You’re not joking! Don’t tell Ben I said this whatever you do but a funny thing happened a few weeks ago. Mrs Struts told me that I had started talking in my sleep. I got that feeling in the pit of my stomach (you know, the one you get for absolutely no reason at all) and all sorts of images flashed through my mind of my secretary, one of the Strutslets’ teachers or a soccer mom on Strutslet #3’s team. “Oh, did I?” I said innocently, desperately trying to think of a way to change the subject without drawing attention to it. “Yeah, she said”, “sounded like you were saying ‘Vivaldi clock’ or something”. “Maybe you should stop reading those Dan Brown books honey, I think you’re becoming bit obsessed” and left for work.
5 Likes
Really looks great Ben!
I would post my system here as well if I could show it in listening condition. Unfortunately, all that you would see would be the red and blue LEDs on the preamp, the blue LEDs on the monos and the beautiful haunting purple glow of the atomic clock (hidden from plain view behind a 700lb speaker). 
1 Like
I think it’s economics. Better DAC with it’s onboard clock if necessary would always be my first choice with upgrading the clock later IMO
You’ll likely notice a difference but I wouldn’t sell the Aston Martin to pay for it.
Looking fantastic Ben !
1 Like
@barryr1 @T38.45 I’m such a big get-an-amazing-Clock proponent because of some at-home testing I did a couple of years back.
Post here:
TLDR: I preferred my pre-2.0 firmware Bartok with a Vivaldi Clock to a Rossini (with 2.0 firmware) with no clock.
I might just be uber sensitive to clocking. Anyway, I realise I’m on the slippery slope to full dCS heaven one day. For now the Clock gets my cashish.
Thanks for the nice comments, all — it’s a great place to sit each evening 
5 Likes
That’s hilarious
Honestly I’m Vivaldi clock with atomic outboard so im definitely a clock believer. My pal has Rossini no external. Encouraging him to buy rossini clock but can only tell him to think flow and sense rather than dimensions from my hearing. He’s on the fence.
2 Likes
If only she knew the truth… 
2 Likes
I love cycling. Road and gravel. In gravel bikes one of the recent trends has been 1X, where you have a single cog at the front, which necessitates a cassette at the back with a much bigger spread of gears to give you the range of ratios. This means the biggest cog at the back is often bigger than the cog at the front which is colloquially referred to as a “mullet”.
I would like to propose that the Vivaldi Clock/Bartók or Rossini DAC combo be hereafter referred to as a “mullet” stack. I.e long where you don’t expect it.
New Zealand seems to have become the land of mullets while I was away, so this works for me in many ways 
2 Likes
And if like me, you have 2 mullet gravel bikes for further specificity. Gotta have the right tools for the right jobs.
1 Like
Kinda like having two mullet dCS stacks: one for speakers and one for cans. As I am sure many here do! 
1 Like
100%. Nuance is everything 
I have always believed that Tiefenbrun’s theory was just marketing strategy. At that time the only products he made were sources, so that is why it was “Source First”.
I believe then and still believe now it is speakers first, amps second and sources next. Understand the speakers must work in the room, and you must choose amps that are able to drive the speakers.
1 Like
I think that pendulum swings when from you’re a beginner to when you have a substantial system. I feel you can buy quite a bit of amp and speaker at a beginners level say an entire system for the price of an entry level dcs dac. But once you cross a certain threshold the differences become much more nuanced and the source being at an excellent level, even at dcs entry level, the supporting gear becomes progressively more important.
3 Likes
I think you’re right. Ivor was a unique individual with many talents, but a canny scot when it came to business. Of course if you are selling sources the first job is to make the customer believe they are the most important thing. Otherwise what does it matter if yours is better? I laugh when our friendly dCS representatives talk down the importance of product categories they don’t themselves offer. I read a great business book about this years ago called something like Defining the Battlefield. But Ivor was a great showman, and when he did his act at that show I bought every word of it.
I agree that the speaker/room compatibility is important as is amp/speaker matching. But I have a tough time stack ranking them. I am pretty firmly in the “everything matters” camp.
4 Likes
I’m inclined to agree. If the source can’t deliver the sound in the first place, the speakers haven’t got a hope of reproducing those missing sounds. In the same way, if the speakers or amp can’t reproduce a sound, it can’t be heard.
3 Likes
If @all2ofme would do as you suggest he would give up all of the upsampling functions of the Rossini, since this is separated from the Vivaldi DAC in the Vivaldi Upsampler. So… if you don’t place a high value on upsampling, your suggestion is a good one. If Ben values the upsampling, Ben has made the right choice for him. If I recall correctly, Ben also hides a separate 10MHz master clock to dial in the Vivaldi clock further, which is not possible with the Rossini clock, somewhere in that stack… ; )
Amazing system and picture Ben. Is the above correct?
Cheers,
R
1 Like
I think there is a lot of truth to speakers fitting the room. Personally I’m dealing with that now–more room problem than speakers (thank you @struts001). But Jim, per above, don’t you have the Vivaldi stack? (!) : )
1 Like