was very good. It was realistic, and that was on a highly resolving stereo system.
However, the Goldfinger cartridge was the winner, in my opinion.
That was approximately 8 - 10 years ago. So the current lineup of optical cartridges would probably give the Goldfinger a photo-finish challenge, or perhaps win?
Clearaudio probably had someone improvements in their line, too.
The optical cartridge was impressive, and exceeded my expectations.
But that Clearaudio Goldfinger cartridge was amazing!
Does Steve's voice sound different to anyone else? I don't know what it is, but something is a bit off.
Definately Goldmember is #1....
Lots of confusion. Does it play better in the dark? Can you get better sound by greening the outer edge perimeter of the lp? Will tightening the collar of a removable headshell tonearm really tight, improve the sound? Is there still inner groove distortion? Is cartridge alignment critical? Are warped records suddenly not a factor? Would there be wow and flutter when playing a very warped record? Would cleaning the part the light comes out really good with Windex, improve the sound? Would getting the cartridge screws really tight, improve the sound ? Is the light bright enough to read by? If a record skips with a regular cartridge, will it skip with that? Where am I going to get $2,700 at this time of the year? Will it play 45s and 78s? Will cartridge demagnetizers help? Remember those? Am I the only one?
Steve, thank you and Merry Christmas, you convinced me to get a DS-Audio cartridge, I trust your verdict, it sound like an absolutely amazing cartridge. And no more need of 2 box phono preamp, less noise, clearer definition, more music, yeeeesss!
Thank you very much for sharing the review. We hope many people will be interested in the optical cartridge.
I guessing a similar technology to an optical mouse, with greater resolution and demodulation of the returned light. Surface wear improvement over typical stylus? Very cool. Thanks for reviewing.
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This kinda reminds me of a formerly mainstream technology that would play music from a reflective disc using light. It could also be used for video, and even data!
The laser pickup (ELP) was introduced about 30 years ago and worked (badly). The problem was (and is) that the laser would "read" everything in the grooves including micro dust. A conventional mechanical stylus can plow through that dust to read the grooves better. (BTW; the ELP did not require a reflective disk, a conventional disc was satisfactory, which make it more useful to play vinyl.)
@@ronlevine8873 heh, I was referring to LaserDisc, CD, DVD, Blu-ray, etc. The ELP sounds like interesting stuff though 🙂
Funny - When I was young and didn’t have much disposable income I was constantly chasing the latest, next best development in hifi. Now that I can easily afford almost any equipment, I’m very happy with and completely enjoy my rather modest system - McIntosh pre & power amp from the 70’s, Revel M22 speakers, $300 NAD CD player, and late 80’s Denon turntable with same vintage Grado cartridge. Enjoying the music!
Glad to see you’re doing okay Steve! I liked the viewer system today, especially the turntable. The Sumiko Bluepoint is the cart I’m planning to upgrade to
I'm no expert, probably not even qualified to express an opinion, but I've used Sumiko cartridges for over 30 years (just bought another) and think they're wonderful. Living in Southern California, I've been to a number of "high-end" shops and shows (Stereophile, T.H.E. etc.), and when I get home I'm happy as a clam with my rather low end, entry level VPI Scout and Sumiko cartridge. As far as I'm concerned, one can spend 50 -100 times as much and not get much better sound. Enjoy your Sumiko!
@ItsJim thanks! I had an Ortofon Red and it was outrageously bright. I bought an Sumiko Moonstone and couldn’t be happier with it. The Bluepoint seems like the next logical step 🤝
@@jeremyr722 did you try the Ortonfon Blue as a replacment stylus for the Red? Everyone talks about how much better it is. I'm using the Red for now on my U-Turn Orbit Special, but am torn between getting a Blue (easy 5 minute change out job) or upgrading to a Sumiko Moonstone for a smoother sound.
@Ross Warren no, I didn’t bother. The sales rep (whom I trust) said bright is part of Ortofon’s house sound. He said the Sumiko lineup is much warmer and smoother, and he was right!
@@jeremyr722 thanks! I'll have to consider that when deciding what to do.
Company doesn’t have much confidence in their product when they only offer a one year warranty. Almost $3000.00 and a one year warranty is criminal.
What kind of warranty do you get on a Ferrari?
Get some perspective fool...
Hahahaha! It’s not “criminal”. Most warranties are 1 year. Move to the EU and it’s 2 years by law.
1 year for cartridge is actually LONG! Considering how many opportunities there are for customers to “accidentally” damage a cartridge, I would say that 12 months is a very long warranty.
