I heard it at the Florida Audio show last week. It sounded nice.
A shame that the Audio Technica AT-MC2022 has sold out of its limited production, it was reportedly a reference level MC using the identical unified diamond cantilever/stylus which retailed for $9000. https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-mc2022
I have listened to the Grand Master for hours. I even got to compare it to a fantastic reel to reel tape deck. It is extraordinary and it is the only cartridge you could have named that I am lusting after. It’s below $20k price seems like a bargain. It’s the additional $30K to $45K expense for a proper phono preamp that stops me from considering it. But oh my goodness does it ever sound amazing! It is the single most obvious choice for a true endgame phono cartridge.
I heard it. But since the rest of the system was also new to me, I had no idea what was sounding so good. But the cart seems nice.
The extremely low moving mass of these DS Audio carts makes them excellent trackers. But yeah…that cost…I can’t justify paying more for their system (cartridge and dedicated phono stage) as it costs more than my entire system.
I heard it a couple of times at AXPONA. One system sounded really bright, but I think it was more about the system than the cartridge.