Varese DAC with Aurender W20se

dCS Products
1

I see that Varese DACs have AES inputs. Could I upgrade my Vivaldi DAC to Varese monos and still use my Aurender W20 se + MC20 master/word clock

2

Hi Jim,

To use the Varèse system with the Aurender W20se you’ll need the upcoming Digital I/O Module installed in the Varèse Core. This has Dual AES inputs to get audio from the server.

There’s no way to connect the MC20 to the Varèse system, but you’ll clock the W20se from the Varèse Core. The Digital I/O Module will have a clock output, that runs at either 44.1kHz or 48kHz depending on the sample rate that’s being played from the Aurender.

3

My discussions with David Steven indicate that this would not be possible. You need the core and user interface too. Not 100% sure you require the clock. But I don’t; think the Vivaldi clock will work.

4

Yes, that’s correct. The Varèse system requires the Core, User Interface and two Mono DACs to play. The only optional unit is the Clock, and naturally the Transport when that arrives.

The Aurender will work with the Core provided it has the upcoming I/O module installed, but you do need the Core and the Module for that.

5

Thanks. I was hoping you had a solution that did not include purchasing the core. I will wait for Vivaldi update or go in another direction in the next year or so. It’s regrettable that you don’t have a pure “Varese” differential DAC update available for the vast majority of Vivaldi owners who won’t want a closed system for 6x the price. Would you consider the idea of mono differential DACs as a stand alone solution that could be used for 3rd party streamers. I could see going from 50k to 110k if there was a significant improvement.

6

Nor do I. Varese has a new timing system called Tomix. This is essential to get the two mono DACs to synchronise.

@JimV, in short , you cannot mix and match Varese with other dCS components. However .as James pots out the forthcoming I/O module will allow for front end components to be used in conjunction. That will be part of Varese Core.

7

Hi Jim,

The Varèse is the flagship for a new dCS product generation. To raise the bar significantly we had to go back to the drawing board and make a leap to some completely new technologies and architectures:

  • Dual mono
  • ACTUS cabling to overcome AES/EBU bandwidth limitations and improve ease of setup and configuration.
  • Tomix for dual mono clock synchronization
    etc.

Part of this architectural shift was to move all functionality not directly concerned with digital to analog conversion to the core:

  • Input processing and selection (network streaming and USB stick native, others via modular plug-in cards)
  • D2D processing (all filtering, upsampling etc.)
  • Master clock distribution
    etc.

The Varèse DACs can’t function without a core.

However, please understand that the Varèse is not intended as a Vivaldi replacement/upgrade. Market feedback on Varèse will help us shape both any trickle down models that follow as well as potential upgrades to the Vivaldi generation.

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