My last DAC was the Mytek Manhattan II which I kept for 2 years. It was very good but my Rossini + master clock is something else. Every evening, I am swept away by the musical quality of the Rossini. However, to get this good sound quality, you have to be very careful with the Ethernet signal. My name is on the waiting list for the APEX update.
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Thanks for the post.
I became acquainted with John Schaffer when Wadia moved their operations to the Ann Arbor area around 2000. We had several discussions at events hosted by Paragon before I pulled the trigger on a S9 set-up. When it became apparent that Wadia was not going to provide ongoing support for S9 owners I decided to move on. John was a great guy.
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He really did a great job at Wadia, and I always thought it refreshing he was willing to vent about Fine Sounds killing the 196/24 upgrade; they left tens of thousands of dollars on the table as the upgrade was already engineered and ready to go.
PS Audio DirectStream DAC.
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My initial digital ‘toe in the water’ about four years ago was with my then favourite UK brand Chord Electronics. I bought a second hand Chord DSX1000 music network player that dealers obviously knew was near end of its production life. I was astounded by the quality after ripping many of my favourite CD’s to a Synology NAS that I acquired for my comms rack. The Chord front end control was quirky and their front end remote control software awful IMO. This led me onto investigating music control software. To cut a long story short I took on the Roon free trial and bought the recommended NUC and installed Roon Rock all controlled by a Sonaire UPNP bridge . No going back briiliant ; but I wanted more…
This was A/B tested against a PSAudio Direct Stream DAC. The sound quality of the Direct Stream was slightly bettered by the Chord but after two (free) PS Audio firmware upgrades all was equal. So the Chord moved to a secondary system (where it still is in place) and I blind ordered a Bartok (after all the UK was in full lockdown). After a few weeks searching on the dCS community site I was persuaded that the Rossini was far superior. I cancelled this Bartok order and am now the proud owner of a Rossini and Clock.
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Accustic Arts, Metronome, North Star
Linn Klimax to Vivaldi One
Meridian 506 CD Player to Delius, then added a Purcell and finally ripped all CDs to play via Mac Mini Optical out to Purcell, now Rossini.
Linn Klimax DS/1 in 2011 (replaced a Naim CD555). Then upgraded to KDS/2 and KDS/3.
A Bartok HA for my dedicated headphone systems showed me what dCS was capable of and then a Rossini+Clock kicked the Linn out of my Naim 500 system in 2020.
Next month APEX takes over😉
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Esoteric K01, then Vivaldi… all the dream & top DAC in the market. nice!
A Chord Qutest
I am a fan of it - it was a little bright - but had great depth.
It also allowed me to explore really hi res DSD and satiate that need to explore how much I could actually hear.
dCS have always been an aspirational brand for me and I live close to their HQ.
A Bartok was a great leap, and one that I am happy to have been able to make.
I am not sure I will ever be able to make that stretch to the Vivaldi models, but that is not a loss - I am very happy with the Bartok.
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Audio Synthesis Dax (a small British brand). I really loved their CD transport too, which used an impressively solid Sony top-loading mechanism. When I felt it was time to move on I was reading great things about dCS Puccini and Paganini. Crucially (fatally?) the local dCS dealer is within walking distance of my wallet. I’ve known the dealer for about 20 years, and he has an excellent relationship with dCS. Taken together, along with the step up in sound quality I heard in dems, a Puccini purchase was an obvious move.
And before the Dax (in two different versions owned over many years)? I seem to remember an Arcam Black Box. But that was quite a long time ago.
Since the nineties, I was using a Copland CDA288 CD player and Audio Research LS7 / 300.2 combination, but then six years ago added a Cambridge Audio Azur 851N network player for internet radio, AirPlay and to hook up TV and BluRay etc. I was so impressed by the performance that I removed the LS7 and used the Azur as pre-amp too.
Having experienced this digital only approach I thought it time to upgrade so ordered a Bartok HPA (and a pair of HD800s headphones). The headphone option turned out to be a complete waste of time for me and the Bartok an overpriced overrated performer, not significantly better than the Azur despite being ten times the price. I was contemplating selling the Bartok and living with the Azur, but tried the Rossini DAC. About the same time the Copland gave up the ghost, so I settled on the Rossini Player; a massive increase in price versus the Azur but at least it sounds noticeably better though less functional to use. I have tried the Rossini clock too but while I hear a minor improvement at the dealer I can’t hear any noticeable improvement at home. So while I like the Rossini Player, I’m not sure about my experience with dCS overall considering the cost and usability. Probably a minority view on this forum.
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@SimonA very interesting perspective. It is so disappointing when you purchase something and it doesn’t meet expectations. I’m a bit surprised that after the Bartok expert you stepped up to the Rossini.
Well the Rossini Player does sound good and it comes with the remote control too. It means I can sit with a cd playing and control with the remote just as I used to in the old days! It sounds better than it did then too. And I get the networking capability when I want it. Although I find Mosaic unacceptably unreliable and a pain to use.
What I miss from the Copland is a display which was big enough to read from my chair. What I miss from the Azur is pre-set radio stations on the remote control and the digital output capability.
Strangely, despite being in the UK, I was introduced to dCS by a Swiss friend in Zurich.
I am with you on this view…As I wrote it already I had the chance to compare the Rossini to a much cheaper DaC, and the Rossini was not the best…However the Vivaldi was stunning and by far the best…I bought the Vivaldi…but it is normal that this kind of view is not the majority on this forum…It is the same in every brand forum, being a watch or a car forum, you always support the brand you bought.
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The other DAC that I’ve had was an Audio Note level 3 DAC. Not USB, just redbook through a transport. Really, really nice. That was years ago, I’d love to compare the Bartok and an Audio Note DAC today.
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Lumin (D2, T2), Ayre QX-5 Twenty, Bartok with the headphone amp.
Sound quality was the main thing — each step was noticeable, but the last one was the clearest — but a big part of the change for me was simplicity. Going from USB tweakery and needing a preamp, headphone amp and all the trimmings to not needing any of it was just luxury.
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Renaat, what Metronome did you own? thanks!!