It seems dCS will have a new purpose built headphone something very soon! Curious! I wonder how it will fit in with the Bartok, which to some degree also feels purpose built for headphones. I was enjoying mine last night with the Meze Elites.
The box in the teaser video looks smaller, so it might be a:
Transportable DAC+HPA like the Chord Hugo 2 (which I’m about to buy as a transportable solution - maybe I should wait?) – this is implied in the video by the comment about “allow music listening in a range of environments”
Mini Bartok-like DAC with HPA at a lower price point (the Bartok has gotten very expensive for the head-fi community – it could help to have a lower priced product to onramp more listeners)
Headphone amp only – but this is hard to imagine, since dCS’s history is in DACs
Something else entirely but related to headphone listening
I’m going with #1 – because that’s what I would love to have! (must be Roon Ready)
dCS has been on a roll lately. Looking forward to my Bartok 2.0 later this month.
The difference between Bartok and Rossini is substantial, it is not only different in the software. The hardware itself is also much more complex on the Rossini. For example, it has 2 separate power supplies on the Rossini, that handles the digital section and analog output section. This gives significantly better power and quiet noise floor. Whereas the Bartok has a more simple configuration with 1 power supply to handle the headphone amp, network streamer, and analog output. Even with software update, it might close the gap between Bartok and Rossini, but in the hardware point of view, the Rossini is still a level up of the Bartok.
Furthermore, one of the promises that we get from purchasing a dCS product is consistent software updates and improvements. This is true for the entire lineup from Vivaldi to Rossini and eventually to Bartok. dCS have already peaked the hardware perspective long ago with their custom FPGA and Ring DAC. Consistent software improvements are what make dCS strive for the best of the best and adapt to the current streaming environment in the Hifi world.
Yes, there’s something to be said about the timing of the Bartók 2.0 upgrade.
Nobody believes that it really took dCS engineers 1378 days — the time between the original Bartók announcement and version 2.0 announcement — to develop the upgrade, even more so that the Rossini 2.0 and Vivaldi 2.0 software have been around for more than 1000 days.
And it’s not either that the engineers have been touched by divine inspiration in April 2022.
So, as a resolutely positive person, I view it this way : if you happen to be the happy owner of both a Bartók and a Rossini, you’ll be able to enjoy an upgraded Bartók — “almost 2015 Rossini” — while your Rossini gets the Apex upgrade. tongue in cheek
That said, timing and marketing decisions put aside, I think we can all agree that
Every upgrade of the sound and musical quality is welcome.
There’s nothing to complain about when the upgrade is free, i.e. included in the original price.
It’s a very good thing that the more expensive gears (Vivaldi and Rossini) can be (significantly) upgraded without having to purchase next generation components, which would undoubtedly cost much, much more.
For me, as a Rossini Player owner, 8’000 or so are within my reach, but 35’000 or so are definitely NOT. So the Apex upgrade is a no-brainer for me and I’m very grateful towards dCS for developing it and making it available at a cost quite reasonable in my opinion.
This is now live, so feel free to get downloading - just remember to give your unit a power cycle beforehand as that always helps the update go smoothly