I’ve now added a DS Audio HS-001 headshell to my setup. It’s a beautifully machined thing, made from ultra-duralumin and finished to a very high standard. DS Audio has designed it to provide excellent rigidity and resonance control, using an innovative dual-contact system between the tonearm and headshell to ensure even pressure and better mechanical coupling. It’s pretty pricey, but is impeccably built, the build quality and fit are exactly what you’d expect from DS Audio, and will obviously match the DS3 cartridge. Certainly the most expensive headshell I will ever buy. It comes with some cartridge bolts and an allen key as well. You can also adjust the azimuth if you need to.

Here are the key technical details:

Material: Ultra-duralumin (machined from solid billet)
Connector body: Aluminium
Connector terminals: Gold-plated
Lead terminals: Gold-plated
Dimensions: H21 mm × W40 mm × D55 mm (excluding connector/protrusions)
Weight: Approx. 10.5 g (excluding lead wire)
Lead wire: Litz wire 4N φ0.08 × 10 × 3 strands
Mounting hardware: Stainless steel bolts M2.6 L8×2 and L12×2
Interface features: Dual upper and lower pins to equalise contact pressure with the tonearm, plus a spherical washer system for resonance suppression

“A vertical pin structure achieves uniform pressure on electrical contacts
Contact surface stabilised by spherical washer
Conventional headshells have a connecting pin attached only to the upper side, causing uneven contact pressure between the tonearm and the headshell. However, the HS-001 Solid Headshell adopts an upper and lower pin structure, equalising the pressure on the contacts and applying force evenly across the connection to the tonearm. Additionally, they use a special spherical headshell washer (developed by DS Audio) independently at the tonearm’s contact point. This enables superior stability over the entire circumference of the contact point, providing improved resonance control.”