There are three purposes for which various liquid spray CD " enhancers" have been made available. These are anti-static properties, optical enhancement and cleaning. Products that perform one aspect are not necessarily effective in others.
In respect of inhibiting static electricity I was referring to the use of detergent which historically in our hobby goes back decades as cloths impregnated with detergent were used to treat vinyl discs. A similar concept has been adapted for silver disc where diluted detergent is sprayed in a fine mist on the label side of the disc, then allowed to air dry. This will reduce static for the disc overall. The process should not be used on the playing side of the disc as the idea is that the spray leaves a fine residue however the playing surface needs to be optically clear.
As for the product to use it is now many decades since I felt any need to do this and I regret that I have now forgotten brand names. The one I remember (but not the name) has a very distinctive odour and was clearly the basis of one of the well known commercial products aimed at audiophiles. When I last
looked it cost 5 gbp for 5 litres! Tergitaol is a brand name for a number of specialised formulations some of which are comparatively costly so there is no simple answer.
Note that the disc has to dry before use and as such your player should be safe. However until you have established what is OK I have to raise a warning that applying liquids to silver discs can be risky and I cannot be responsible. If you think that reducing static electricity provides an audible improvement then use of a device like the Furutech Destat III might be a preferable was of doing it.
I would say that these treatments stem largely from the earlier days of CD when just about any band-aid to help the then sound was seized upon - sprays, painting CD edges green, stabilising mats etc. were used.For myself I ceased to do this once the first dCS transport came along and for me many issues just disappeared.
Dear all, as my Vivaldi was under maintenance to replace the front button board as the power button was Ā« capricious Ā», the French distributor proposed to organize a test of my Vivaldi in front of their Vivaldi Apex.
Finally the test has been done at my reseller place on a system I did not know so much but as it was a comparison it was supposed to not be a big deal. Unfortunately, it was not so obvious as with the first pair of loudspeakers (Raidho X2), it was nearly impossible to find any differences as the system was not balanced at all and I was even not able to find the performance of my own Vivaldi.
Moving to a new pair of loudspeakers (Revel Performa Be) has been a good move as the differences between Apex and non-apex version appeared to be obvious in terms of aeration and dynamic.
I was aware about the cost of the upgrade but forgot it increased again in the past months. I was definitely not ready for such upgrade as per the price and my feeling that it would be difficult to do better than what I have with my Vivaldi. After few weeks of thinking about, Iām close to say ok for the upgrade but a little voice is still telling me it is not reasonableā¦.still few days to balance pros and consā¦
Well, your little voice is absolutely right .
But at least this upgrade is spending money for something new, or something more than what you have currently.
A few months ago, the Vivaldi Upsampler was selling for 20.000 than 25.000 and for 32.500 ā¬ā¦And it is exactly the same !!! So, imagine what would say your little voice in that case
Ludovic, only you can decide if it is worth it to you. You know yourself, and what it is you enjoy about your system. Perhaps your system is just great. There is no requirement to own āthe latest and greatest.ā
Is there any way to arrange for in-home demo so you can compare on your system? On-the-spot comparison of equipment you donāt know is not, to my mind, optimal.
Dear Greg, donāt worry I will take a decision and not looking for anybody to take it. Just mentioned my journey in the evaluation of this option
Seems it is difficult to listen at home as the only device in France is travelling from a reseller to another. Anyway if I was able to hear something that could make me invest Iām sure I would be able to hear it again at home
Hi all dcs owners,
I would like to bring the main topic back, Vivaldi vs Vivaldi Apex.
After living with a Vivaldi dac (with Vivaldi clock, no Upsampler) for a while, I did the Apex upgrade and I am glad that I did. There are a lot of many owners comments about Rossini Apex upgrade but not that much for Vivaldi, so I really donāt know what to expect after expending $9k on it. Mine have around 200 hrs of playing time after I received it from the upgrade and last night I started thinking why some people say the the Apex improvement on Vivaldi is subtle. I donāt understand because what I was hearing last night was so amazing that didnāt want go to bed. The sound now is so full, big, powerful, quiet and so organic that connect me much better with the music. Even with my modest system, I can easily hear how great this machine is now, I know that users with better components and good acoustically treated room (like mine) can hear much more. I am using a pair of Sabrina X / Loke, driven by a Luxman M10x / C900u pre, SR Galileo all around and others goodies; the Vivaldi is doing something special on this system. The NonApex Vivaldi was excellent, the Vivaldi Apex is much better in all aspects, my humble opinion.
Hello, after the test in January between my Vivaldi dac and an apex version, I finally ordered the upgrade. Hope to have the board installed second half of June. Quite impatient now
Hello, my reseller made the upgrade end of June to the APEX but had some issues with the backplate (hole issues linked to my version of Vivaldi). Seems everything is fine now and he is making some demo to its customers as Iām currently traveling abroad
Excited to take it back next Saturday and start the listening at home knowing also that my reseller would have done a part of the burning time.
Just for clarification ā¦ the early Vivaldi DACs used physically different connectors to the current units so the rear escutcheons (rear panels) are physically different to fit the different connectors.
When we supply the APEX updates for the older DACs we supply the appropriate rear panel for that unit but sometimes the old units have had the rear connector board changed for whatever reason and in this case it looks like we had to send out the later rear escutcheon.
Sorry for the delay that that caused and I hope that you really enjoy your newly APEXād Vivaldi when you get it backā¦
Hi Phil, no issue for me as it was totally transparent as it happens when I was travelling abroad. Seems that your reactivity and the one of the French reseller have been great. Will start to enjoy next Saturday.
Vivaldi Apex improves every sound quality aspect compared to a non-Apex Vivaldi. I have been in this hobby for 58 years and just about every piece of better equipment or upgrade becomes something you grow used to and is just par for the course after a few weeks. This is now my seventh month with Vivaldi Apex and yet I am still being surprised and excited listening to it, even to things like a newscast on the radio . So there is definitely no sense of being laid back ( unless the music and/or recording is laid back itself of course).
Expect better dynamics, more detail, even the appearance of instruments that you never knew were there and a much improved sense of three dimensionality.
My only caveat is one I and other posters have referred to. Do not make any judgement straight out of the box when it returns.That new output stage will take a while to burn in. A couple of hundred hours ?
Hello, just took back my Vivaldi after upgrade on last Saturday. The reseller ran it during a week-end max. Running at home all the day right now and listening every evening. Will give more feedback in few days.
Iām doing the opposite now: my pre is all the way open and I control volume via the Vivaldi. The reason is simple: my pre doesnāt have a remote. Is there a sonic reason why one m.o. is better?
My integrated is an Audio Note Kondo Ongaku. It does not have a remote.
What I do is set the Ongaku volume control at around noon, which is likely the loudest I would want to play and then trim down the Rossini volume by say 10 dB and go from there. Works great.
In terms of sound quality, the digital volume implemented by dCS seems pretty good at that. Analog volume controls can also have issues so keeping everything as close to max as possible is largely (theoretically) the best solution.
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. So there is definitely no sense of being laid back ( unless the music and/or recording is laid back itself of course).