Right, would have to use the preamp.
It would have to be a very poor DAC to just lop off half to one full octave from the source material. It’s articles like this this feeding the gullible audiophile high on snake oil stereotype.
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Here’s another impression from exactly the same system I listened to:
I played a DSD track from a thumb pen of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 - Budapest Festival Orchestra, directed by Ivan Fischer, that was delivered by Rossini APEX DAC with glorious brass and drums whilst DSDx2 was displayed on the screen.
It’s funny because this was a native DSD256 track that Rossini was not supposed to play. I gather it downsampled to DSD128 to be able to play it. Nice.
Huh? 
I’m guessing they actually downsampled via Roon (but got their reviewing wires crossed 
)
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I assumed the same. Otherwise . . . no idea.
Native DSD allows customers to purchase in different DSD formats 64, 128, 256, DXD. They always note the format / sample rate of the original recording. They also use to allow purchasers to download multiple versions at different sample rates
Perhaps a DSD 128 file was uses instead of 256?
Never-mind - i just tried to play a DSD 256 file in Roon and it downsampled to DSD 128 automatically before passing to the Bartok
I’m no longer using the HPA in my Bartok. After our home remodel is completed, might be a Rossini Apex player in my future. Replaces my old CD player too. I still love my physical media every now and then.
Is the clock essential? Worth doing that sooner rather than later with the Bartok?
I’ve mentioned this before but pre-APEX the sound of the Rossini without the clock would not have merited its purchase; it’s only with the Rossini Clock the sound became worthy of spending the big bucks.
I’m not sure if the same will be true or the Rossini APEX but I suspect it will.
We all hear differently. It was actually Rossini Player that sealed the deal for me back in 2020. Superb SQ. Clock required? Not at all. But it’s great having that path for improving sound further. And if one so chooses, you can step into the Vivaldi level that way.
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I had similar experience Greg, I moved from Puccini to Rossini player early 2018 and was pretty happy with the improvment between the two generations of dCS. The use of Nordost Vahalla 2 power cable probably provided me more audible improvement than the clock did so I gave up adding the clock which leave more flexibility for future changes of my digital source. I switched to Vivaldi One last December and was stunned that Vivaldi is really a different world, now awaiting to fix with local dealer to audition what Vivaldi Apex upgrade can bring
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I think it also depends upon what you are moving up from.
My previous DAC was clearly better than the Bartok and the Rossini without the Rossini Clock, but it required the Rossini Clock to exceed the performance of what I had.
Yeah, agreed, the starting point or reference point can make all the difference.
Had a Wadia 381i before I bought the Rossini (also had the Wadia S7i in my system, not that big a difference to the 381i in my system) The Rossini easily beat both in my system, no clock needed for that.
BillK keeps mentioning that the Rossini needs the clock, but he forgets that it might be the match in his system, it does not have to be that way for others.
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Appreciate the replies. The pattern seems to be fairly clear.
Mine is a modest setup of Debussy with Rossini clock and my take is that clock is must. The effect is such that if ever I am able to upgrade in future, it will be either DAC + Clock combo or none.
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It was in multiple systems.
The Rossini without the clock had a somewhat nebulous soundstage compared with the S7i.
The addition of the clock locked the soundstage into place and made the combo surpass the Wadia.
The way I’ve described it is that a track with Sinatra had him and the orchestra sounding wonderful and in place, but they were coming from somewhat fuzzy points in a cloud of space.
With the clock they become locked in space and you can hear the size of the studio they are playing in.
When you shut off the clock the walls of the studio disappear and the artists become somewhat diffuse again.
The Wadia was better at placing the performers in space than the unclocked Rossini but not as precise as the clocked Rossini.
This is not at all surprising to me as Wadia spent a lot of time getting their clocking right with their ClockLink technology for with their internal transports to reduce jitter as low as they possibly could.
For example, their older DACs would actually refuse to lock with many sources if the jitter level was too high and they were great about providing modification instructions to help make those devices’ clocks more accurate.
The most interesting thing that happened when I was demoing the Rossini for the first time, I was listening to the Rossini with the clock engaged and there were a couple guys in their mid-20s in the back of the room looking at much lower-priced gear. As soon as I shut off the clock one of them spoke up and asked “What did you just do? It sounds much worse now.” I then turned the clock back on and the other one turned around and said that’s it… now it sounds as good as it did when we came in."
(Then again I found the S7i to sound substantially better than the 381i or I would not have spent the substantial difference in price when I traded up from my Wadia 830.)
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I have read your story many times, before you used another album with a piano track that sounded metallic on the Rossini without clock and it was “magical” with the clock.
Let’s leave it that our opinions are different
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That too. It just did not sound like a piano without the clock, there was a hard edge that made piano sound like the felt had been removed from the hammer.
I have yet to find many DACs other than the Wadia and the Rossini with the Clock (I haven’t heard the Vivalidi with or without the clock) that gets that right; the only ones I can think of right off the top of my head is the Moon 780Dv2.
Not most other high end DACs I’ve heard; not the ESS Tech ES9038PRO-based DAC in the Oppo UDP-205, not the (same chip) used in the Ayre QX-5 Twenty, or any McIntosh DAC.
The room size is just the most obvious for people who don’t have access to the particular test track I use that instantly shows the hard-edged metallic way most DACs reproduce piano.
The Wadia 830, 850, 381i and S7i all got it right.
Interestingly enough the Moon DAC uses an older ESS chipset, the ESS9018, but Moon does a lot more when it comes to clock precision (there it is again!) so I’m growing convinced that that hard edge has more to do with clocking than the DAC itself.
No hard edge in my system with Rossini without clock
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