Anyone interested in a dCS preamp/ headphone amp?

dCS Products Feature Requests
43

Oh it leaked. @Ermos is undercover here, gauging interest :yum:

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44

:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Tomorrow we will know if the ā€œnew product series purpose built for headphone listeningā€ has something we were waiting for.

Here it is: Welcome dCS Lina

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45

Absolutely no interest here.

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46

Well, at least now we know why there hasnā€™t been an replacement for the Vivaldiā€¦

I would expect that to be next on dCSā€™s product roadmap

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47

I would guess a Vivaldi replacement is a couple of years away. Apex isnā€™t even out yet. dCS would really anger a lot of customers if they release a new Vivaldi right after the Apex upgrade.

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48

Good point. Iā€™m sure youā€™re right.

Also noting: Vivaldi was introduced in 2012 (if Iā€™m not mistaken). A lot has certainly delayed by COVID but thatā€™s a pretty long timeā€¦

49

Yes, and it still sounds great. I have yet to walk into a shop and hear anything demonstrably better.

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50

Since introduction, the Vivaldi system has gone through at least one prior hardware upgrade that I can remember before Apex, and obviously multiple firmware upgrades; the most significant being the improvements brought on by the 2.0 upgrade in 2016 2018, which in my view, was as effective as a whole new DAC.

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51

Hi everyone. Iā€™m considering replacing my 3-unit Rossini with a full 4-unit Vivaldi. Aside from the cost, what is keeping me back is the fact that Vivaldi is almost10 years old (let aside Apex) so Iā€™m fearing that it could be technologically old and dCS could replace it with a new model in a few years. Any thoughts? Is it a huge improvement over the Rossini? Thanks.

52

@Ermos Iā€™m guessing that this survey played a big part in the recent Lina announcement. I was somewhat shocked by the 3 box price of the Lina system approaching US$ 30,000. If one adds a Rossini Clock to a Bartok, what does the Lina do that makes it a superior system for headphone use vs. a Bartok and a Rossini Clock?

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53

I guess not, because the Lina System was under development for the last 2 years, and my topic here is just 16 months old.

The price for a BartĆ³k HDAC + Rossini Clock is similar to the full Lina system.

  • BartĆ³k HDAC: ā‚¬ 22.500
    Rossini Master Clock: ā‚¬ 10.800

Total: ā‚¬ 33.300

  • Lina 3 box System: ā‚¬ 32.850

The first is suitable for headphones and speakers, the latter for headphones. The latter has a separate, beefier amp. We still have to see which system is better, and for what.

The addition of the headamp to the BartĆ³k is ā‚¬ 19.900 ā†’ ā‚¬ 22.500 = ā‚¬ 2600. The Lina headamp alone is ā‚¬ 10.250.

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