Add Rossini Clock?

I am a Rossini player user as well… with the Rossini clock. a decent combo setup.

I am starting with Canare for a while, still decent to use - no complaint. I upgraded to Vahalla BNC at the end. I do it step by step.

Thanks, Jeff. What I had tried to say in an earlier post was that the Rossini Clock + (2) Valhalla is slightly less than the list of the Rossini Clock. I agree, spending $9k on cables for the clock would a bit crazy.

Makes sense. Many thanks!

Best, Paul

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Definitely, the master clock add a lot to the presentation. The better the setup is, the easier is to hear what the Rossini clock do. As many know, everything influence in a high definition audio system, including room acoustic that always obscure music details. I am a Bartok-Vivaldi clock user and the addition of the clock wasn’t subtle in my setup; and I am still using the factory clock cables. However, I am using a better PC for it (and the Bartok) because it reacts favorable to better PC. As a matter of fact, the clock is the only source component not plugged to the Audioquest Niagara 5000; for some reason, it doesn’t like.
With the clock the presentation is much more organized, bigger and you can hear much better where instruments are or the intention of the recording Engineer. Singers are beautifully rendered, the bass a little more precise and a little more dynamic.
I am waiting for my Rossini now.

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Thanks, Carlos. It looks like my Rossini clock upgrade may be put on hold. There’s an upgrade now for the Rossini with a new ring dac. The Rossini Apex, I think. Anyone know more about this?

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In a Swiss hifi shop I just discovered the dCS Vivaldi Apex!

From: https://www.spalinger.ch/quellen/digital/dcs-digital/#cc-m-product-15799174724

And there is this rumour:

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When I bought my current Rossini player I still had my old setup, consisting of a Puccini player and a Scarlatti clock, available. I have initially tested with and without masterclock using the Scarlatti and agree with the descriptions given by some other contributors here: it was a noticeable improvement, not shocking, but even more so when taken out of the equation again. You really mis it when its gone.

One problem: the Scarlatti clock doesn’t provide the two base rates at the same time and the Rossini has no means to direct the clock to switch between one of them. So it would only make sense if I would either mannualy switch or accept that it is only going to improve one base rate (e.g. only CD and multiples of 44.1kHz).

So I sold the Scarlatti together with the Puccini and decided to try the Rossini clock.

Now, this was a bit of a disappointment… Yes, there was a similar improvement, but not as big as I remembered it with the Scarlatti clock. I have for the time being decided not to pursue this path.
I’m still tinkering with the thought of trying the Vivaldi clock to see if this will bring a similar improvement.
But I’m probably just too satisfied with the sound quality I already have with the Rossini on its own. In particular since I’ve made some comparisons in systems of friends lately. dCS is really in a league of its own compared to many alternatives out there!
no real urge to upgrade. yet…

Thanks, Albert! I appreciate the analysis.

Spalinger’s prices have always been significantly higher (around 15%) than those of other official Swiss retailers. The official dCS distributor for Switzerland is pplaudio.com in Thonon France, and their list prices in € are normally converted into Swiss retail prices by multiplying with a factor of 1.06 (i.e. EUR*1.06 = CHF).(e.g. Vivaldi DAC € 30’900 * 1.06 = CHF 32’754; -15,8% compared to Spalinger)
The current retail price for a Vivaldi DAC at audio-synthese.fr is € 38’000 ??? :rage: :rage: :rage:
Does anybody know the official dCS retail prices in € for France or Germany?

Is this a new Vivaldi model?

This is most probably a price rise effective from February ( exact date not known). Anything else is virtually complete speculation at present and there is no consistency between the rumours other than there being a price rise. It may (may) be an upgrade to existing products, Rossini and Vivaldi have been mentioned, rather than complete new models. If it does involve an upgrade it is also not known if it may be retrofitted to existing units nor, if so, of the price involved.

Of course even if we did have all of the information now we could not do anything practical with it until dCS makes it official.

As February is only a week away I am content to wait until then.

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Thanks Pete. Of course, I do agree with you.

Does anybody have experience of using a dCS Rossini with an Esoteric G-02X clock?

the Rossini clock input impedance is 75 Ohms and the Esoteric has 4 world clock outputs which are also 75 Ohms and the owners manual states: “You can set the clock frequency independently for each of these outputs” so I am assuming that I can run 2 connections into the Rossini, one at 48 kHz and one at 44.1 kHz simultaneously.

Any actual experience would be appreciated.

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David, when I read you message I was surprised as Esoteric clocks have always had 50 ohm outputs. So I checked the product specification on the Esoteric website. Output is :

Sine wave 0.5 ±0.1Vrms / 50Ω

Not 75 ohm. 50 ohm is not usable with a dCS wordclock input. the result will be rather unpredictable ( and I do know that from experience albeit not with an Esoteric clock).

Hi Pete. The 50 Ohms that you quote from the Esoteric spec is correct for the 10MHz output but if you read the owners manual for the other outputs it clearly specifies:
CLOCK OUT connectors These output clock signals (square wave, TTL level, 75Ω output impedance

Well, live and learn. The specification that I linked to actually shows the output of 50 ohms for all frequencies listed :

44.1k, 88.2k, 176.4k, 352.8k, 705.6kHz
1.4112M, 2.8224M, 5.6448M, 11.2896M, 22.5792MHz
And:
48k, 96k, 192k, 384k, 768kHz
1.536M, 3.072M, 6.144M, 12.288M, 24.576MHz

It appears that when both are selected simultaneously the clock outputs:

100kHz, 10MHz

But, yes indeed, the User Manual does state that for the 4 clock outputs labelled “C” the output impedance is 75 ohms instead ( and they can be configured individually or in pairs to deliver frequencies base 44.1 or base 48).

So let’s see if anyone is using this combination and can advise you. If not and you do this please report on your experience as that will add to our knowledge base. Interesting!
As you are new to us I am looking forward to reading your future posts.

Does anybody have experience of using an Esoteric G-02X clock with DCS Dac ? I am also interested with this clock, I can use it with NBR + Vivaldi and also for my 2 x Sotm network switches.

According t o the spifflication that Esoteric lists this wordclock is unsuitable for the dCS devices.

dCS DACs etc. require a 75 Ohm input but the G - 02X provides a 50 Ohm output instead. Use of this will materially degrade the sound. That is the spec. but , as above, check the manual to find if it can be switched.

Secondly the current dCS devices require a wordclock that can provide 2 separate output signals simultaneously ( one cased around 48kHZ and one 44.1kHZ plus multiples for hi-res formats). This is so that auto switching between formats can occur. You can manually switch between 44.1 and 48kHz with Esoteric but this is both fiddly and not very usable with streaming services where the precise data rate is not identifiable before the signal is received.

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I borrowed one of these clocks from Nintronics to try with my Rossini.
On first reading it does appear that the 44.1k and 48k outputs are 50 ohm however the user manual clearly states these outputs are 75ohm but the 10M/100k outputs are 50ohm.
I can vouch that the 44.1k and 48k outputs both lock with the Rossini. They operate flawlessly and provide a significant sound improvement.
The issue for me was that the Esoteric cannot produce a 44.1k and 48k output simultaneously. This means that each time there is a format change you need to manually change the frequency using the push buttons on the front panel of the Esoteric. My understanding is that the 10M 100k outputs operates continuously though.
For me this was too much of an inconvenience to justify the expense but I do miss the improvement that it brought.

Thank you for the reply and you are %100 right about streaming services. 44.1k and 48k output should be simultaneously. Otherwise it is always frustrating. Vivaldi clock is expensive, any advice for budget friendly option ?