Agreed, but small tweaks and changes in implementations can lead to differences that can be ground breaking. Manufacturing tech is no small part of this: today sourcing high precision resistors is easier and cheaper than it ever was, for example, making some R2R designs viable at a low cost.
is the price for the Rossini upgrade out now?
No. Not only do we not know what the price might be we do not know whether there even is to be a hardware upgrade that can be fitted to existing machines. We are awaiting an important announcement from dCS " later in February ". It otherwise remains as speculation.
Thanks! So everything now is speculation 
I mentioned in another thread the upgrade path at least in the case of Rossini. My dealer was ready to take my money and prepare a shipping label to send my unit in for the upgrade.
I posted this earlier if that helps
what price did he call?
$8,600 for Rossini
wow- thanks mwilson!! that’s hefty…
Is there new contact information for dCS Americas? The dealer from whom I purchased my Rossini has closed up shop and I would like to know who to eventually contact for this “reported” upgrade
The letter that dCS sent to dealers in December of which an image was posted on WBF said that dealers should now contact Rav Bawa at dCS directly. So there should be a continuing relationship albeit obviously not with you dealer who has ceased trading. I also had a look at the dealer list on the dCS website and North American dealers are still showing ( although the world map is not functioning as far as I can make out).
You may be a little premature being concerned on this as the upgrade has not yet been verified despite the rumours and “clues”. It is also feasible that the the important announcement expected may cover matters further than model price increases and upgrades but may also deal with trading. We won’t know until it happens.
When it is the appropriate time I would contact dCS and ask for the identity and location of the nearest current dealer to you. dCS are unlikely to leave you in limbo.
A few comments on topics discussed in this thread:
- Digital vs vinyl: I have a dCS Vivaldi 3-piece suit and a Clearaudio Master Innovation; both perform superbly, but I have a weakness for vinyl, probably because of the superb spatial rendition and that endearing touch of… harmonic distortion(?)
- Parallel tracking arm: the Clearaudio Master Innovation comes with a dedicated parallel tracking arm (TT1) which is 100% unproblematic in daily use; hearing is believing what a good parallel tracking arm can achieve (I upgraded from a SME-V)
- Upgrading along the dCS food-chain: don’t upgrade before you have fully achieved the potential of your dCS equipment; in my experience, digital is infinitely more sensitive to power and vibration issues than vinyl; IMHO this explains why vinyl sounds so much better a lower price points: it will mostly sound ok, no matter the power cables or turntable base. dCS only flourishes with top power cords and interconnects: the better (pricier), the merrier; and total vibration isolation (think Nordost TC cones and very “dead” bases). Fortunately, a lot of cords, cables, cones and bases are available second hand, at less than half-price, with little or no risk of faulty product! And dealers can easily lend such items for experimenting at home. Upgrading the fuses to top-audiophile ones is a no-brainer given the price of the equipment. If none of the above brings significant improvement, then either the equipment is already optimally set-up, or the power and vibration issues are very large indeed
- Digital sensitivity to power issues: I long argued, to no avail, that dCS should develop a battery capable of giving 3-4 hours power to its 4-piece Vivaldi suit: gone are the eye-wateringly expensive power cords (except the one to the battery itself: I cannot rationally explain this, nor the profound effect of placing Nordost Q-Points under the equipment, except for the clock)
- Upgrading along the dCS food-chain: upgrading from Rossini to Vivaldi was a huge leap in audiophile rendition: same intrinsic quality, but much more refinement and authority in all possible areas; I can hardly imagine that a Rossini Apex will sound better than a Vivaldi standard.
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Thanks for your feedback, that helps my decision.
Great insights and thank you @JackPot. I question only the fuse upgrade, which as @Ermos has pointed out–citing Andrew/dCS directly–could cause your equipment to ignite and could void your warranty. Ermos helpfully reposted dCS’s position on this matter in the fuse thread.
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Well my local dCS dealer will soon have a Apex and a standard rossini to compare soon.
So atleast we know that its happening for sure as for price then still in the dark
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I read the thread. I think dCS points out that if a fuse blows, one must replace it with one with the EXACT dCS spec. Replacing the fuse with one with a different spec invalidates the warranty. This is a fair point. As far as I know, dCS does not sell fuses. Therefore, one can confidently experiment with fuses from Hifi-specialists, as long as they EXACTLY match the dCS spec. I have upgraded over time from Hifi-Tuning to Synergistic Research. I wonder why dCS does not factory-install such fuses: the sound improvement is very audible, substantial (beware, SR-fuses are directional, which is a bother: they sound better placed one way than the other).
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sorry to ask… but does a Vivaldi (without clock) sound better than Rossini + Vivaldi clock? Input is USB or AES/EBU…
Adding a Vivaldi clock to a Rossini does not magically transform the Rossini into a Vivaldi, If it did then we would all do it and save lots of money. Does that answer your question?
Thanks Pete, means a native (pure) Vivaldi beats a Rossini + clock- if so, that saves a lot of money because the Vivaldi is cheaper, right? 
It isn’t that simple. Vivaldi DAC is only that. It has no network connectivity nor can it upsample. So the like for like choice with comparable features and leaving out the question of the clock is Vivaldi DAC + Vivaldi Upsampler v. Rossini DAC.
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