Головки звукоснимателя — Dartzeel NDB-01D

The NDB-01D is the top moving-coil cartridge from darTZeel, the Swiss maker based in Geneva, and each one is assembled by hand. Its cantilever is cut from diamond, and its body is carved from a tinted, hardened wood. The price is about USD 41,000.

Key specs that matter

The cantilever is a square-shank diamond rod carrying a hand-polished natural nude diamond stylus. The coils are wound by hand from silver-coated pure copper in one continuous winding, and the coil armature sits on an acid-etched titanium support. Frequency response is 10 Hz to 110 kHz. Output is 0.25 mV, and internal impedance is 4 ohm. Recommended tracking force is 2.2 g, trackability is above 90 µm and channel separation is above 33 dB. darTZeel does not publish compliance, cartridge weight, stylus profile or recommended load.

Engineering and use context

Diamond is the stiffest cantilever material in use, so the cantilever flexes very little and transfers what the stylus picks up to the coils with minimal loss, and a square shank adds stiffness against twisting. A nude stylus is a single diamond fixed directly in the cantilever without a metal shank, which keeps the mass at the tip low. Winding the coils continuously avoids joints within the winding, and silver plating gives the copper wire a highly conductive surface. The etched titanium support holds the coils with very little added weight, so the moving assembly as a whole stays light and can follow fine groove modulations. The wooden body is hardened and tinted, and it is carved rather than moulded, so each body is shaped individually. The low output follows from a small coil with few turns, which keeps the moving mass down and also accounts for the low internal impedance. An upper frequency limit so far beyond the audio band shows that the resonance of the moving system lies well above it. Because the trackability figure is high, the stylus stays in contact with heavily modulated grooves at the recommended force.

Pairing

The NDB-01D needs a phono stage with high moving-coil gain or a step-up transformer, since its output is far below that of most moving-coil designs. The low internal impedance suits transformers with a high step-up ratio. As compliance is not published, the choice of tonearm is best based on darTZeel's guidance for the cartridge.

Alternatives

The darTZeel NDB-02R is the more affordable version with a ruby cantilever and a frequency response extending to 100 kHz.