@@Ineedtotakeabreak 3 year, unlimited mileage, 7 years free service.
optical pickup is just the next step but i guess the dust might have a huge impact or angle or even differnt reflections -i would guess a mechanical has some deley and i also guess and optical could be made so its skips real bad scratches making old bad records playble again unless the groves are totally worn out
This idea was first used and sold by Philco in the 1940’s and i think Toshiba did one in the mid 60’s.. it didnt go anywhere then and I doubt this will either, but for heavens sake its ancient not new at all
Haha, I nearly fell off my chair when you threw that Traffic album up there, still love listening to it.
You sound better today - hope you're feeling better too.
Gran video, man. Es notoria tu pasión por la música y el buen sonido. Felicidades.
Saludos desde México 👍🏻😎
You’re not a fan of John Williams!? The man has written some of the most legendary and enduring film scores of all time!
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Sorry to hear you are not a John Williams fan but I'm so glad you gave 'Close Encounters' the credit it deserves. Now do me a favor and please listen to the great John Barry.
Oh yeah, I would love to hear you review Tekton's Polycell 15's. Yes I own a pair and you won't offend me. I'm running mine on a very old Pioneer VSX Receiver at 4 ohms. I listen to a lot of classical, R&B and rock. Even at really low volume I love these speakers. Please let me know what you think.
I imagine a TRUE optical cartridge, that does not use a stylus, but an incredibly accurate optical/laser based sensor that uses light to read the vinyl. Doesn't wear out your record, and in theory, if designed well enough, can give you perfect/ideal playback of your vinyl. Objectively superior reproduction of the information on the vinyl. Doesn't matter if you subjectively prefer another cartridge, that's fine and dandy. The optical cartridge can, in theory, simply give you a more accurate (read: perfectly accurate) retrieval of the information on vinyl. It is superior, period. If you prefer something else, then you prefer an inferior sound... this is common in many components and situations. "softness" "roundness" "naturalness", even ordered harmonics... many people prefer inferior audio. I'd rather let the final piece of the puzzle, the speakers (or headphones), be the only component with any discernable or measurable degree of imperfection.
This device is only a half-way technology. Still cool, but not nearly as cool as optically reading the vinyl would be. Granted that must be technically difficult.
That was done back in the 80s and is still available. It was called a laser turntable. So, no cigar for imagining it in late 2022.
@@razisn Its almost impossible to get those things to work right. The system has no way of telling the difference between what's on the grove, and dust/dirt, so it amplifies both. The record has to be absolutely perfect. The upside is you hear no ticks and pops.
@@AT-wl9yq yes. It was never perfected as it was killed by digital.
@@razisn I wouldn't go that far. Its still a fully analog turntable. Someone who buys a turntable like this won't buy it over a cd player, or any other digital source. Its real competition are traditional phono cart based designs. If it converted the signal to digital, you can definitely make a case. However, turntables are far from dead and laser designs have none of the traditional tics and pops that annoy most people. That was always their target customer. The excessive cleaning is what really kept people from buying them. As for the technology, the fix would most likely come in the form of a better way to clean records. Dust and dirt was blocking the laser from hitting the groove.
That’s Traffic’s second album.
These people like to be fooled, damn! First was MOFI using SACD as a source and "audiofooled" people claimed 100% they could hear differences if there were a digital source in the process. This thing has 24 dB of channel separation, any basic CD player has 90 dB.
Hmmm, thanks for finally appreciating the genius of JW.
Cheers Steve will do... And all the best to you and Mrs Audiophiliac too! 🎶
How does it sound with big Symphonic Music (Mahler's 3rd - Tillsen Thomas CSO) - Analytic/warm...
Interesting that laser pickup turntables haven't replaced the old fashioned diamond/cantilever styles that dominate the turntable market. Seems like there would be lots of advantages to lasers extracting groove info, but probably not a lot of incentives for makers to look into the technology since the VC seems happy with the way things are.
Laser turntables were killed by digital. They were never perfected because it wasn't worth the investment in R&D. It was a big tech endeavour not a specialised small shop thing.
The biggest downside was the record had to be perfect. If it wasn't completely clean, the TT had no way of telling between the grove and dust/dirt, so it would pick up and amplify both.
@@AT-wl9yq Hi, to me the great problem beyond the high price is the people wants the laser turntable do miracles with the used and dusted disc, wear and dust are problems from discs not from laser turntable.
Great review Steve! And I agree about the close encounters soundtrack. I would love to try the DS Audio E1 some day.
