Bartok Apex vs Lina DAC

Currently have the Lina DAC pared with the Riveria AIC-10 and Susvara HP. Im thinking of selling my Lina DAC and moving up to Barton Apex?

Thoughts, suggestions, experience?

I was recently at a dealer demo of the complete dCS line. For my ears there was a significant difference between the Bartok Apex and Lina.

FYI I owned the original Bartok, original Rossini, and currently the Rossini APEX

Thx, I had an original Bartok 2 years ago, love it but at the time that was my only amp and I could not live with it with Susvara but it was outstanding with AB 1266. I then moved to Lina stack , but I am really curious about the Barttok Apex with my AIC-10

Bartok Apex with headphones vs the Rossini? What cans do you use

Tagging @all2ofme who uses an AIC-10 with a Rossini and has previously owned a Bartók.

I have a number of cans however they have gone dormant this year and listening has been almost exclusively 2 channel. With that said, when they were used, cans were OG Utopia, Sony Z1R, and 5 different Stax headphones (X9000, 009, 009S etc. etc. )

Ben @all2ofme is best to chime in as mentioned by Andrew

I’ve never heard a Lina or a Bartok Apex, but these things I do know:

  • the Bartok sounded great
  • the Rossini better still
  • Rossini Apex better again
  • I reckon the Vivaldi and Varèse could be, too

Those dCSers know what they’re doing :slight_smile:

If the question is “will my AIC-10 sound better with a Rossini than it does with a Lina?” then I would posit a reasonably well informed guess of “YEP.”

The Riviera headphone amps are fantastic. I’m slowly working my way through what stays and what goes in my amp collection:

  • Riviera AFC10
  • Trafomatic Primavera
  • CFA3 from a wonderful builder in Sweden
  • Eksonic T2 (with Shangri-La)

They’re all good in their own ways, and with different headphones.

Unhelpful, moi? :wink: