You still have the Enleum?
I guess in a year or 2 - 3 or so, Rossini and Vivaldi Apex will be replaced by a new dCS line up, if and when aluminium prices go down. I think I will sit that out.
Yep, still have the Enleum — it’s fantastic. The Riviera AIC-10 was very, very good, too.
Sitting anywhere near a Rossini or Vivaldi Apex is unlikely to be a hardship 
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My Rossini DAC is just 7 months old. It is too early to replace its Ring DAC for Apex. No matter how much better it is supposed to be. No hardship indeed 
My new 1266 Phi TC has burned in, my Benchmark HPA4 is driving it, but so so…
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And you forgot about Stax on the brain 
You’re right.
Future Ben has either 11 or 12 pairs of headphones. And another headphone amp that comes in two pieces 
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I visited my AD today where they had and old and new Vivaldi set up. I spent about an hour comparing the two using a familiar set of tracks from Qobuz.
The system was a full Vivaldi stack, Constellation pre/monos and Magico M2s. Cabling was all Odin 2. The sytem was very neutral and resolving, but as expected lacking the deepest bass extension.
Before comparing the units I played a white noise track and measured the SPL using the NIOSH SLM app on my iPhone. I left the phone in the exact same location on the sofa next to me and using a 10 second test interval on each unit I got the following results:
Old Vivaldi
LAeq = 56.5 dB
Lmax = 58.5 dB
LCpeak = 84.7 dB
Apex Vivaldi
LAeq = 56.5 dB
Lmax = 58.6 dB
LCpeak = 85.0 dB
As you can see, they appear to have very similar output levels, which is good news for folks trying to make comparisons.
I was only able to switch back and forth a couple times so could not directly A/B specific tracks. I would classify the difference as subtle, but noticable. The most obvious difference I noticed was in the sound staging.
In this system on the original Vivaldi vocals sometimes sounded a bit recessed in the soundstage, like the singer was in the back of the room. The Apex unit brough them forward, which I preferred. I found the Apex unit also made specific instruments slightly easier to pinpoint in the soundstage and had increased soundstage height.
Beyond this I cannot honestly say I preferred one unit over the other. The soundstaging alone could be considered a significant upgrade by some. I should also say that I’m not the most analytical listener. so likely some other folks would have noticed more differences than me.
Will I upgrade? Perhaps. I’m currently deciding how to allocate my hifi budget for the year. It could go to this or to a significant upgrade to my analog front end. The cost of the upgrade would likely buy me a much larger imrprovement there, but my listening is probably 75% digital.
Looking foward to hearing more imprssions as these units reach dealers!
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To be honest, and given my recent experience with large differences in the sound just from the interconnect going from Rossini to my amp, I am inclined to say that these comparisons can only be done like-for-like in the same system with the same cables, and with matched levels.
Fractions of a dB matter. You can of course adjust the volume out of the APEX Vivaldi to compensate.
In a similar boat to you jeff, but i decided to spend my money on my turntable rig and so glad i did, not a slight upgrade in sound a massive one.
So much so my rossini has taken a back seat for now and finally i feel like i am getting the maximum i can get from vinyl.
For sure the apex will be better or why would dCS bring it out, but there’s value for money that some need to think about here and £6000 is a big chuck off cash, for what might be a very small gain, but a gain is a gain and only yourselve can decide if its worth the outlay.
As said for me i have invested in my analog side and now have a turntable that can beat my rossini with the right vinyl in terms of musicality, with detailing to match.
Plus i also treated myself to a lovely nakamichi dragon thats just had the full works done to it, so swimming around in analog right now and loving it
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Interesting post @Gibraltar Thank you. We have a home audition of Rossini Apex sometime next month - our dealer has yet to confirm a date.
Those in this thread seem to agree there is an improvement between former machine and Apex. I think for £6000 I’d be expecting a significant increase in sound quality. Online the very positive reviews I’ve managed to find are from dCS dealers.
Time will tell and I’m really looking forward to the home dem where the Apex will go head to head with our current Rossini.
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Well put and agreed. I too have recently experienced the same with the introduction of Black Cat Mini Tron cables between my Rossini Clock and DAC. The same level of improvement occurred with a new Graceline level 2 (Black Cat) XLR cable between my Linn Klimax DS and headphone amplifiers.
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A really useful review. Hopefully my new Rossini Apex DAC and Vivaldi clock won’t be too much longer…
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@Dunc I just saw this video on the Nakamichi Dragon CT turntable, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0UKRLYgEk8. I’ve never seen a turntable correct for out of round records as the video shows.
IMHO, except for the convenience factor, my digital source (Rossini and Gryphon Pandora pre-amp) still lags in SQ compared to my modest vinyl source (Pro-Ject RM9 turntable/Sumiko BluePoint III cartridge and Pandora pre).
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@glevethan you recommend the Black Cat cables? I’ve had my eye on those for a while.
In 0.5dB steps?
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY recommend these cables! I first learned about Black Cat from @anon30536008 and @PAR. Marco uses the TRON version with his Vivaldi. I have a dear Naim friend who uses the GraceLine Level 2 XLR cables as well. I had been using Apogee Wide Eye cables until a pair of Black Cat’s original entry clock cables, the DIGIT 75, became available on Audiogon. For the price they were worth a try and I was extremely impressed with the result - enough to order the new Mini Tron clock cables. Both Black Cat and my dealer claimed they offered 80% of TRON performance for significantly less cost. I have a problem spending $4600 for a pair of TRON to use on my $7000 Rossini clock. If I had a Vivaldi clock the price point ratio would be more acceptable.
Once the Mini Tron cables arrived it took all of 2 minutes to discern they were something special. I was actually floored by the improvement - one of the easiest demos I have done in many years. The Graceline level 2 XLR cables were equally impressive when situated in my multiple headphone systems and used between the amps and Linn Klimax DS.
As an interesting aside last weekend I hosted a Stax Electrostatic headphone shootout at my house. Two friends came over - one who designs and builds end game electrostatic amplifiers and the other, @all2ofme, who is a headphone enthusiast and current Bartok and soon to be Rossini owner. At the end of the day Ben wanted to hear the Mini Tron vs. my Apogee. The electrostatic amp designer (unfamiliar with dCS) sat in as well. Wasn’t that an eye opener! It made me feel good my older ears are still working. They both scratched their heads at the improvement the Mini Tron made - it was that immediate and obvious.
Best
Gregg
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Yeah. It sucked. Now browsing classifieds 
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Thanks for posting that Ruud. I enjoyed reading it, though I confess my wife saw my eyes roll at this:
The first impression is of a robust, tight, articulate, well-defined bass with impressive extension, half to one octave lower than the average DAC.
haha, your wife knows the Vivaldi already has that extra half octave. So you don’t need that Apex upgrade.
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