What’s your headphone chain?
PS Audio Stellar P3 regenerator
dCS Rossini and Clock
Woo WA33 EE
Audeze LCD-5
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I know some people in the summit fi category that find it too soft and smooth sounding. Mostly Dave owners in comparison. Some switched to it, but most found no reason to. As for commercial reviews, who takes those seriously? 
Haven’t heard Bartok myself, but Lina + clock didn’t have that problem to me. Lina without clock did sound slightly veiled, so I assume that might be what they heard with the solo Bartok.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the Dave, but recognise how accomplished it is. While it pulls out an astounding amount of detail, it sounded a little clinical and didn’t do such a great job (to my mind) of the harmonics.
Of the two Chord DACs, the TT2 felt the better all-rounder, however I ultimately preferred the Bartok (since replaced with the Rossini APEX). The Bartok gave away a few points on detail, but simply sounded right.
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I am curious, is the Rossini (non-Apex) really an upgrade on the Bartok 2.0 ? or are people just speculating/new toy syndrome.
I can’t answer your question directly as I went straight from the Bartok v1 to the Rossini APEX, but I’m a happy camper (especially now my master clock has arrived)!
I’m willing to bet the advantages delivered by an additional PSU in the Rossini helps. Whether it is worth the cost of switching is something I think anyone would need to audition for themselves, at the risk they might leave the showroom somewhat poorer financially than they entered!
In my listening (back-to-back, same everything else etc.), an unequivocal “yes” — the non-Apex Rossini was markedly better-sounding than the Bartok with 2.0 software. Not close.
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What about Vivaldi One?
Why would I get that? It is ENORMOUS and does not fit in my shelf. Plus I don’t like the washer-dryer in one unit.
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A shame for us that audio memory is so short lived. 
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Acoustic memory is a strange thing.
When Rav from dCS demonstrated the Vivaldi vs. the Vivaldi Apex back-to-back at my local dealer, I could barely tell the difference; albeit on the dealer’s system with speakers that I was unaccustomed to.
When I eventually received my Apex upgrade, I had to fly out on business the very same day I collected it, even before I was able to fit the unit back into my system.
Returning home a week later and after re-installing the DAC into my system, the first disc I used was Keith O. Johnson’s “XLO Reference Recording Test & Burn-In” CD to verify that everything was correctly connected.
The difference in sound was stark, most prominently for me on the Clap Track.
Having lived with my Vivaldi stack for a decade, its sonic characteristics are so deeply ingrained that minute differences become very obvious, even when listened to a week apart.
Theres clearly a difference between short-term acoustic memory and long term ingrained ones.
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@Anupc If you’re interested in memory, I recommend a book by Nicholas Carr, “The shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains.” There are fascinating summaries of the differences between long and short term memory and how the brain works. (To be sure, all embedded in a larger polemic, but that aspect is interesting too.)
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Just reading an old whathifi Rossini Apex review…tester finding was coax (he used Naim ND555 as transporter) is better than streaming and dCS direct connected to power amp (skipped his pre amp) was better.
I have the non- Apex but my findings are opposite, did Apex change here something??
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Exactly. It creates a series failure problem instead of parallel/multiple failure points w separates : )
Can anyone here comment on a Bartok (2.0) to Rossini Apex upgrade? I hesitate to create more threads.
I’m starting to get serious about this. I’m sure there is an obvious answer, but I would love to hear some actual impressions.
Thanks!
Can’t help, sorry. Just did Paganini to Rossini (non Apex) and that is seriously 
. Much like Puccini to Paganini.
I use Rossini Apex with NDX2 (without power supply) in spdif input.
Can’t say that I hear lots of difference between that and inbuilt Mosaic streamer in Rossini.
Regards,
Sourav
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The Apex board seems to have more power out of the analog outs, I would expect that it would be better connected directly to a power amp than non-Apex.
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Hey Andrew, there is really no comparison for me. When my Rossini was out for the Apex upgrade, it took 7 days to complete and my dealer loaned me a Bartok 2.0 in the interim. Even before the Apex upgrade, I already missed Rossini (non-Apex) within the first minute of plugging in the Bartok 2.0. Prior to owning the Rossini (and now Rossini Apex), i used to own a Bartok and have never looked back after the change.
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