Seen a ton of your videos and that is my clear favorite of all your interesting shirts!
I think this will be one of the major upgrades I wanna try next year to my system.
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Listened to side one of Aja with this type of system yesterday at HiFi Buys in Atlanta while out vinyl shopping. Man it was awesome.
Try a 1974 Philips 312 it's the Aristona 1312 brother that I have with a new or new old stock sylus. Can be Elips or non-elips. Sometime when you have the opportunity.
I have a 1930s console radio phono that originally used an optical pickup. but some former owner hashed it with a later turntable that doesn't even fit the mounting board.
I wonder why laser turntables didn't catch on... Still got mine in my basement somewhere
You answered your own question!
@@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac wisdom
So it is possible to buy just the cartridge and insert it on a traditional turntable? You said you needed a preamp but systems that don't have an external preamp have a built in preamp or you can have one separate as you do. Without having to buy the $2700 system you referred to?
Because what you were saying at 1st really contradicted that. You described it as a stand alone system where the cartridge only worked with the $2700 Or $60000 system...
Sounds like the E1 is lighter and has less inertia than the moving coil cartridge. Explains the "better tracking" that you suggested about crappy recordings. And it may explain the "more punch" in the bass on the moving coil cartridge. Like a weight on a woofer can make bass "punchy" by overthrowing.
Vinyls will come back into popularity once somebody invents an alternative to the stylus: a device that just "reads" the grooves without needing physical contact.
I think Vinyl has already reached everyone it's going to reach. Hipsters don't care about groove wear. Audiophiles who may be interested due to a mix of some records being mastered better and some outright misconceptions about the technical capabilities of the format, don't need this to sell it to them. Audiophiles like me who consider vinyl to be an expensive pain in the ass that is inferior to every format I currently use and would just inhibit me from collecting and enjoying the music, wouldn't be sold by this at all, because all those reasons still stand.
And for what it's worth, the device you're describing exists, and it's dozens of thousands of . And it's not very good, because it picks up microscopic particles that a stylus would just brush out of the way, so you have to wash the record every time.
i wish i was online and could hear and see this....
some had Covid and others have a leasing company that won't pay it's bills ;)
GLAD TO SEE YOU ARE UP AND WELL... hoping to have your show again soon! :) - m.
Happy Holidaze, Steve! Thanks so much for your reviews and opinions!
I think this tech is special too. Please get the ds003 system in, as this has the latest tech and still attainable pricing. Would love your feedback as think it is way better than the dsE1 (which is still fantastic).
Totally agree. I have spent considerable time with the DS-E1 and 003 and it’s not close. Also the 003 cartridge is my only cartridge and it’s the best upgrade I’ve ever made in my system that includes Devore Super Nines.
I’ve never heard of this type of cartridge before. It’s a very exciting prospect if it’s well executed. 🤔
They have been around for more than 10 years.
Ed Meitner has made a phono preamp for these cartridges. Probably sounds even better!
It does, I’ve had them for a while. 😊
Holy smokes. That’a an interesting set up.
The vinyl resurgence over the last 15 years has been a head scratcher for me..... CDs and streaming is clearly superior but some people dump ungodly amounts of money on Turntables and LPs, it's just pure craziness. My dad who was an Audiophile, I remember him leaving behind Vinyl in the 80s....
Did the Same, but returned
I see comments like your frequently. I use CDs and I stream using Tidal Hi-fi. But I also have a turntable system and quite often it is superior. Just better sound. Not in every case but where it fails it is always a direct result of a less than optimum sounding record or poor pressing. When vinyl is good, it can be outstanding and to my ears it can be superior to CDs or streaming.
For Many, audio is just a way to keep life fun, not music, not engineering. Take look at head-fi forum for sale headphones , there are freaks keep buy and sell headphones just to keep that life going. Try transactions with them, they Not like to use phone or email as a human. It‘s sick
Joseph quit scratching your head and thank the music Gods for blessing you with golden ears, look at all the money and time you save. And feel compassion for those of us with tin ears and our tendency toward craziness. Remember it's not nice to make fun of people with mental and emotional disabilities.✌✌✌😀😀😀
theres the conundrum for you, some people think that vinyl 'is superior'. I like the way you put it on and the 'vinyl' sound and collecting them with them being larger and more 'arty'. i have a £1000 dac playing from qobuz on my pc and my planar 6 sounds markedly better too.
Hi Steve, Glad to see your feeling better. Enjoyed this video. Stay well and take care!!
