Words and photos by Rafe Arnott unless otherwise credited.
Giant killer. Punches above its weight class. Hi-fi’s greatest bargain… these are a small sample of accolades the venerable Denon DL-103 has garnered in the six decades since its introduction as a broadcast moving-coil cartridge in Japan. Audiophile rhetoric or deserved praise? Having owned one for a couple years, I lean towards the latter, but it’s not an analogue voicing for everyone. One must love a big, ballsy and somewhat coloured sound. A product of the ‘60s – it embraces direct, leading-edge information, bass weight and presence, texture. The spherical-stylus 103 has been one of the longest-running pick-ups in production, and has an almost cult-like following for a reason: It sounds far superior than it has any right to for $350 USD. But does a $68 upgrade in the form of the Denon Aluminum Body Cap improve on what is already lauded?
Eschewing any real change to it’s basic design parameters, Denon’s 103 remains devoutly true to its roots, retaining the original plastic body and generator assembly inherent to its wide-bandwidth design as when the first runs were rolled out in 1962 by the Denki Onkyo division of record label Nippon Columbia. Since its release, however, many DIY’ers (and aftermarket companies) have come up with a variety of modifications to squeeze ever more performance from this simple, diminutive black-bodied cartridge. From replacing the conical stylus with exotic line-contact, Vital, or Shibata-esque profiles to gutting the entire cartridge assembly from the plastic chassis with an X-acto knife and housing it in wood, metal, ceramic, etc., instead – there’s not much that hasn’t been tried on the 103 in the pursuit of ever higher fidelity.
Image above: An excerpt from an early Denon DL-103 manual. Image courtesy Denon Inc.
Many rabid online forum regulars who gleefully hack gear wirite without prompting that their mods sound best. But, if you’re like me, and you’re not a DIY’er, and the idea of re-tipping for re-tipping’s sake, or taking a razor blade to a perfectly capable cartridge housing to affect what could be a marginal sonic gain (or worse, altering the tonal characteristics and performance which make this cartridge beloved), makes you shudder, then you might be interested in another option. The $68 Denon Aluminum Body Cap. You simply insert the 103 into The Cap (it’s a snug fit), and attach the cart/Cap to your headshell of choice through the stock mounting holes.
Since it is a moving-coil design, it requires either an active gain stage, or a step-up transformer (passive windings, my preference, I used three different ones, the 103 fared well with all) to top-up what gain is provided by a moving-magnet phono stage to get the cartridge to a line level equivalent. The stock 103 weighs in at a moderate 8.5 grams, covering a frequency range of 20hz~45kHz, boasts a respectable 0.3 mV output and a uniquely high output impedance of 40 ohms. The Body Cap adds 3.5 grams of mass bringing the total weight to adjust for to 12 grams. I ran the 103 at Denon’s recommended 2.5 grams of vertical tracking force. While it may work best in a 12-inch arm due to its high compliance, I’ve never heard anything amiss from a nine-inch arm to suggest that pairing curbs the 103’s enthusiasm.
Photo above: The Denon DL-103 was mated to an Technics SL-1210GR turntable with A23 slipmat, OJAS and Audio Note UK AN-V silver interconnects, Audio Note UK AN-S4 SUT, Audio Note UK M3 Phono all-valve preamplifer, and a mix of power amplifiers including the Audio Note UK Conqueror Silver 300B, a pair of vintage all-valve RCA Theatre monoblocs, and a vintage solid-state QUAD 303. Speakers were either vintage Altec A5 VOTT or Altec Valencia. For critical listening I stuck with the AN UK pre/power pairing.
The stock 103 paired with either an A23 EMT SUT, a Cinemag Blue SUT, or an Audio Note AN-S4 (silver wound) SUT all produced varying degrees of happiness. None was a disappointment, but the AN-S4 helped the cart reveal far more nuance and further spectral dimensions to timbral and tonal colour. The space around high hat, and cymbal splash bloomed to greater scale and held decay much longer with the S4, and while air and transparency in the upper registers portrayed improved sparkle and shimmer, the midrange too, benefitted from a distinctly fleshy feel to the playing of guitar and piano. Rim shots and stringed wooden instruments exuded more texture. The lower registers went deeper, with percussion still maintaining all the tautness, snap to snare, bass and floor tom I’d come to expect. Some may balk at the SUT pairings, as the A23 and Audio Note are not “perfect” matches. It’s a SUT. Relax, they don’t need to be perfect, they need to be ballpark. And as always, listening should be the final arbiter of any performance estimations.
So, with the playback chain decided, I listened for a couple weeks without much thought to anything other than the beautiful music the system was making. I then started to swap out power amps, went back and forth between two pairs of Altecs I had on hand, and switched RCA cables too. None of this made any difference to the 103, it kept on doing its thing, none of the downstream changes having much more than a subtle affect on its timbral and tonal colouration. Compared to two of my favourite MM carts – a vintage Shure M44G with updated Jico spherical stylus, and another vintage pick up, the Audio Technica AT155LC with an ATN-150MLX microline stylus assembly – the Denon was more linear in its response overall, but lacked the visceral midrange punch and bass of the M44G, and wasn’t quite as refined or luxurious as the 155LC. Now, the Shure will set you back $100 USD (when you can find one) with the replacement Jico stylus, and the 155LC are going for around $650 USD on the auction sites. They are different beasts altogether, and feel free to draw whatever conclusions you wish, these are simply my opinions based on listening. As with all things in hi-fi, YMMV.
Photos above: Left – The overall review system. Right – The Denon Aluminum Body Cap.
Comparisons to other cartridges aside, the Denon still impresses in many ways and remains one of my favourite carts. The only question that matters in the context of this article is what happened when I added the Body Cap? First off, bass weight noticeably deepened, piano hammers had more gravity, and the cart’s tonality and timbral shading became richer and more ripe – in a great way. All the things the 103 does right to my ears, the Body Cap accentuated. Imaging focus was sharper, midrange grip and leading edges to notes were more defined and had more oomph. The top end, while maintaining resolution and clarity, possessed more naturally illuminated hues. The Denon DL-103 is not a cart for everyone, but it is, in my opinion, an every man’s cart. It is honest and direct in its voicing, it is remarkably inexpensive (still) in this gilded day and age, and has that unique ability I demand of all my cartridges; to provide a wide open window onto the recorded event, whether it took place a few months ago or several decades past.
"Adding the Denon Aluminum Body Cap to the 103 makes a great cartridge even better, and for $68, it is a bargain out of all proportion for the performance – and enjoyment – increase it provides."
–Rafe Arnott
Images above: Some of the LPs I played for this review. Clockwise from top left – Nils Frahm, Music For The Motion Picture Victoria. J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz From Japan 1969-1983 Volume 2. Loma, Don't Shy Away. Eberhard Weber, The Colours of Chloë.
There's no shortage of great cartridges to buy out in the world, but very few have maintained a global reputation for excellence lasting sixty years, and even fewer can claim to cost less than $400 USD. The Denon DL-103 may not be your cuppa, but for those who are sympatico and revere it's unique sonic signature where speed, texture and presence are prioritized, there's a very small field of substitute moving-coil candidates. As always, no matter what type of music I played through the Denon DL-103, I was left impressed, and wanting for more. Adding the Denon Aluminum Body Cap to the 103 makes a great cartridge even better, and for $68, it is a bargain out of all proportion for the performance – and enjoyment – increase it provides. You can order yours directly HERE.
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