I have a Vivaldi DAC, Upsampler and Clock and Accuphase amplifiers. To play CDs I will need to add the Vivaldi transporter but this is an expensive option. An alternative is to add an Accuphase CD player to my system such as the well regarded DP770 which is half the price of the Transport.
There is probably limited opportunity to demo and compare each option. Any one had experience in comparing the Transport against a high quality stand alone CD player ? Is the Transport worth the high additional cost ?
Am I correct in assuming that you would be looking to connect the digital output (either coaxial or optical) from the DP770 into your Vivaldi system, as opposed to replacing the Vivaldi system with the DP770?
Ghe main technical issue is that correctly use with a dCS system requires a CD transport with wordclock input in order to ensure correct synch between it and the dCS
DAC. Without this facility you risk glitches being created ( which may not always be heard as substantive events but affect the sound generally). Further lacking this facility questions using that very costly Vivaldi system in the first place.
You can save cost ( as I have) by using a Rossini Transport instead. It is broadly similar to Vivaldi Transport II though still expensive and you give up control via Mosaic, though it will be controlled though the IR " plank" which you should have received with Vivaldi DAC.
This really depends on how extensive and how important your CD collection is to you as there is now at least one Chinese unit with a wordclock input. This is pretty cost effective to put it mildly. Regular @Dunc has purchased one and seems to be very pleased.
I was thinking rather simplistically of just connecting the DP770 output into my Accuphase preamp using balanced cables and of course keeping my Vivaldi system for streaming.
I am not technically aware enough to have considered connecting the 770 into my Vivaldi system. Would there be an advantage in doing so ??
Understood, thank you for clarifying. Apologies for the wordy post here, and if any of whatâs in it is already stuff you knowâŚ
The 770 has the option of either analogue or digital outputs - in your case, the analogue would go to your preamp bypassing the Vivaldi system and using the 770âs internal DAC. The digital outputs however could be connected to your Vivaldi system, and this method would use the Vivaldiâs Ring DAC instead of the 770. That would definitely give a significantly higher level of sound quality, though at that point you would just be using the 770 like a Transport instead of a Player (the difference between the two being that a Player will use its own internal DAC and output an analogue signal whereas a Transport is a product that outputs a digital signal).
It isnât too tricky to get the Vivaldi running in such a setup, so I wouldnât bypass the Vivaldi for the sake of 10 minuteâs setup at the expense of a big sound quality hit. Thereâs plenty of help available to get something like that up and running.
I should note that, as Pete alludes to in his comment above, the big downside to the 770 is that it does not have an input for a wordclock signal. In essence this means you wouldnât be able to use your Vivaldi Clock when playing CDs, and the whole system would be being âclockedâ by the 770. There are some real technical downsides to that and itâs much better to use a Transport that has a clock input available that works with your Vivaldi Clock (so a 75 ohm clock input that can lock to a 44.1kHz wordclock signal).
Any dCS Transport will work with the Vivaldi system, and out of our current range either the Rossini Transport or Vivaldi Transport II are the offerings you can get brand new. As Pete says, the benefit of the Vivaldi Transport II in your system is that some of the nice features of the Vivaldi system (like EasyPlay) need it to be a Vivaldi series Transport that is connected. Using a Rossini Transport will absolutely work and will sound fantastic, but youâll lose some functions like EasyPlay or being able to control playback through the dCS Mosaic app.
So to sum up, Iâd definitely look for a CD solution that has digital outputs, and ideally one which has a suitable clock input, to be connected to your Vivaldi system. dCS Transports do tick those boxes and the Vivaldi Transport II will get you some other features that could make it a nicer overall user experience.
Thankyou Pete and James for your very helpful and informative replies. Using a Vivaldi transport is clearly preferable to make the most of my Vivaldi system.
While you are saving up, then the transport i have is an extremely cheap and good option. It wonât play SACDâs but it ticks all the right boxes for connections as far as dCS dacâs go.
Certainly donât discard it on cost alone, as its very well made, works great, and sounds great. All for less than ÂŁ500 new.
