It should be heavy, the size of a palm, so that it rests firmly on the sofa or on a table; a responsive & rotative volume knob, and a few other ones, such as input select (programmable, including for other brands & models, play/pause, and one or two programmable user’s keys. A few leds. No more; simple, versatile, small. Mainly to control the volume quickly and precisely. The rest can be controlled by the Mosaic apps. What do you think?
I’m sure the current dCS unit could be better designed. I have one. It is a bit of a monster and quite widely known on the forum as “the plank”. For now, if you haven’t already done this, I suggest buying a universal remote that suits you, and then programmng it for the controls that you require. One thing is for certain: it will be much, much, cheaper than any dCS offering. There are quite a few posts on the forum suggesting suitable remote controls from various makers. I use an old Philips model.
That is what I have done; it cost 9.90 € and I am quite happy with it; still I would be very happy to finetune the volume with a very reliable rotative knob, sometimes it must be set properly and precisely to avoid a magnifying glass effect on the soundstage. But I agree it would be a luxury…
A slide deviation from the thread, BUT, does anyone currently use a Universal Remote Control with their dCS system? If so, which makes/models do you recommend?
Hmm… I’ve always assumed that the up/down volume buttons on my Philips remote, if pressed briefly, would increment/decrement the volume by whatever the minimum amount is for the dCS implementation of digital volume. If that is so, then a rotating knob may be more pleasant to use, and perhaps easier, but might not be any more precise in practice.
Absolutely not. There’s one already. Why should people waste time with this?
I actually really, really like “the plank.”
The Logitech Harmony remote(s) work perfectly. Unfortunately they are not made anymore but you can find one used I am sure.
What I have done is use the Harmony to then program a tiny remote that controls just a few things on my CD transport (Cambridge CXC) plus the volume and SPDIF1 selection on Rossini (I stole those codes from the Harmony remote).
There’s a few ideas here, @Diego_Fr, in case you hadn’t seen this thread:
For what it’s worth, I love my Plank, even if I do only use a fraction of its buttons.