Scheduled APEX Upgrades

dCS Products
#41

I thought I’d add my lucky news to this thread – I just now received an e-mail from my local dcs Dealer (here in the Denver, Colorado area) that my Apex board has landed and is ready to be installed for the update/upgrade. He tells me that the procedure will take 2-3 straight hours and they anticipate being able to turn it around in 2-3 business days (likely sooner, but he wanted to leave some cushion in the timing). I will take the Rossini in tomorrow and hopefully by next weekend it will be back in its place in the rack.

I am very much looking forward to the results and to see if the SQ does indeed get better. To-date, I have to admit that I am tremendously happy with the way the Rossini currently sounds, so any sonic improvement will just be icing on the cake.

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#42

Just an update:

Dropped off my RP for the update today, and they said that they had three Rossini customers who have not decided to upgrade yet, but none of them have said they’re not going to do it.

The tech is having a good time, as even though they didn’t sell them they have a Vivaldi and a Vivaldi One booked for upgrades, so by the time they’re done he will have upgraded one of everything. :grin:

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#43

Got my RP back, looking forward to going back through burn-in!

Spectacular turn-around by my dealer, the tech just missed getting it back to me same day.

#44

Echoing BillK’s comments, I am very impressed and pleased with the Dealer’s APEX installation turnaround (he and I share the same dcs Dealer). I dropped my Rossini off at 11:30 AM last Saturday morning and received an e-mail at 4:50 PM on the same day that the update to my unit had been completed and was ready for pick-up.

Unlike BillK, I have to wait until this coming Saturday to make the return trip to pick up my Rossini APEX, and then I too will start the burn-in process.

I sincerely hope that everyone who has opted for the upgrade receives the same fast, quality level of service from their respective Dealers!

#45

Are either of you in the US because I have not heard from my dealer here.

#46

Yes, both in the Denver, Colorado, USA area.

#47

As stated, the same dealer - Crescendo Fine Audio in Wheat Ridge, CO.

By the way, I need to emphasize the burn-in bit; upon first power up it has a good sound stage but dynamics and, in particular, bass, are just not there yet.

This is to be expected given it is a whole new analog section.

Update: Only 45 minutes later the bass seems to be coming in nicely.

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#48

I will contact my dealer next week. My dealer is not doing the update but shipping it to Boston. Probably my place in the queue is not imminent.

#49

Having just upgraded from a Bartok to a Rossini APEX, I wanted to say something similar. The burn in period took time and I ended up leaving the Rossini running overnight for several days.

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#50

My Vivaldi was delivered to dCS Boston office on Tuesday (they were closed on Monday for the holiday). I haven’t gotten any word that it has been shipped back yet. Hopefully, before the end of this week, given the job itself doesn’t sound like it takes that much time.

#51

I’m one of those people for whom the trip to the dealer for the upgrade was the longest period my Rossini has been powered down since I bought it.

Otherwise it remains on 24/7, usually playing music from an FM tuner that has a Toslink output.

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#52

Just another update: 48 hours of constant signal later, the sound has improved significantly. Bass is back, and soundstage is comparable to what I heard in my dealer’s demo APEX a few months ago now.

I expect improvements to continue for the next week or so, just like when my Rossini was new.

It is a little bit of a pity the only place the APEX nomenclature is visible is a small mention on the rear panel; they should have made the display read “APEX” at boot. :grin:

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#53

After picking up the updated Rossini APEX (and letting 3 days of burn-in accrue) I can confidently state that I feel the APEX update was well worth the cost – it sounds richer, fuller, better layered and more life-like (all four comments are from my wife), and I sense that the presentation of the music is smoother than before and at the same time what I am hearing is more deeply musical without any loss of resolution. It plays music with a rhythm and pace that I am not sure it had before. I am not one who can eloquently use the appropriate audiophile words to describe the changes but based on the sound quality improvement I do feel the cost of the upgrade is justified by the enhanced quality of what we are hearing in our room on our system. Others may choose to differ and will hear it all differently, but we are entirely satisfied.

Well done dCS.

But let me add that I do agree with BillK that the display screen should read “Rossini APEX DAC”, and not just “Rossini DAC”, after all – it is now a dcs Rossini APEX DAC.

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#54

Interesting comments about “burn-in” period. I don’t doubt that this is needed, especially as the key element of the upgrade is an analog section. Was wondering if anyone has actually been provided any specific recommendation on this for any of the upgrades, be they Rossini or Vivaldi, prior to doing any serious listener. I might have expected that if such “burn-in” was important, those performing the upgrades would have been instructed to do so prior to the units leaving for customers, simply to ensure a consistent result. But that’s simply conjecture.

#55

I think the “need” for a burn-in period can partially be attributed to what we’ve been conditioned to as we acquire a new component. I do feel that as soon as I powered-up the upgraded APEX (after several minutes or so of warm-up) I felt like I heard an improved difference then, but the sound was clearly better after 2-3 days of continuous running. Perhaps the initial improvement was simply allowing sufficient time for the Rossini to get closer to its desired operating temperature.

#56

I am running my new (not upgraded one) Rossini Apex Dac for last 2 weeks continuously.

In my ear significant improvement happened after first 100 hrs. But it is still improving mostly making it sound more life like and warm sounding (not fatiguing). Also it is becoming more and more accommodating to bad recordings - making them more palatable.

Since I never owned previous non-apex Rossini so I cannot say how better Apex is from that. But overall totally value for money to me so far. It is not a single Dac to me. It is like a platform that can be tuned to any kind of recording, any genre of music and any kind of amplification. There where I am seeing the value of spending this much of huge money (at least for me !!!).

To me so far best sound is when paired with Rossini Transport (which I also bought along with the dac). With Rossini transport (connected to dual AES) the key difference that I am hearing from other sources (Roon, QBuz using Mosaic, Upnp using Mosaic) is the level of control even with higher volume. I can go up to 60% of volume of my amplification system with same clarity and detail while using Rossini Transport where as for other surces I kind of need to stop around 40-45%.

Only disappointing factor is Mosaic. It is still kind of amateurish app. Needs lot of refinement, features and ux improvement.

Regards,
Sourav

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#57

Sourav, I like the look of your all black set-up, very nice!

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#58

Thanks @ksweiss

#59

Close to 25 year Naim user here
Burn in is real - 3-6 months for Naim - and openly stated by the factory

Best
Gregg

#60

First Rossini APEX DAC impressions. It’s great, and well worth it. In my system the clock was not a big upgrade at all. APEX is a totally different story and elevated the SQ much more than the clock.

Quick summary - The Rossini is now way more analog sounding…in a word, natural. Soundstage, separation, and detail improved dramatically. I’d say this is a mandatory upgrade for Rossini owners.
And I thought a better DAC would not improve my system! Now I’m wondering how I can obtain a Vivaldi APEX, ugh.

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