Actually the super rich are less impacted by the markets and wider socioeconomic conditions.
The Asian hiend market is still very active and ones who can afford wadax, msb and now the new flagship dcs digital don’t bother much on the price as long as it’s very expensive.
There’s informal competitions among themselves to own and show the most expensive stuff that money can buy, so I guess the new 6 boxes will sell well over there.
Fashion and hiend are 2 completely different things in the world of luxury, and fashion tends to favour ladies more than gents. That’s why I think hiend is much less impacted in comparison to other fashion houses.
As I stated in the thread last week relating to new dCS pricing, I will bet the new unit will be equal to or greater than the sum of all current dCS products combined. Just my guess.
Absolutely true. There has been such a concentration of wealth at the top over the last 20+ years that a certain class of consumers is completely unaffected by pricing changes under $1MM.
Said more simply: if you have $100-$500+ million, you don’t care about $100k or $200k purchases.
Top to bottom: user interface unit, master clock, DAC left channel, DAC right channel, ‘base control’ (?) unit with potential (?) expansion slots beyond standard Ethernet/SFP and USB. Makes 5 boxes not 6, and no transport (at least not in the teaser video). Interestingly, it seems no PSU separation. Proprietary clock / control interface and cable (‘Actus’).
I might be wrong but from the video it looks like the new units are full width. So the bottom box is huge. @keiserrg will feel right at home!. Actually, looking at the rear panel shot from the video I am now thinking these are neither full-width nor half width, but somewhere in between. So maybe the bottom unit isn’t actually that huge.
That bottom unit also looks modular (from the rear shot)
All the boxes have IECs which either means that they don’t have external power supplies or that these are optional
There is a distinct lack of socketry on those rear panels. It looks like finally dCS has broken with the dual AES past. Yay!
Presumably then Actus is the new proprietary interconnect alluded to in the patent application? Each of the units would appear to have at least one such socket.
Two interesting things about the second and third boxes from the bottom. 1. Their front panels are mirror images of each other, supporting the notion they may be L and R DAC modules. However both would appear to have two XLRs and two RCAs, presumably then these are dual outputs rather than L and R channels?
Seems we were right about the DAC/UI having design cues from the Lina.
Only five boxes so is there a transport still to come??
Very interesting ( if only from an academic viewpoint). However is it a Vivaldi Apex replacement or a model placed above it?
Looking forward to tomorrow and further information. Varese was never in my thoughts for a name. I winder why it was chosen?
Iy also looks like the connectivity means that purchase of the whole stack will be required. No mix and match with older units to allow one to climb the ladder over a few years.
Whatever it looks expensive and i should think way above what i would be willing to part with.
I guess i will have to carry on and slum it with the vivaldi
On the face of it yes, and I have to say that I for one am delighted that dCS has finally decided to break with its antiquated connector legacy. However, one could easily imagine that the seemingly unused slots (the left three) on the bottom box (Upsampler?) could be used to incorporate both legacy inputs (I don’t see any USB for instance) and outputs (AES, dual AES etc.) which could potentially facilitate mixing and matching.
Actually Varese is a fascinating figure. One of the very few composers - or artists of any sort - who were genuinely interested in science. Most of his best pieces express this scientific interest with great imaginative power.
My personal favourite is Arcana which deals with the early alchemists, and their wild ideas centring on the extraordinary figure of Paracelcus. It conjures images of blazing brasiers, bubbling retorts and endless jars of strangely coloured chemicals. All fired with maniacal energy.
I would recommend the Zubin Mehta, Los Angeles Philharmonic recording. Very dynamic and forceful. The Boulez recording, as you might expect, offers a more cerebral approach.
Other pieces I like include: Integrales, Ionisation (Franc Zappa said it was this piece that inspired him to pursue a career in music), Hyperprism and Octandre.
But please note, this is 20th century classical modernism and is definitely not easy listening. It requires some effort and several listenings to really get into it.
