Just curious, has anyone with a Clock and the Apex upgrade did any A/B testing to see if the SQ improvement with a Clock is more noticeable with the Apex upgrade?
OK - Well there was a specific instance here only recently where a customer (one of the people on this thread in fact) had mentioned a suspected possible issue regarding their own unit that had already been returned for an APEX update - the normal checks that are done on a unit before it is updated would have picked up whether that unit did actually have the problem that had been raised or not (and in this case showed that it didnāt).
(Some images of the output from the unit being tested were actually posted into a thread up on here at the time.)
So the āhealth checkā check before being upgraded ensures that we can pick up any pre existing issues with the unit on its arrival and, if appropriate, alert the customer before the update is performed.
Similarly the checks afterwards ensure that the unit is working as it should before it is returned to the customer - makes sure that everyone is covered and knows exactly what the state of play is.
The upgrade boards themselves are run through a full set of (logged and traceable) automated tests in production before they are shipped out too.
I hope that helps explain why we test units.
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Itās not that simple.
There is a special tool dCS provides to get the jacks out of the old backplate that is tricky to use.
Itās not brain surgery but it does take longer and is more complex than my dealerās tech anticipated it would be.
Now that heās done several itās kind of old hat, but itās not a simple āunscrew this, replace that boardā swap.
@Phil Thanks for the clarification on the health check that is performed by dCS. Do you know if the US dealers that do Apex upgrades are trained and equipped to perform the same health check?
dCS US handle all aspects of the USA and Canada and determine which dealers are able to do their own updates.
I gotta askā¦ What are you testing on the scope?
Thatās quite fair, I can imagine you might need this. Given people stress about cables so much - I for one know the importance of cables - having high quality connectors from a DAC input & output is important.
Myself, I donāt test anything relating to the updates on an oscilloscope as I donāt perform the updates (and Iām not safe to be let loose with a soldering iron) but one of the things that does get checked both pre and post update is channel balance as was specifically discussed hereā¦
Best regards
Phil
Just to confirm Philās specific comment. Other in/out checks, aside. Herewithā¦
And 6 days in (almost 150 hours) and the system is transformed. Glad Chris took the time to investigate the analog side of things.
Whatās interesting is that what Iād heard with itās replacement in the lineup, the Schitt Yggdrasil, which I thought somewhat missing from the pre-APEX, was quite well taken care of with APEX. That being more dynamics and pacing. Mike Moffat of Theta fame and now leading Schitt learned quite a bit from his years on both the digital and analog front, it seems. But now I can say Iām totally ecstatic with what Iām hearing.
The problem I heard with the Yggdrasil was the same as what I heard with Thetaās DAC, namely bright and hyper-detailed so it sounds good initially but induces listener fatigue within minutes.
Not at all in my system. Guess every system is quite different.
Oh cmonā¦ Really???
All I know is when I demoed one my thoughts were āsounds like a Theta Digital DAC to me.ā
Not as fatigue-inducing as their older DACs, but still with the Theta house sound.
Which of the 3 Yggdrasil DAC flavors did you happen to audition?
So My Rossini Apex has been back in the system for 3 days and playing the whole time.
It had been a bit lacking in bass punch and a bit thin however. I chalked it up to some post Covid congestion. I then realized that the device came back to me with output set to 2V (and the preamp volume was running at 40% instead of the usual 30%). I reset it to 6V and the sound has opened up. Everything is bigger, fuller and richer. I donāt know why my preamp sings better receiving higher Apex output - but it is what it is. 2v at 40% is thin compared to 30% at 6v. Itās a McIntosh C12000.
Anyhoo - All the things said about Apex detail and soundstage are real. This was a nice upgrade.
Odd that this setting had been altered. But maybe whoever worked on your system did a reset, causing the output to drop to 2v. I know that my dealer recommended I raise the DAC output from 2 to 6v since I am using a preamp more than capable of handling the higher output. The manual warns that setting it at 6v can overload and distort. Also, verify the volume level setting for the DAC hasnāt been changed.
Altered settings to default are to be expected. Your Ring DAC board has been swapped for the APEX version. This board contains the FPGAs that run the system, including its settings. So all previous settings are lost.
Also, the bass thinness is also a side-effect of the swap.
I mentioned that after mine was done the bass was all but missing for about the first ten hours of burn-in, and it gradually worked its way back to its normal levels within about 24 hours of use.
For what itās worth, I lost none of my settings - they were all where they were when I took it in, including output voltage, custom input names and network configuration.
After the first contact with your Mosaic software the original settings will return. But only from Mosaic, so if you start using your new APEX board without first connecting with the Mosaic app, it will have the default settings.
That isnāt accurate, or at least wasnāt for me.
I connected my Rossini Player APEX back up and started using it right away; I didnāt connect Mosaic to it for weeks after I got it back as I simply never use Mosaic for anything, actually, except firmware upgrades.
I almost never use anything but the front panel buttons or the remote as all I ever do is switch between two inputs or the CD transport; I only very, very rarely stream.