I think adding Expanse for Rossini and Vivaldi makes even more sense now that dCS is moving strongly into the headphone space and sells a dedicated headphone amp.
Another vote for this upgrade. High end headphones enthusiasts community is now pretty large (and quickly growing).
Although I acknowledge that dCS has already covered a big chunk of this prospect customer base with Bartok and Lina, an upgrade (upsell) path to higher echelon dCS DACs would be very appreciated.
I, for one, would seriously consider a Rossini Apex if it had the Expanse feature implemented.
I was dead set on getting the Lina because of Expanse. I loved it when I auditioned the stack, but I felt it was a bit hit or miss. I also use my Dave’s Crossfeed (btw, I think I bought some dc-blocks from you earlier this year ). In the last second I got a Rossini instead of the Lina. The main reason is I was sure Expanse would not make up for the gap in performance. The second is, I ordered the Zaehl HM1, and the stereo base adjustment feature, which is apparently crazy good, wouldn’t work with any crossfeed implementation anyway. Food for thought.
Will do Andre. it’s not until March unfortunately but some people on headphones.com got it and first impressions are at least as good as the initial ones. I’m sure we won’t be disappointed.