Bartok to Rossini APEX

dCS Products
1

Just pulled the trigger and ordered a Rossini APEX DAC. I got my Bartok 3 years ago, and its price has gone up dramatically since, so the resale value is high. This was my justification for the upgrade, which is by far the largest investment on one unit. Considering the popularity, my dealer may forgive me if I change my mind, however. :slight_smile:

The rest of my system are not quite at the same level budgetwise, but I feel they are all near the top quality, at least no shame accommodating the upgrade:

Audio Note AN-E SPe HE
Audion Silver Night 300B PSE
Pass XP-12 or Audio Antiquary Wooden Pre.
I donā€™t do CDs or LPs anymore.

Convince me either I made the good or bad decision and why.

2 Likes
2

Front end is the beginning of the chain. No downstream investment can correct problems w the DAC.

3

I agree, and this is why Iā€™m doing it. But just curious about what to expect, how big the ā€œdeltaā€ would be: from Bartok to Rossini to Rossini APEX to Vivaldi to Vivaldi APEX. I suppose the deltaSQ is not just proportional to delta$ā€¦

4

I went from a Dave/Mscaler to a Rossini DAC and Clock, then did the Apex upgrade. Apex to me was a huge step forward in my system. The words that come to mind are natural and analog. Thereā€™s still tons of detail but now digital is musical.

2 Likes
5

The answer to your question is subjective and will vary from system to system, based on the other components and room, but in general, it should look something like this:

PXL_20221210_223352211~2
PXL_20221210_223352211~21920Ɨ1229 99.2 KB

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6

From RA to V: this test is done with USB or SPDIF only (means without clock or upsampling etc)?
Thanks!!
(I asked because I could jump from Rossini Apex with clock to Vivaldi Apex native then, using USB only with Melco)

7

@keiserrg Thanks. Your plot was converted into the ā€œbang for the buckā€ version, which looks like this. :slight_smile: Clearly there is a law of diminishing return.

Screenshot 2022-12-11 at 11.28.43 AM
Screenshot 2022-12-11 at 11.28.43 AM1374Ɨ794 16.7 KB

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8

VA costs here almost 40.000ā‚¬, ahā€¦sorry you mentioned USDšŸ˜‡

9

Not sure whether there is that big a jump in SQ between RA to V.

Regards,
Sourav

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Indeed, according to the curve, either RA is overpriced or underrated. I hope it is the latter.

11

Who created the curve ?

Regards,
Sourav

12

Yes there is a considerable gain in SQ from Rossini apex to vivaldi, it made me change my plan to upgrade my Rossini to Rossini apex.

13

See the hand drawing above. I just converted to a different format, based on US retail price. YMMV.

14

I understand the price part.

My qs is about the SQ part. Is it based on subjective impressions or based on any official bench marking by dCS or some other body (like reviewers, etc) ?

15

I donā€™t understand why you donā€™t see the hand drawing by @keiserrg above. It is a subjective one of course. Donā€™t get too serious. :slight_smile:

1 Like
16

Oh ok. Makes sense.

However, for price it is better to compare price of Rossini with Vivaldi Dac + Upsampler. To get all functionality of Rossini one needs to buy both of Vivaldi Dac and Upsampler.

Rewgards,
Sourav

17

Feel free to add your own data and I will be happy to revise the figure. :slight_smile: It will make the x-axis more complicated though, RA, V, V+U, VA, VA+U, etc. etcā€¦ I donā€™t foresee going up to that stratosphere anytime soon, so I will never knowā€¦

Cheers,

1 Like
18

Ha ha ha.

I think u just need to replace V with V+U and VA with VA+U.

Regards,
Sourav

19

No, no, and no! Itā€™s scientifically proven. Iā€™ve interviewed 100 audiophiles and incredibly they all agree!

; )

2 Likes
20

Wow !!! Awesome. So diligent of u !!!