Showing (off) your dCS setup - description and photos

So it begins, the gradual removal of Naim amplification from my system.
Starting with the NAC 282 Preamp, Supercap DR PSU and Naim Fraim rack.

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It already looks better - less boxes, SNAIC’s, and Burndys

Just wait until you get rid of the Fraim…no more rolling balls on the floor :laughing:

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Very clean setup. Congrats!

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Thanks Lee👍

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When I dismantled the two levels today, the balls went all over floor. A nightmare! In fact a right ball ache!:face_with_hand_over_mouth:
The Fraim will go, it’s just a shame I only bought it 18 months ago.:disappointed_relieved:

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A sunny day of Spring showing its magic with the light :slight_smile:


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Beautiful photo
Do you find the footers to make a significant improvement?

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Thanks and Yes they do, especially with my transport and dac :). They’ve revealed things that I didn’t hear or pay attention to before. They’re my first and very potentially also the last footers in my system!

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Whats the name of the footers please?

They are Absolute Points from Hifistay :slight_smile:

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They look very similar to Stillpoints - who were one of the originators of this type of technology

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Would someone be kind enough explaining me why a device with no mechanical parts in motion would benefit of footer more sophisticated than the standard footer (those of the Vivaldi for example) ?

Because everything is actually in motion Chris. Unless of course it is cooled to zero Kelvin. Then all motion stops.

: )

I’ll let someone more qualified respond now…

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IIRC, there are other threads which discuss this. In any case, the following vid should give you an idea of the potential impact of vibration on solid-state circuits.

That said, dCS components are so well designed with feet that do a great job isolating typical vibrations encountered in Audio rooms. In my measurements, I found no need for any extra after-market footers like these at all.

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I found investment into a good rack far better than adding extra feet.
Plus it was far cheaper way to do it and looked nicer as well.

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Great question Chris. As @Anupc pointed out, even solid state components are vibration sensitive, especially things like clock crystals, and there are multiple sources of mechanical noise from both the environment (e.g. the speakers, footfalls on suspended floors) and inside the component itself (transformers).

dCS actually employs vibration damping materials. The chassis of the Vivaldi is made of ”acoustic aluminium” that contains a rubber sheet sandwiched between two layers of aluminium. The baseplates of the Varèse DACs use an even more refined constrained layer construction.

That said, any structure has a fundamental and harmonic resonant frequencies, the aim is to neutralize the vibrations and stop them being transmitted around. The problem is that the ”structure” includes the building/floor, the rack/shelf/furniture, the component itself and any third party footers or decoupling devices between any of the above.

This is why there is no ”one size fits all” for the optimum decoupling. We build the units with footers that work well in many scenarios, but in each individual case there may be specific footers that work better. So any assumptions that third party footers will improve on the standard ones because ”we obviously just used cheap ones to minimize costs” or that a certain footer that worked well or received a positive review in one system will also work well in another are completely misguided.

A dealer or setup expert who really know their stuff can really help you here. Magazine reviews, while interesting, are probably not your best guide here. They are telling you about the result of a complex set of interactions of which the footer under test is just one small part.

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I find that the Wilson Audio Pedestals work well under the Rossini Apex.

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Just an observation, imho, however if one is concerned about vibration (which the posts by both Andrew and Anup make a good case for) I would not have dCS boxes stacked one on top of the other. It defeats the purpose of having just the bottom box on footers.

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I think a music hifi system is the result of an historic personnal process.
This is mine.
Completly english, from Quad to Meridian and Ear yoshino with a bit of dCS, of course (ie ROSSINI DAC APEX + ROSSINI CLOCK).
A french old exception with ESART TUNER from seventies.
Excuse my english. But, yes I’m french !

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Bonsoir François,

Vous n’êtes pas le seul français par ici, rassurez-vous !

Erwan

PS: le Nougaro m’a tout de suite mis la puce à l’oreille :wink: