Optical Cartidge - World's first!

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Poison_Flour, Jul 2, 2015.

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  1. Poison_Flour

    Poison_Flour Forum Resident Thread Starter

  2. tim185

    tim185 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Clicked link...
    hmm..very interesting...I wonder if...
    then...
    More than 6000 Pounds.
    They are kidding themselves!
    Is it that good? Id bet not, but I could be wrong.
    Could it be good enough to justify what would be a well in excess of $12,000 price point here? No F**** way.
    lol.
    I love the audio world, its a crack...mainly cause I bet there a number of people clammering to pony up for one.
     
    Robert C and Poison_Flour like this.
  3. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Been around for a couple of years now, but getting more traction. It's the subject of Fremer's column in the most recent Stereophile. He has some good things to say about it, but it's not without its drawbacks.
     
  4. tim185

    tim185 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    I would accept no drawbacks for 6000 pounds. What are its drawbacks?
     
    Jrr likes this.
  5. So called "optical" cartridges have been around since the late-1930's to early 1940's. There is absolutely nothing new about the concept. Philco introduced it's "Beam Of Light" phonographs decades and decades ago. It used a conventional stylus, light bulb and photo electric cell. Worked pretty good also, but was impractical as it really didn't sound any better than a conventional cartridge of the era and it had the same record wear. If you are going to go "optical", why use a stylus?
     
  6. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    AND use a super fragile boron cantilever. Shibata stylus? I want to be able to use the cheapest Pfanstiehl I can find so stylus cost is no longer a factor. Best of all would be some kind of gentle, next-gen stylus that will produce no wear. I think another innovation is needed to make this cartridge ground-breaking.
     
  7. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY

    The stylus is still the pickup in this situation. However there significantly less internal moving mass than in a traditional stylus. There is the benefit of this system. I've heard samples (recorded digitally) and they sound VERY, very nice for what they are. I think I would need to hear one live myself on a record I am very familiar with prior to committing to a purchase, but what I heard was certainly impressive. I think this is a pretty major step in cartridge technology. If we can have a huge technological advancement like this in 2015 for a format that was written off 25 years ago, then that's only a good thing for the future. It has to start somewhere.



    My only concerns were some strange patterns I saw in the spectrals on every song reproduced by this cartridge - an odd modulation, only present way past the limits of human hearing but I'm really curious about what exactly causes this spurious noise, and if IMD at the amplification stage would be of any real concern due to that noise.
     
    Rodant Kapoor and Mad shadows like this.
  8. VinylSoul

    VinylSoul Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lake Erie
    This cartridge should reproduce " tons of detail missed by other cartridge designs " and if it doesn't just wait till the MKII edition appears!
     
    jordanb87 likes this.
  9. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    I'm sorry - I have the wrong writer. I went and looked at my last couple of Stereophiles and it was not Michael Fremer. I don't know where I read about it now.
     
  10. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    In all fairness, I much prefer the laser pickup that read the record grooves since it could do no damage to the vinyl, though it was priced close to $15 or 20K a while back ...
     
  11. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    It read the dirt too. Wasn't a great thing.
     
  12. Tyler Eaves

    Tyler Eaves Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greenville, NC
    The problem with the no-contact systems is that there is nothing to mechanically clean the groove. So basically you have to wash the records before every single play. Not worth it unless you're playing some super super rare record. They also, from what I understand, deal very poorly with any sort of damage, that a real stylus would often play right through with maybe a slight tick.
     
  13. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I hope this becomes affordable.
     
  14. hesson11

    hesson11 Forum Resident

    "6000 pounds"??!

    I guess you need one hell of a counterweight.
    -Bob
     
  15. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    It is technically interesting. But all of the needledrops that I've heard from the laser turntable have not been good. I'd have to hear it in person to properly pass judgement. But given the quality of the needledrops I'm not optimistic.

    I'd love to hear a needledrop or two with this optical cartridge. Could be neat. Has potential. But then again, the laser turntable had potential too.
     
  16. Tyler Eaves

    Tyler Eaves Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greenville, NC
    The best laser turntable IMO would be non-realtime. For instance, imagine a system that takes, say, 10 passes at a side, with each pass reading a slightly different section of the groove, and using various data correction algorithmns to filter out dust, and other small debris.
     
    sunspot42, gregr and Metralla like this.
  17. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    I wish I still had the link. One of their distributors has samples of some fairly well known recordings made at 24/192 - although It is not stated what pressings these recordings are made from, it should give you a very good idea of the performance it is capable of. Certainly better than anything I've ever heard off the laser turntable!
     
  18. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    But you can have dirt on your CD too. I also do not like to use cleaning fluid on CD or vinyl.
     
  19. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    You need to open up the roof of your house and rent a crane for the job ...
     
    Robert C likes this.
  20. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    As long as you are hearing coherent music, do you really care if it is realtime or non-realtime? It will be like watching a sporting events via tape delay.
     
  21. Again, back to ancient times. In the acoustic phonographs, you could get and still get cactus needles. Low record wear, mellow sound.
     
  22. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    FYI - Soundsmith have a cactus cantilever in one of their cartridges.
     
  23. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    SoundSmith is smart to branch out as its Tandberg repair business cannot sustain the company ...
     
  24. David B.

    David B. Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I have heard the DS optical cartridge that is the subject of this thread. It is truly excellent.

    Note: When considering the cost of the DS cartridge, one must consider that it comes with its own dedicated phono preamp and power supply, so an apples-to-apples comparison requires that it be compared against other cartidges plus a matching phono stage plus associated cabling.

    I heard it on a dual-armed turntable that enabled near-instantaneous comparisons against a nearly 4x more expensive combination of a Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement and an Aesthetix phono preamp. The DS cartridge system compared very, very favorably.

    --David B.
     
    MrRom92 likes this.
  25. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    There is zero chance I will buy more LP's, new or used. Having 4000+ LP's is more than enough.
     
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