Hi, well, that’s a very good question 
I think it was the METRONOME T1A Signature + C1A MK II DAC duo (with separate power supply).
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I’ll try to listen to the aqwo dac as soon as possible…heard many good things about it.
Minority views are important and often advance the world. It was the minority view of Einstein in 1905 that shocked the European scientific “elite,” by proposing that light was comprised of photons.
So you will listen to AKM 4497 chip instead of dCS Ring DAC (APEX).
right, but I guess this will be end of May after the HighEnd in Munich.
Path of my digital source:
1984 Philips CD202
1986 Mission DAD7000
1988. Mission PCM7000
1991. Micromega Solo
1996. Krell KPS20iL
2007. Krell Evo505
2011. dCS Puccini
2018. dCS Rossini player
2021. dCS Vivaldi One
2022. awaiting APEX upgrade
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Thanks Wang Chan. Very insightful. Have you seen the new Vivaldi One limited edition? That one looks pretty sweet.
Will there be any difference from my current Vivaldi One after APEX upgrade? I hv bkd with local dealer Radar.
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@CWang That’s a great question. I received and email this week from dCS showing the new Vivaldi One with Apex and the best thing about it is that it is all in one unit. Thus, the name One. It is also limited edition to about 150 units I think.
The previous Vivaldi One was also one unit and claimed to hv been limited to 250 units. I hv also rcvd dCS email advising that the upcoming release will be limited to 50 units. It sounds like the upcoming production will be the same as previous release with APEX upgrade? 
As far as I know, it is a 50 units limited release. No differences other than the Apex Ring DAC.
I’m also waiting in line to get the Vivaldi One Apex upgrade.
I know what you mean - A largish screen was a perk of the PS Audio Direct Stream DAC too. I must confess I have a pair of binoculars by my chair now!!!
For controlling the Rossini Player, the dCS Rossini app is still very much wonderful, especially the control it gives you over CD playback.
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Although dCS products have a small screen window, part of the ‘hard to read’ issue could be improved with a modified ux. The volume screen is lovely, big numbers, easy to read from 10 ft away. The rest is ‘functional’.
dCS tries to cram too much info on the display screen. As a result everything is too small to read unless you are a couple of feet away.
Breaking up the info display into 3 screes a user can toggle through would give dCS much more screen real-estate to work with. e.g.
one screen for the volume - perfect as it is
one screen for digital vitals (sample rate/bit depth, clock, filter)
one screen for what’s playing - without all the other stuff on the display, dCS could have 4 lines of larger type to display whats playing!!
I gave this feedback in the recent dCS survey…
Well, Thats one view.
All the information I need, including everything you mentioned, is in the iPad App.
The only thing useful on the device is the volume setting.
Generally I leave the display off.
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Call me crazy but I keep the display off except for when I perform a firmware update.
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Despite my feedback above, I leave mine off as well! I would probably use it more if it was better designed however
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Mine is usually off as well.
I do keep the logo light on, though. 
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Started in the late 80s with naim…cds cd player
Levinson 37 and 360s
More naim…555 cd player
Then back to the above levinson.
Went digital with an naim ndx1 and was looking at a ndx555 with ps555dr and instead went dcs vivaldi, now have upsampler and will Apex next year…
When I retire soon a clock may be bought 
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In the late 1970’s, I graduated from my beloved Panasonic portable cassette player (which went everywhere with me, much to the annoyance of my Parents) to a Thomas Laney Receiver, which my Father gave me when he upgraded
(sound familiar? 
).
When I eventually ‘killed’ it (or, more likely, it gave up the ghost), I went through various iterations of Denon, Yamaha and Marantz until I decided to invest in a Naim SuperUniti, which I enjoyed for several years…
However, I was becoming increasingly intrigued by DSD, and Roon was also on my radar, so I went for a PS Audio DirectStream DAC…
until I couldn’t resist auditioning a Rossini and clock…
which I’m very happy with but, knowing that Vivaldi Apex is currently the pinnacle of dCS’s range, I know that I’m not there yet, but who knows what the future may bring…
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