I am just using one of the cable that came with my dCS kit, as i have some shunyata sigma that I now use between the upsampler and dac.
I am happy with how itâs preforming like this, as I certainly wouldnât be spending say ÂŁ500 or more on a cable for something that only costs ÂŁ500, but thatâs just me.
I also just use a cheap power cable and I had a spare clock cable to use. But you can add a separate power supply to it if you wish as well.
But itâs a nice bit of kit, that if it was priced at ÂŁ2000, I still think it would be worth it. Less than ÂŁ500 and made from solid billet, own design transport, itâs a bargin really.
Calling the ever helpful Dunc. I have got the SMSL transport and set it up with a Plixir 5v supply (already had) and inexpensive AES and clock cables
The CD spins, connections are the AES cable goes from the transport to the single Upsampler AES 1 input and the clock cable from the transport to a clock group 1 output. I am doing something wrong with the Upsampler and DAC multiple choice settings. Grateful for your advice on the settings that actually work with the SMSL.
I generally find the dCS manuals overly (for my old brain) confusing and seem to me to written by different people at different times. I would like to see an âIdiots Guide to the Vivaldi Systemâ issued as a coherent single volume. Some of us are music lovers and unfortunately struggle with the digital technicalities.
I agree the SMSL looks high quality for the price. I just need to get it going. Hope you can help. Many thanks
I take it the cd plays? The reason I ask this first is down to power supply, the 5v supply you have might not be powerful enough, as the first 5v, 1 amp power supply i had, powered the unit up, but it couldnât maintain spinning the cd, they had to send me a more powerful unit.
If thatâs not the problem then.
Aes to upsampler, then obviously select aes from mosaic as it will be on network.
Clock needs to be adjusted on the transport to 44.1 and load 75 ohm, you should then have a symbol next to the cd that looks abit like this un . It will be flashing is the clock signal isnât locked in and the cd transport wonât work.
Other than that, go back to basics with the standard power supply and built in clock.
A basic how to get up and running. Settings, and connections. After that go look at the main manual?
Might not be a bad idea, you get this quite a bit these days with other things, so why not. Atleast for new owners this would give them music while they try and work out the rest.
Thanks Andrew. I am sure most users would appreciate a single volume Vivaldi system manual that begins with the initial set up and then progressively explores the options.
Also contains a Glossary eg explains the references to Clock, Word Clock, Master clock, all terms that appear in the different manuals and cause confusion.
Hello Dunc,
Not yet. Will try again this afternoon. I did all you suggested but I think there is something wrong with my settings. I have Upsampler Source set to NETWORK, DAC source set to AES1. Upsampler and DAC set to AUTO Wordclock, Upsampler Dual AES ON, DAC AES 1/2 AUTO, DAC AES 3/4 AUTO. DAC BUFFER ON
I am probably doing something stupid. Please advise on settings.
Hi albany. I hope that Dunc will forgive me for jumping in but as you want to try things out this afternoon and as he is a hard working man he may not pick up your query by then.
It looks like this has a simple answer referring your earlier postings as well.
The SMSL transport does not have connection to the network, So it cannot be connected to the upsampler using the source as network. It should be as your earlier posting:
That is correct but you say you have not selected the AES input but network You can change this from the front panel or Mosaic. As it has its own button on the panel it may be easier.
The DAC input depends on the upsampling rate you choose.Anything over 96KS/s ( e.g. DXD) or DSD requires dual AES connection and the DAC input will be AES1+2 or 3+4 depending on how you have wired it. Your posting says you have AES 1+2 .f you are not upsampling or the sample rate is 96KS/s or lower then the although there is dual AES connection the DAC will only select one to use which the display will show as AES 1.
The buffer is normally selected if you are feeding the DAC with an A/V source to avoid speech being out of synch with the picture. So you will want to switch this off.
for CD will use group 1 settings ( 44.1) assuming that the clock is set conventionally as per the manual. So auto wordclock is fine as DAC will sense the incoming rate.