I am curious about the sound of this "light stylus". I have always thought that someone sooner or later would build such a thing, and that it would sound "digital", because in my opinion the "turntable sound" that many love is due to mechanical inertia and elastic properties of the stylus and their coupling with the magnetic interface that transduces it and produces the electric signal. In other words, I think that the particular "color" to the sound comes from that rather than from the fact that the recording is analogue. This kind of cartridge looks like the perfect experiment to disprove my belief, so it's an intersting one.
What is your impression?
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It's a very similar system to the sound tracks on 35mm film projectors.
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What type of photodiode/transistor is used? I had that idea for a microphone, but I was worried about noise from the semiconductor.
The fact the this system has a "shutter" means that the signal received from the LP is quantized. I mean, when the shutter is in the "shut" phase you don't have any sound. It's really dependent on the the frequency of the shutter. As in CD and any quantized "liquid" music.
It is not analog anymore.
I can imagine that this phono cartridge will not sound like any others just the same as the others are not sound the same as well, because I strongly believe that the sound we hear from LP is not exactly the sound in the LP itself. It is the combination of sound in the LP, cartridge, phono preamp and the equalizer (quality of parts used as well). The cartridge is the most influence. Despite what I love the sound from my LP I know that it is not the sound in the LP or the original sound before cut/press in to LP. That make me think I may or may not like it if I can hear the original.
I think in the 70s Toshiba and some other may be trying the photo sensor cartridge also, but not commercially successful. While STAX had a capacitive cartridge.
Not sure how many people still crazy about turntable. I am in the process of letting go my SME 20 first edition with Graham 2.1... i use digital playback with ordinary media player, but modified with my 55 years of electronics tweaker hands...
Stay healthy in 2023 top, a lucky News Year ❤️🙏 Steve Guttenberg ✌️
Who’s not a fan of John Williams? Never thought I’d hear someone say that. To each his own I guess.
8:21 I know that this is totally off topic, but you bought this album at Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton, NJ. It's the greatest record store I've ever been to!
Yeah that sticker kind of gives it away.
A good chunk of my collection comes from there.
Love the stereo setups where the equipment is thousands of dollars but the console upon which all that equipment sits is a budget model from Ikea.
The beauty of this cartridge is if it misses tracks on the record, just place a dime on the head shell
Is the cartridge a T4P compatible cartridge if so will it work on a MARANTZ TT143 Linear Tracking Turntable.
Very cool. Reminds me of the Mallory Unilite ignition system for you old hotrod aficionados out there.
Steve, which alignment method are you using for your cartridges on the 1200G?
What is there besides Baerwald and Rega?
@@AT-wl9yq Stevenson (aka Löfgren A), Löfgren B, UNI-DIN...
What does the cadenza blue have that the bronze or black doesn’t?
Steve:
Glad to hear you're recovering from COVID-19.
Hope Robin is well too.
It was only a matter of time, now that it's endemic.
My bout right after my omicron booster allowed me to finally get back to the UK to visit family!
🎶😷🎶
PS this review is quite a contrast to my morning of having my Bluesound Vault2 ripped CD collection of 26,500 flac files backed up to a SanDisk 1TB SSD so I can take my music to my friend's house. (I ordered a nice simple Bluesound PowerNode and Wharfdale 12.4 system for her. $1600 total including cables! She'll be subscribing to Spotify.
Modern simplicity.
Setting up next week;-)
Hey Steve, looks like you are doing well. Wishing you good health now and always!
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Good album examples you used, esp. the 2nd one. I think that most people know how that one came across.
- And you're right, it's not laser-on-phonograph. Which begs the question... Isn't that what CDs and DVDs are... so what's the problem? I bet that DS Audio is working on that very thing as we speak.
I was questioning the stylus shape because of the price and quick wear compared to other shapes, but the provided perspective of this product probably being used in a rotation, made the product a lot more understandable. Glad to see some competition in this type of very interesting design, since it seems to hold the key to minimum moving mass. the skeptical side of me supposes they couldn't have provided a better cantilever for the money, least they undercut the $60,000 job, they sell, because there can't be much different going on with the optical readers.
I hope that this product does well, and attracts more people willing to risk trying to sell a cartridge and a box into a mass market that typically already has a phono box and is used to only spending on just a cartridge.
Being just as good in that situation won't cut it, but the potential of a simple optical reader providing high end results at low cost might be the key. And then of course, the next evolution would be to remove the stylus assembly completely . Last I read about such stuff, the library of congress has a laser record player , and I wonder how the design has matured after so many years, if it is still being made.
