I have a DS-W2 cartridge and EMM Labs DS-EQ1 equalizer since November 2020. Clear with bass as good as digital. Most people use the DS cartridge in a pivoted arm (probably what they have) but I switched to a tangential (used Eminent Technology ET-2) because the skating force with a pivoted arm manifests as channel offset with the optical transducer.
An unmentioned plus for the optical transducer is vinyl pops and ticks do not overload and clip as with magnetic transducers. It is because the optical transducer is amplitude sensitive where magnetic transducers are velocity sensitive.