Article: dCS Rossini DAC Review

[amir57bs]

I think dCS could not make good DAC even at 120k$.

if you listen to dCS in a high sensitivity loudspeaker like living voice horn with kondo electronics you will find dCS is the most boring dac.

i have listened to elgar and scarlatti, they just kill emotion of music.

 

Amir

[amir57bs]

Listen to CEC TL-0X transport with Kondo KSL DAC. It will change your idea about dCS.

have you heard Living voice room in munich 2015?

[amir57bs]

No body told me avantgarde is emotional.

[amir57bs]

12 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Please tell us what you really think. I'm struggling to read between the lines :~)

 

The beauty of this hobby is that we all have a tremendous number of choices.

Chris

please consider It is clear that many audiophiles are happy with dCS and you are one of them.

it is clear that many audiophiles prefer CD to LP and they are happy with playing CD or high rez files, i have no problem with their happynes.

My critique is about sound of dCS not about your happyness with dCS.

Chris your loudspeaker will change the game if you listen dCS in Living voice horn system. Living voice could render microdynamics of music with fuller harmonic structure . Living voice could show you dCS is not rich and dCS could not render microdynamics .

 

Chris 

i have heard TAD speaker , it is not sensitive and low sensitivity speakers do not sounds rich .

if you compare LP vs CD then your speaker could not show the difference as a high sensitivity like living voice.

if you listen to dCS with living voice or audio note speaker then you will find dCS is not good .

Amir

[amir57bs]

3 hours ago, Rexp said:

Hi, im on this site to find a digital front end to match my analog sources, ive heard DCS Vivaldi and many others. Do you think digital can now match analog?

dCS is good if you have low sensitivity speaker/high power high feedback solid-state amplifier . dcs is good for lean clean/High resolution systems not for live loudspeakers like living voice.

I know between dry sounding DACs the dCS sound is more open than many other DACs but it will not shine in dynamic systems.

if you want to be close to analog the digital as its best is combination of CEC TL0-X Transport with Bit-Perfect R-2R Kondo/Audionote UK/CEC DACs with a really good AC Regenarator and good SPDIF Cable .

but even at those level properly setup Analog is better . 

quality of media records is also different ,many CD records are not good in comparison by old LP records.

long story short :

we should judge audio equipments in a system that do not mask micro information of records.

dCS is perfect if the loudspeaker/amplifier mask the micro information but dCS is not good if Loudspeaker/Amplifier reveal the micro information.

 

Amir

 

[amir57bs]

18 hours ago, ShawnC said:

Do you have any affiliation for a particular audio company or audio store?  You seem to have very strong convictions for a positive review that effects noone.

I am From iran , my weblog is hifi.ir and i have been around 15 years in audio writing.

i have listened to many systems in tehran and i am not dealer or distributer.

i have bought my system from some dealers in tehran.

if you have listened to Living Voice room in munich 2015 then you will know my ideas about good sound.

 

Amir

[amir57bs]

2 hours ago, BMCG said:

And Amir bravo on your opinion...but I will  counter that dcs can muster microdynamics....indeed I have such in abundance from a Vivaldi stack feeding spectral and Avalons....

 

you must fettle / craft a system to evince such nuance..

 

hence generalizations about single components are very likely to be too broad...a point Chris alludes to with respect to the Yggy

 

music alights from a system NOT individual components...

 

Thanks for comment

I have heard dCS Scarlatti in Vitus 50w Class A Kharma Exquisite

http://www.hifi.ir/2009/10/kharma-exquisite-midi-vitus-ss-101-dcs-scarlatti/

 

I  have heard dCS Scarlatti in Vitus 100w Class A Kharma grand

http://www.hifi.ir/2010/02/kharma-grand-exquisite-virus-sl-101-pre-sm-101-power-dcs-scarlatti/

 

I think I know how dCS sounds. 

[amir57bs]

3 hours ago, BMCG said:

Might want to update on the dCS experience...

 

having owned Delius/Elgar/Scarlatti and now the Vivaldi DACs......musicality has been a distinct gain through those generations....

 

I would not slam the Scarlatti ...but it is valid to point out that its hardware design is now a decade in the rear view.....

