In conclusion, it is clear that the Rossini Apex is a good DAC. It was just that I thought my Mscaler + Dave was better overall in several very clear ways and was the DAC which I would be happiest listening to long term.
After listening to your playlist with my headphones and amp, suffice to say I don't find them in the same league (I'll spare everyone my rants, feel free to check the Bartok thread), but a/b-ing is so tedious to me at this point , that I was very happy just listening using Dave instead. Sadly i'll never know what magical properties Sean Jacobs psus have to close the gap, but I'd point out that dCS uses more or less the same power solution from the Vivaldi down to the Lina. Same clocks as well. No magic there. And the manual actually recommends against using most of the audiophile cables pushed on the forums. How refreshing. People will do what they want ofc.
Your cost calculations are also pretty skewed, seemingly not taking into account that all you need is a (non-ferited) Ethernet cable to get music out of the Rossini. And it will sound as good as (insert number of) Taikos and Antipodes you might want to add in front of your chain.
Edit: To be fair, taking the clock out, does almost even the playing field so a point where I can almost see where you're coming from. The M-scaler still wouldn't put it above for me though.
Well if it's out of phase that explains a lot, I've always felt the bass on "Thank You" sounded a little odd, that was the reason I mentioned it to Triode User. To be fair it's never really spoiled my enjoyment of the track, the only time it became an issue was when we used it as part of setting up my current speakers, but we all put it down to the new bass drivers needing to have a little time to free up, but at the time I did wonder whether we had the speakers in the optimum position, thankfully time has revealed that we did.
dCS is too much money in my opinion for what it does, I have listened to several of their models and I wasn't impressed, MSB actually impressed me way more. If was going to go up that price range, MSB would be my ticket.
Well if it's out of phase that explains a lot, I've always felt the bass on "Thank You" sounded a little odd, that was the reason I mentioned it to Triode User. To be fair it's never really spoiled my enjoyment of the track, the only time it became an issue was when we used it as part of setting up my current speakers, but we all put it down to the new bass drivers needing to have a little time to free up, but at the time I did wonder whether we had the speakers in the optimum position, thankfully time has revealed that we did.
Goes to show why I have always agreed with @Christer that listening to well recorded acoustic instruments, ideally from a performance in a venue you are familiar with is the best starting point when auditioning or comparing equipment.
Not a clue about prices in China currently . But I was more than a a bit tempted to buy a new one just after it was released in Singapore for around 8500 USD. And even more tempted in Medan Indonesia a few years later at around 6500 USD new. But instead I setttled or a Qutest/Mscaler combo. Mscaler is imho the most important indgredient in the "Rob Watts cooking recipe", for me listening 99% to acoustic instruments music, recorded in a real acoustic space.
As you say the current MSRP both in the US and Europe are too much.
WAY TOO MUCH!!
Cheers Christer
Not a clue about prices in China currently . But I was more than a a bit tempted to buy a new one just after it was released in Singapore for around 8500 USD. And even more tempted in Medan Indonesia a few years later at around 6500 USD new. But instead I setttled or a Qutest/Mscaler combo. Mscaler is imho the most important indgredient in the "Rob Watts cooking recipe", for me listening 99% to acoustic instruments music, recorded in a real acoustic space. As you say the current MSRP both in the US and Europe are too much.
WAY TOO MUCH!!
Cheers Christer
I found a peculiar issue with the Dave recently. I just got my Envy in yesterday. Got everything hooked up etc. I started noticing a constant high pitched sound on higher volume levels. Much to high in normal listening sessions but it was still there and annoying me.
At first I thought the issue was with the Envy as I never noticed this issue on the Ferrum stack. Upon further inquiry, I noticed when I put the Dave in standby. The sound went away. Later I diagnosed it to be the LCD screen. When using Display 4 and the screen goes off the high pitched whine stops. Seems like the LCD screen is producing noise which the highly sensitive Envy is picking up.
Maybe the Ferrum did not have enough headroom to accentuate the issue. Or this might have been a new issue. Anyone noticed this before? Maybe with other tube amps? Thanks.
@Rob Watts Hi Rob, wondering if you aware of the LCD on the Dave adding some noise to the signal? In everyday use and volumes it is not heard but at higher gains its there. I noticed with the Feliks Envy.
@Rob Watts Hi Rob, wondering if you aware of the LCD on the Dave adding some noise to the signal? In everyday use and volumes it is not heard but at higher gains its there. I noticed with the Feliks Envy.
On measurements it's just possible to resolve it, but you are looking at something comparable to the FFT noise floor, so insignificant.
Nobody has ever reported hearing it though, and that's consistent with the measurements. This sounds like an issue solely with the Feliks - perhaps a grounding or RF issue. Perhaps the Feliks is picking up EMC multiplexing noise direct from the display via the air.
@Rob Watts Hi Rob, wondering if you aware of the LCD on the Dave adding some noise to the signal? In everyday use and volumes it is not heard but at higher gains its there. I noticed with the Feliks Envy.
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