Time for an updated pic from me.
After a few years of diligent, delicious service the Rossini Apex DAC and Vivaldi Clock I’d been running are living elsewhere, and have been replaced by a three-box stack of Vivaldi Apex DAC, Upsampler and Clock. And they are sounding absolutely fantastic. First time I’ve had all three boxes in my system, and it’s the upgrade that people say it is. There’s nothing that isn’t better, but the three things I noticed the most once my head had recalibrated were:
A stronger centre image. Wasn’t expecting this one. I had taken a very, very long time to pin down my speaker positioning and room treatment, but from Rossini to Vivaldi was as if my dialling in abilities had just improved…and I hadn’t touched a thing. I then had to touch other things…
The system/room’s bass response changed markedly for the fuller and deeper. So much so that I needed to recalibrate sub and main speaker levels. Another surprise. There was great bass before. Now there is more bass, and all of it is deeper and better defined.
Finally, the Vivaldi just does a better job of dishing up music when the tunes get complex. This one wasn’t a surprise — it’s been what I’ve had with every step up the range (Bartok > Rossini > Rossini Apex > Vivaldi Apex > Varèse…when it visited).
Very happy lad. Thanks to the Swavesey Set for their efforts 
I promise to snap a better pic when I’m back home, but while I’m travelling this will have to do:
