I have to say I’m always a little sceptical of YouTube demo’s of audiophile equipment as the sound has been fed through another stage of microphones, another ADC setup, digital compression, DAC and, finally, through another set of speakers. All of which have their own sound signature.
While I agree it might give a feel for the relative sonic signature, judging actual sound quality is something I wouldn’t like to bet on.
I‘m wary of who does them on YouTube and if demos of reviewers I like are unlistenable on an iPad and all of a sudden one demo sounds musical on the same iPad, it means that in reality it must sound really good. For A/B demos I usually attach my Utopia22 via a DragonFly Cobalt to the iPad. There it‘s just a relative game.
I did the exact same thing a couple of months ago. The Bartok was great, but the Apex Rossini is so much better. It’s probably my end game dac.
I would like to say and believe this, but I don’t think I can 
.
I say it to keep my wife happy. Even she knows it’s probably not the entire truth. 
There currently is an ex-demo silver Bartók Apex DAC on offer here, from a reliable dealer:
https://wilbert.nl/shop/dcs-bartok-apex-dac-upnp-speler-zilver-demo-
That is extremely interesting @Ermos. I haven’t seen any “demo” Bartók APEXes locally (and by locally I mean in the Nordics) and nor would I expect to in less than a year since launch. I mean why sell off the demo unit of a current (and excellent!) product with a (probably) long life ahead of it?
Unless you have to. I speculate that Bartók sales (apparently formerly a nice cash cow for dCS) have hit a wall since the APEX upgrade. As many have reported here the proportionate hike in the list price was just too much to swallow. Are dealers having to churn demo units at reduced margin just to generate turnover??
Cost of listening crisis…
That is a very good and reputable dealer local to me. Nice deal on the Bartok apex.
I am wondering the same. I have noticed that this dealer made some changes in their operation, recently. One regular shop day is now only on appointment. And they have swapped their top line of amps: Spectral out, CH Precision in. FWIW.
As I become old and wise(?) I begin to appreciate how much fashion (as defined (dictated?) by the media and dealers) rules this industry. I recently bought a new cable loom to connect my newly upgraded components and for once found myself on the receiving end of this equation. I picked up absolutely top flight cables (AudioQuest Dragon) at less than a third of list, according to people I spoke to, because they are “no longer hot”. Had I insisted on Shunyata or Nordost (so I was told) I would have been lucky to find current items anywhere south of half of list (realise this may not be true in their home market, the US of A).
CH Precision is “hot” (and top notch), whereas Spectral is “cold” (and top notch). If you’re fishing in the second hand pond then the likelihood is Spectral is a better buy than CH Precision. The BBLPC has got your back!
Absolutely. I am afraid that 60 years in this hobby has made me increasingly sceptical. How much is just illusory?
I bought my ex-demo Bartók APEX HDAC (with, apparently, 10-15 hours on it) from a main dealer for £16k, while the non-APEX model is still on sale at the same dealer for only £250 less. I’m certainly not complaining, but it’s a mad world.
I bought my ex-demo Vivaldi this year from the Dutch dCS importer. Only after it was for sale for some time without Apex it was provided with the Apex upgrade without significant price increase.
The moment I noticed that, resistance turned out to be pointless…
No regrets!
CH Precision is “hot” (and top notch), whereas Spectral is “cold” (and top notch). If you’re fishing in the second hand pond then the likelihood is Spectral is a better buy than CH Precision.
Perhaps customers want to know when their stereo equipment is going to arrive.
Spectral has always been run more as a hobby than as a company by its principals, with the net effect that you will get your Spectral gear whenever they feel like building it.
I know one person who waited for over a year (and that was pre-COVID) and most any Spectral dealer will tell you that up front.
Headfonics has a good review of the Bartok Apex: dCS Bartok APEX Review.
Lots of comparison with the Lina system, helping to understand the slight differences between them.
Really nicely written review, thanks for posting!
Just read it and nice review, had to raise my eyebrow a little bit though at the fact that he compared Bartok and Lina via USB. I think the communis opinio here at least is that ethernet is the better sounding choice.