Then you are probably right, and means that your original settings were not stored on the Ring DAC board, but on the internal SSD (nand: Toshiba NAND 512MiB, SLC, 3,3V 8-bit), that I believe is part of the network board.
I got confused, because my dealer informed me that I needed to restore all my settings, after my entire Rossini DAC was replaced due to a malfunctioning. Meaning also the network board.
At least for the Vivaldi: All of my settings were exactly the same as before. The only thing I might guess is that those of us who had performed a save of our settings, which would seemingly be kept elsewhere in the DAC, might have been restored in the process of the upgrade, as part of the Fuller Sound procedures. On the other hand, the architecture of the Rossini is quite different, given the Vivaldi has separate DAC and Upsampler.
Just got off the phone with my dealer. My Rossini has been in Massachusetts for almost three weeks. My dealer has been told that the kits provided had either defective cables or cables were too short necessitating new cables to be sent from England. Estimated time for the new cables is two weeks. The wait goes on.
Sorry to hear. Surprising that dCS didnāt provide the service people with a few extras of these, for just such contingencies. Maybe they will do so in the future.
Ok so after a fresh set of ears there is no difference between .2, .6, 2 or 6V with corresponding increases in preamp volume levels.
Not sure why Iām having a little struggle bonding with my Apex.
Some likely post Covid congestion but also definitely a weeding of listening candidates- which is a good thing. What Iām describing is that incremental improvements in my system has had the effect of laying bare poor recordings. This Apex step has made another swath of recordings dull. The clear and strong recordings shine. A few favorite recordings from previous system are disappointing. This is adjustment is taking some time to cope with.
Curious. My dealer suggested that the Apex upgrade would likely make some previously disappointing recordings more listenable. I confess I found that predictionāhow do I say thisāāconfusing.ā My brain tells me that, as Ben relates here, improved equipment fidelity should be more revealing, not more euphonic, unless of course some of the analog board improvements improved something that might be thought of as āglare,ā for example, and thus reduced harshness on some recordings. Or perhaps even introduce ādullnessā on others. Hmmm. When I return home, I have some recordings in mind to try out.
What Iāve found so far is that many of the problematic albums Iāve recently played have improved notably on the APEX Vivaldi. The initial two track on Dusty Springfieldās āDusty in Memphisā have always been a bit shrill, and the title track from Steely Danās āAjaā struggled to bring forth Victor Feldmanās cymbals in a realistic, clean and distinct manner. FYI: playback for Dustyās album is the HDtracks Rhino 192/24 version, while the Aja track is Redbook 44/16 sourced from MCLD 19145 disc. And you can begin to identify albums where individual tracks suffer against others, which clearly suffered from one issue or another. I will agree that the better engineered discs really shine, independent of when they were recorded. And Iām not even going to get into those recordings where compression is an overriding problem.
@stevebythebay Steve, I know that Feldman was the percussionist on the Aja title track, but I always thought the cymbals we hear were struck by Steve Gadd as part of his kit. Whether intentional or not, the sound of the cross-stick hit by Gadd on the 4:58 mark of the song is the most realistic cross-stick hit Iāve ever heard recorded. Also, the sound of Gaddās bell of his ride cymbal starting at the 7:27 mark of Aja is every bit as good as early Phil Collins Genesis recordings using his famous Sabian 21" ride. Please donāt tell me the Apex upgrade lessens the sound of the cymbal work on Aja. Perhaps your Apex upgrade needs more settle-in time.
Thanks for providing details as you understand them. What I was trying to convey is that the APEX doesnāt in any way lessen the sound, but in fact clarifies and brings more realism to the symbols on this track. Cymbals properly positioned in space, yet kept clearer than ever, with proper timing and decay, adding to the more realistic sound.
How more I read you, how More I am looking forward to listen to it at home.
Steely Dan fan too.
Itās been a week since I received my Vivaldi One upgraded to Apex, so I can post my feedback after a reasonable, though insufficient, burn in period.
Well, here is my 2 cents:
It is hard to describe, better soundstage, silent background, etc.ā¦
But I would resume as more engaging, more emotionally involved with music.
A kind of sensations that I always said that only vinyl records can produce, but now I can get it from the Vivaldi One Apex.
Settings were reset to default; Iām now listening with the ones I had previously:
DSDx2 unsample
PCM filter F2
DSD filter F5
Mapper 1
Vivaldi Clock, No dither.
Iāll wait for a longer burn in period before I test alternative settings.
I am still waiting in the queue to send my Rossini in for the upgradeā¦ However, after some time in my journey, and sometimes guided by some people who really know sound and have taught me how to listen (it is a skill you need to develop!), I will say the following:
Things that are IMPROVEMENTS in sound quality:
Above it all, in my opinion true sound quality is experienced with time, not with that bass note or that violin sound. Especially when youāre comparing two already pretty good chains.
As an engineer, this quote from the review sums up my attitude towards cables as well:
The next time I visited, I asked my physics pal how spending all that money on audio wire squared with his science brain. He looked at me seriously, not smiling. āI am a physicist and know everything we hear can be measured. But what should I measure to fully characterize a sound system? What is a complete set of measurements that would uniquely allow me to identify good sound? That I do not know. What I do know is that scientific pursuit is about accurately describing what we observe, not aligning observation with model-driven expectations.ā What I imagine is that, whether sleeping or awake, my senses are inputting massive amounts of dataāof which my conscious self appears to notice only a small, carefully edited fraction.
I know all things can be measured, but I also know we donāt necessarily know what to measure (Iāve mentioned before, if they measure the same with a multimeter and 9v battery, that doesnāt mean all cables sound the same.)
All I know is they improve the sound of my system, and thatās enough for me; I donāt need to know why.
Thatās really very much the way to look at it ā¦
Itās YOUR hobby, YOUR passion, so if doing āxā to your setup makes you happy then go for it!
For example every time I rearrange my kit at home I buy new network cables because I like them to be just the right length and not have the bends and twists in them that they had from how it was before ā¦ it makes ME happy. 
If 2 items (cables or anything) measure the same, but they sound different, measurements are wrong or more likely, incomplete. As simple as that.
There are other possible options but down those paths lie dragons that may not wish to be disturbed ā¦ 
Phil
If you have cable in silver or copper, they will not sound the same. If the connectic are not the same, they will sound differentā¦
Add what the insulator is to that. Add geometry of cable as well. Add quality of connection - crimped, soldered, screw-tightening. All of these things matter.
āHic Sunt Draconesā