 

 

I think Vivaldi is the same dCS sound but with more refinement to scarlatti.

they will not change the basic

 

[amir57bs]

2 hours ago, Priaptor said:

I will just add to some of the comments here.  I have a very "high end" DAC a direct competitor to the dCS Vivaldi big stack.  I have had people to my listening room (which by the way is now burning in the amazing new Gobel Epoque Aeon Fine speakers that have replaced the older Gobel Fine as a friend of mine has become the North American Distributor for these) who own the full stack Vivaldi and have walked away saying they love my system BUT they like their Vivaldi better.  I ignore these comments.  Not because I have my "audiophile head" up my rear end or feel I have to defend my choice but because these kind of comments are absurd.

 

Why absurd?  First you can't do a flyby analysis of what you heard on a system that has no semblance to yours.  Second, unless you actually live with a component you have no idea what that component is all about.  Third when you hear something you are hearing the system and not an individual component.  Lastly, ownership bias, for most, takes center stage.  Personally, my philosophy is as DiNiro said in the movie Heat, "never get attached to something you can't walk away from in 30 seconds" and that is how I view audio.  I was a strict believer in tubes with my NOLA Concert Grand Golds and lo and behold, I decided to try some of the latest solid state stuff and was blown away and now have the CH Precision M1 in my system.  However, this evaluation of mine was after LIVING with the piece in my system.  

 

So I think the generalizations about the dCS being made on this thread by some, in this case the Rossini are a little absurd.  dCS makes amazing stuff and one shouldn't get caught up in the dogmatic flyby evaluation as compared to Chris who in his review has actually lived with the unit within his system for awhile.  

 

I have no tendecy to convince you or other guys that dCS is bad. 

Please let me describe my view about scoring audio equipments.

I listen to dcs dac and audio note dac in two systems :

1. Kharma

2. Living voice

I will find more contrast by Audio Note . It means if you play Audio note then you will hear more difference between two speakets.

dCS mask low level dynamics and cause less contrast.

 

i think some audiophiles can detect sound signature of equipments and i believe it is possible to score dCS with no relation to complete system.

[amir57bs]

36 minutes ago, Priaptor said:

Give me a break. 

 

Good for your opinion and live with it but to think that your speakers are necessary because of sensitivity or some other factors to be able to determine the audio buzzwords of “micro dynamics” or level dynamics makes no sense. Or to think you can evaluate a “component” in a system you are clueless about is nonsense. 

 

I dont own dCS, but have heard it in enough systems I am familiar with to know they make fantastic equipment. 

 

Chris’s system, while I haven’t heard or experienced his setup is more than capable of hearing the sound signature and capabilities of the dCS and he had many references of which to compare. 

 

Maybe be the reason the dCS didn’t move you is because the system and setup you heard it with sucked??

 

like I said, I own the competitor to the Vivaldi stack and have no dog in this fight other than to put the drive by “reviews” into perspective which in my opinion has little if any legitimacy 

I have heard dCS over 100 times in tehran in good condition.

i just recommend you to test dCS in two system and the result is yours.

i know so many audiophiles think dCS is perfect and i have no problem , i just recommend you to hear dCS in those system 

.

excuse me for long discussion

[amir57bs]

On 3/18/2018 at 10:15 PM, BMCG said:

 

 

About difference of wilson and kharma and TAD.

I have heard TAD and Kharma and Wilson.

i think TAD is pure, smooth , sophisticated and is one of best loudspeaker in modern style.

TAD has smooth resolution and very accurate but it’s sound is different to Living Voice Horn.

dCS in all three systems (kharma , wilson, TAD) has unique footprint and it’s presentation is different to Audio Note DAC.

I think there is no complex subject in my statement.

[amir57bs]

23 hours ago, elcorso said:

 

There are many logical things that can appear illogical ...

 

You are speculating and unaware of the fine print of my relationship with Lampizator and I honestly do not think this is the place and time to go into detail. I wanted to expose this thinking that it is necessary to do it so that others do not fall into the mousetrap (a new word I learned thanks to @ted_b since English is not my native language).

 

I think there have been improvements in digital reproduction since it began, but there is also a lot of garbage in the endless paid upgrades that certain companies want us to put in, which many call "snake oil". There are some good ones that help my Lampi, like those of @Superdad's UpTone Audio.

 

At this moment I have (or have had) close to 10 DACs from different companies, so I am in a position to comment on one of them (and especially relations with their customers).

 

Carpe Diem !

 

Roch

What is your idea about dCS?