Add Rossini Clock?

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 ?

Thank you for the long reply. Did you find any alternative ?
I tried Denafrips terra, I think clock inside the Vivaldi Dac much much better.
Thanks,
BuRKuT

I have always written that buying a Vivaldi component will be an expensive option as you will want to buy the other Vivaldi components to complete the system.

Other clocks may or may not operate optimally and you really need test equipment to fully form an opinion. The reason is that any wordcock will change the sound and some people will have a preference for that change. It’s bit like a point made in an advertisement for the Quad ESL back in the 1960s or early 70s. Add a resonance at a given frequency and a trumpet will sound more like a trumpet than the real thing :wink:.

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@Hornps I recently added a Rossini Clock and was concerned about the cost of cables. I auditioned 6 different BNC cables ranging from ~$40 pair (Van Damme cables you can purchase via the ‘designacable’ website) all the way up to the Shunyata Omega Clock-75 cables that retail for $9k for a pair. Myself and an audiophile friend couldn’t tell a difference with any of the 6 BNC clock cables we auditioned.

The power cable is a slightly different story. I auditioned Shunyata’s high end Omega QR-s cable that retails for $7,500 and the Shunyata Alpha v2 NR power cable that retails for $2,500 and there was no difference we could hear. I should add that the Omega QR-s made a noticeable improvement in SQ for the Rossini DAC/Streamer.

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Thanks, Cycles2. Yes, I’ve heard that the BNC’s in this connection are not as critical. Ah, but there’s the cost of the power cord. Even at $2500 (your Shunyata, or my Ansuz C2) still a fair chunk of change even in these lofty altitudes.

My question to you and this thread is this: I just upgraded from Rossini to APEX. How would you characterize the increase to include the Rossini Clock to the Rossini DAC APEX? Comparable to APEX upgrade alone? A tough question, no doubt, as it depends on so many factors, but thought I’d ask anyway.