Here is the email I just sent them.
Rather than give the entire background and litany of issues I’m having with a Vivaldi DAC/Clock/Upsampler truncating the first second of a song that requires a sampling rate different from the song that preceded it on a playlist, the attached threads, on your community website, that have gone unanswered are provided.
The first thread was started by user BillK who is having the same issue with his Rossini gear. That thread was started in Jul 2020. dCS has yet to respond.
And, here is a thread I started myself to specifically ask for assistance with the problem I’m having with my Vivaldi gear. That thread was started in Feb 2021. dCS has yet to respond.
I did get a response recently thru my dealer that dCS is aware of the issue and will figure out a fix. It’s been 2 weeks since that commitment was made, and I’d like to ensure that there is a fix possible, and for dCS to tell me when it’ll be available.
I’ve posted lots of info on both the above threads, and included some analogies and comparisons that should underscore the importance of fixing this. I’ll leave with just couple of them:
Suppose you had around $80k to spend on the best digital streaming front end you could buy. A dealer sets up two rigs: a Vivaldi stack, and a Boulder 2120 with an Aurender W20SE. You have two songs you want to hear on both to assess which one is most resolving and faithful to the original recording. One of them is a normally sampled track, and one is available on Quboz only as hi-rez. You listen to the Boulder/Aurender combo and it is awesome. Next up ya listen to the Vivaldi set up. It sounds appreciably better, but the second song is truncated. The dealer explains this is a systemic fault due to switching of sampling frequencies (the Boulder/Aurender does not have this issue). He’s not sure when/if dCS is ever going to fix this. Which system do you buy?
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I really enjoy having friends over and showing off my system. The song I like to play for them to really experience the system’s clarity, and power is Pneuma by Tool, available on Quboz only as a hi-rez recording. So, before they come over I have to have the system running, and before they arrive, make sure the last song played is also in hi-rez, otherwise I have to explain why the first second of Pneuma is missing.
“Mighty fine system ya got there Mitch, too bad we missed the beginning of the song…”
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I’ve been on the audio merry go round for around the last 30 years, grabbing for the brass ring every time I passed it. I’ve spent way more than I can remember on audio components. About 2 years ago, as I was about to retire I decided to get off the merry go round, bite the bullet, and just buy the best of everything I wanted/needed to enjoy my system and focus on other things.
One of those things is playing guitar. One of my goals was to build a system in front of which I can sit, and play along as if the artists are in the room with me. The system I have allows me to do that, other than the front end of songs being truncated. If you were at a concert, and the mixing board had this kinda glitch you’d probably not be too happy and might even leave.
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A final analogy. Suppose you bought your dream car, a Mercedes SL63. It was the best car you ever owned, other than in second gear between 2,000 and 2,500 rpm the engine stalled. And then suppose this was a systemic problem and others were having the same issue. Do ya think MB would just shrug it off, or tell their customers a third party might be able to tinker with the software and make it better?
The favor of a response is sincerely requested.
Dave Mitchell
Yorktown, VA