Interesting a new Ring dac technology…Rather soon after the Apex…I am glad I skipped the Apex upgrade…I will wait the Diferential Ring Dac upgrade…I hope I can hear it soon, even though it will be impossible to isolate the dac from the rest of the Varèse system…
We may have to wait a bit. The Differential Ring DAC in Varese has double the current sources - which means double the space. In this case, separating into dual mono chassis accommodates the larger footprint. There simply isn’t room in a Bartok, Rossini-sized product to implement a differential Ring DAC in say a super APEX board.
We will see what the future brings, advancements may lie with newer technology - the kind of innovations we see in consumer hand held devices. Flexible circuit boards (al la Lina) and the continued miniaturization of electronic components. All of this stuff needs to meet technical requirements and be economical to implement.
Not sure we are there yet
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From the Brochure:
DIFFERENTIAL RING DAC
Achieving the Impossible.
The dCS Ring DAC™ has earned global acclaim for its
technical and sonic abilities. This unique digital-to-analogue
conversion system resides at the heart of all dCS DACs. It has
been carefully refined over many years to reproduce sound
with the utmost clarity and precision, bringing listeners a
profoundly natural and highly detailed musical performance.
In 2022 we delivered major enhancements with the launch
of our Ring DAC APEX hardware. Not content with our
achievements, we continued exploring how we could build on
our accomplishments and once again improve the capabilities
of dCS DACs. After thorough investigation, we decided this
could only be achieved with a comprehensive redesign of the
Ring DAC’s architecture and operations.
We made a number of developments, creating a new design
with twice as many current sources and introducing a new
differential mode of operation. Our extensive changes
have made it possible to further increase linearity whilst
significantly lowering noise floor and delivering a host of
additional benefits.
The biggest change to our DAC architecture in a generation,
the Differential Ring DAC elevates the dCS experience once
again, bringing an experience of even greater presence,
immediacy and intensity…
Best to all,
Bob