Thank you for the referral on Close Encounters. I bought it, and looking forward to going back to the 70’s! Pity my body won’t be joining me!
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This video reminded me of a record player with a similar concept released by Toshiba around 1973. TOSHIBA SR-50 At that time, I was still a child and could not buy it, but in the image of the catalog, the cartridge was a ball-shaped spaceship, which reminded me of 2001: A Space Odyssey. de gozaru !! このビデオを観て７３年ごろに東芝から出たSR-50を思い出しました。当時はガキだったのでもちろん買えんかったが、カタログの写真を見る限り ２００１年宇宙の旅に出てくる宇宙船の球形の居室を思わせたでござる！！
Thanks for the review; I had assumed that these carts were not touching the record in any way and I wondered about the setup of that. The separate EQ makes switching carts a little bit more involved, since you also have to swap preamps when you change carts?
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Soo there is still a needle in the groove, but the movement left/right or up/down modulates somehow light that shines on some photoresistors or something? A tad bit more technical background would be welcome on this novelty.
No novelty. It has been around for more than 10 years and the technology it uses is well established. Not to mention that the principle has been used since the 1940s but never gained any traction. Yes, that's roughly how it works. Cantilever movement controls shutters which modulate the light in a LED to silicon optocoupler.
I feel like with this, you are talking a half step back to digital which defeats the point of going to the all mechanical vinyl sound. Like getting a mechanical watch with a built in battery.
no digital involved at all, in this. Vinyl reproduction is not all mechanical as you like to think. There is a mechanical to electrical transducer involved. So it is electromechanical. This is a just another type of transducer. Btw, in theory you can have a mechanical or electromechanical digital system. You seem to confuse your digital, analogue, mechanical and electrical concepts. Get educated. Less time spent making stupid comments in youtube and more in reading may help.
The DS cartridge is 100% analog
@@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac I think not
@@corb765 You think wrong..
@@corb765 yes it uses a shutter mechanism of light , there is no digital involved.
DOES IT REDUCE NOISE OR SOUND OF CRACKLES WHILE PLAYING RECORD?
Merry Christmas!! 🎅🏻
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Great stuff, Steve! This is not a device that I'd =ever= consider purchasing, but it's cool to know what is going on in the world of high end consumer audio technology. Also, I am grateful to be pointed to music I haven't yet experienced, like the Close Encounters soundtrack, or reminded of music that I haven't listened to in a while, like the first album from Steve Winwood's group, Traffic. Turns out that Steve W. is a couple of years older than me, and was only 19 years old when the album was recorded, early in 1968. Thanks for this video, and all the work you have shared with us over the years. All the best to you and Mrs. Audiophiliac! ♥
Not new, Toshiba did it in the late 1960's.
It was remarkable, that they underlined, the record won't be played optically, that it needed an extra box and that the frequency response was not very good, up to 14 kHz only.
Μy integrated ANote amp is suitable only for MC carts.Is it possible to use a converter to suit an optical cartridge,if needed?
Finally a more affordable alternative to the INSANELY expensive Laser turntables that are only made in Japan? Bring it on!!!!
So nice to get your take on Cheap Thrills, one of my favs. 🍾
The WOW FACTOR..I never heard of this before, exciting 😳. Leave it to Steve Guttenberg to tell it like it is.Its not in my orbit cost wise.Thank you Steve for the uptake on this.Glad that you are feeling better. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year..Cheers.PS. I saw Janis Joplin and Big Brother and The Holding Co. back in the day when promoting that album..they were incredible..after their encode song the bass player Peter Albin blew out his speakers..a great concert.!!!!
Steve, you look like you’re feeling better. Good to see that old excitement back in your review.
Thanks, getting there.
Cheers for the great vid🙏, very interesting…
But if vinyl experts are chasing the secrets off into …??, then as someone with no vinyl.. , not sure I see the point of starting into it..?🙏
As someone who's fiddled around with synthesizers for years, and loves using Vactrol filters for their sound, I often wondered what it'd be like if someone created an optical cartridge in some way. I can't wait to find out what this sounds like.
Nice to see vinyl playback moving forward now with technology! We may get that pure 100% analogue tape sound from a record yet, we're close though!
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That's a waste of time. Doesn't matter how perfect the playback, most of that sound isn't pressed onto the record in the first place. Almost as if pursuing vinyl to hear the "original analogue sound as the artist intended" was a fool's errand all along...