Having my eyes on Rossini for a long time. After a long deliberation, working out the commercials, finally made the decision today and ordered Rossini Dac (Apex) and Rossini Transport.
Though it may sound stupid but I still find sound quality music playing in CD/SACD superior than music stored in a server (and then streamed). Hence had to shell out that humongous amount for the transport. However, had a demo of Vivaldi transport with Rossini dac. Gorgeous !!! Even if 70% of that is possible through Rossini I would be more than happy.
Thanks to all forum members here whose opinion and experience helped me in coming to the conclusion.
Also a huge thanks to the dealer Graham Thomas (from Music Lovers Audio, Berkley California, USA) who patiently arranged for 2 home demos for me with Rossini and Bartok without any expectation and never pushing me for anything. And also for working with me on the final commercials.
Expecting to get the units delivered in 4 to 6 weeks time.
I have the (non Apex) Rossini Player & Clock: CD sounds very good and is still worth using (can sound better than streaming). Congrats with the Rossini combo !
Totally agree. I still prefer listening to CD than from server for critical listening. Use streaming form server when songs can go in background. That’s the reason thought of investing in separate transport .
@andrewt U r right. Thanks for the correction. Edited my post.
I was having (still have it - just put in US Audio Mart) PS Audio DMP Transport and PS Audio Direct Stream Dac. I loved them for last 8 yrs. Then the upgrade bug as u know.
Did not find Bartok to be of great improvement over PS Audio kits. ON the other hand Rossini won me on the first listen (without Apex). Graham took all pain to setup both Rossini and Bartok in my house without expecting any return.
So finally when I could manage enough to go for Rossini the question I had was would it be justice to it if I depend on sources like streaming service or streaming from a server - both cases there are so many variables. Hence thought of stretching a lot to get an equivalent transport.
Now, I am running my new (not upgraded one) Rossini Apex Dac for last 2 weeks continuously. So high time to share some experience/feedback.
In my ear significant improvement happened after first 100 hrs. But it is still improving mostly making the sound more life like and warm sounding (not fatiguing). Also it is becoming more and more accommodating to bad recordings - making them more palatable.
Since I never owned previous non-apex Rossini I cannot say how better Apex is from that. But overall totally value for money to me so far. It is not a single Dac to me. It is like a platform that can be tuned to any kind of recording, any genre of music and any kind of amplification. There where I am seeing the value of spending this much of huge money (at least for me !!!).
To me so far best sound is when paired with Rossini Transport (which I also bought along with the dac). With Rossini transport (connected to dual AES) the key difference that I am hearing from other sources (Roon, QBuz using Mosaic, Upnp using Mosaic, USB stick) is the level of control even with higher volume. I can go up to 60% of volume of my amplification system with same clarity and detail while using Rossini Transport where as for other surces I kind of need to stop around 40-45%.
Only disappointing factor is Mosaic. It is still kind of amateurish app. Needs lot of refinement, features and ux improvement.
Bliss is coming to you.
