I’m new to this forum and looking for any input members may have regarding my investigation of replacing my Aavik D-280, S-280 and K1 Ruby player with a DCS Rossini Apec player. First let me say that I love the current sound of my system but want to reduce the boxes I have to a single source solution. I’ll also say that I am planning a demo of the Rossini Apex player if my local dealer has one before moving forward.
Has anyone here heard both the Aavik sources as compared to the Rossini? Just looking for any input comparing sound signatures, etc. Thanks for any assistance.
My dealer sells Aavik and is a big fan but he thinks overall they are below the other brands he sells - CH Precision , APL , MSB , Aurender , innuos , Grimm , Lumin when it comes to dac / streaming capabilities . He feels APL Dacs offer the most analogue like DAC sound and so I borrowed one on home loan for a week and compared the sound to my Rossini player apex ( note I didn’t include the Rossini clock I own for the comparison.). The APL was darker in balance , the vocals set further back and resolution slightly less than the Rossini . So to cut a long story short , assuming APL > Aavik (per the dealer ) and the Rossini > APL (per my experience) , you may infer the Rossini will be an improvement over the Aavik . Of course it depends on your downstream amp / speakers too . Prior to owning the Rossini I had a bartok and Rossini clock (dac duty ) , Aurender n20 (streaming duty ) and meridian 808 v6 (cd duty ) and have no regrets in reducing the box count and enhancing the sound quality by moving to the Rossini player as a one box solution . I think you need to budget for a Rossini clock too as to my ears in my system , the clock makes a noticeable difference . I also use a Melco N1Z as a server which feeds the Rossini streaming module over Ethernet .
Which APL model did you try? I heard someone claim they were really good, but haven’t heard them. The DSD-AR, DSD-MR MKIIor DSD-MR MKII? There is surprisingly little technical information on these DACs, what kind of topology do they use, etc.
A small point that may not may not be important to you in replacing the KI Ruby player. That player is an SACD/CD player. Rossini Player caters for CD only. For SACD/CD in the Rossini range you would need to consider Rossini Transport + Rossini DAC. I can predict that the outcome of that will probably exceed anything you have heard from silver disc before but it carries a cost barrier.
.