[simorag]

Home trial complete.
Short version: these puppies are not going back to the dealer

Long version in due time, after some burn-in (both the gear - which was just pulled out of the box - and (or?) my brain accomodation to it are evolving on a daily basis yet).

A bit emotional seeing the DAVE go away, it has given me thousands of hours of pleasure over almost 6 years, and it is still a wonderful machine, but life is change, no?

 

[adrianm]

Home trial complete.
Short version: these puppies are not going back to the dealer

Long version in due time, after some burn-in (both the gear - which was just pulled out of the box - and (or?) my brain accomodation to it are evolving on a daily basis yet).

A bit emotional seeing the DAVE go away, it has given me thousands of hours of pleasure over almost 6 years, and it is still a wonderful machine, but life is change, no?

Gz! can't wait to read your impressions.

 

[DJJEZ]

Home trial complete.
Short version: these puppies are not going back to the dealer

Long version in due time, after some burn-in (both the gear - which was just pulled out of the box - and (or?) my brain accomodation to it are evolving on a daily basis yet).

A bit emotional seeing the DAVE go away, it has given me thousands of hours of pleasure over almost 6 years, and it is still a wonderful machine, but life is change, no?

Beautiful, congrats.

Now some impressions please. This is the dac I'm aiming for as well

 

[Ragnar-BY]

Short version: these puppies are not going back to the dealer

Congrats!

Can’t wait to read a full version

 

[stemiki]

Home trial complete.
Short version: these puppies are not going back to the dealer

Long version in due time, after some burn-in (both the gear - which was just pulled out of the box - and (or?) my brain accomodation to it are evolving on a daily basis yet).

A bit emotional seeing the DAVE go away, it has given me thousands of hours of pleasure over almost 6 years, and it is still a wonderful machine, but life is change, no?

Great Simone, congratulations on your purchase!

 

[THGM]

Short version: these puppies are not going back to the dealer

Well, maybe not until the Vivaldi stack arrives...

Beautiful system, congratulations! Hope you have many hours of listening pleasure.

 

[Trickness]

Curious if anyone has done a straight comparison between the Lina DAC and the Bartok 2.0 - there is about $2000 difference between them used, I’m trying to decide which to get. My thought is that perhaps the Lina would only be competitive with the Bartok once you add the clock, which would be substantially more money. Plus, I can use the Bartok as a preamp. Would appreciate any thoughts from someone who has good experience with both units (as a DAC, not as a headphone amp) Thank you!

 

[dCS James]

Curious if anyone has done a straight comparison between the Lina DAC and the Bartok 2.0 - there is about $2000 difference between them used, I’m trying to decide which to get. My thought is that perhaps the Lina would only be competitive with the Bartok once you add the clock, which would be substantially more money. Plus, I can use the Bartok as a preamp. Would appreciate any thoughts from someone who has good experience with both units (as a DAC, not as a headphone amp) Thank you!

In terms of straight D/A conversion (so headphone amplification aside), the Bartók 2.0 definitely has the edge. That is true even with the pre-APEX Bartók (which I am assuming this is if it is on the 2nd hand market currently). An APEX upgrade on the Bartók, particularly if using an external headphone amp via the line outputs, widens that gap further.

Plus, you can always look to add a clock to the Bartók at a later date (Lina, Rossini...) should you want

 

[Trickness]

In terms of straight D/A conversion (so headphone amplification aside), the Bartók 2.0 definitely has the edge. That is true even with the pre-APEX Bartók (which I am assuming this is if it is on the 2nd hand market currently). An APEX upgrade on the Bartók, particularly if using an external headphone amp via the line outputs, widens that gap further.

Plus, you can always look to add a clock to the Bartók at a later date (Lina, Rossini...) should you want

Thank you!!!! And yes, used 2.0

 

[ThanatosVI]

In terms of straight D/A conversion (so headphone amplification aside), the Bartók 2.0 definitely has the edge. That is true even with the pre-APEX Bartók (which I am assuming this is if it is on the 2nd hand market currently). An APEX upgrade on the Bartók, particularly if using an external headphone amp via the line outputs, widens that gap further.

Plus, you can always look to add a clock to the Bartók at a later date (Lina, Rossini...) should you want

What difference would one expect between
Bartok + Lina Clock
Ans
Bartok + Rossini Clock?

 

[dCS James]

What difference would one expect between
Bartok + Lina Clock
Ans
Bartok + Rossini Clock?

Rossini Clock will give better performance than Lina Clock. Same again for Vivaldi Clock, and we do have customers who have paired the Vivaldi Clock with the Bartók. To try and contextualise the difference, Bartók < Bartók + Lina Clock < Bartók + Rossini Clock < Rossini DAC with no master clock.

There are a few reasons for the difference in Clock performance. Firstly, the Lina Clock uses an OCXO for the 22MHz oscillator (for 44.1k) and a VCXO slaved to that for the 24MHz oscillator (for 48k). It can then stabilise temperature variations with the heating element on the OCXO. The Rossini Clock uses two VCXOs for both, with a much more complex method for stabilising the crystal temperature variations. We put the Rossini Clock board (and the Vivaldi Clock board) in an environmental chamber during production, where we measure the exact performance of the clock crystals on that individual board against a variety of temperatures, mapping the performance (oscillator frequency) at each stage. The unit then has a record of how the crystals behave at different temperatures stored in its FPGA, so as the temperature of the overall unit varies during playback the control voltage fed to the VCXO can be adjusted to ensure the output frequency of the oscillators is stable. It is a significantly more complex process, but it does yield really good results.

The Clock Dither feature is another reason for the performance increase on the Rossini Clock - I wrote a bit about this here.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Rossini Clock will give better performance than Lina Clock. Same again for Vivaldi Clock, and we do have customers who have paired the Vivaldi Clock with the Bartók. To try and contextualise the difference, Bartók < Bartók + Lina Clock < Bartók + Rossini Clock < Rossini DAC with no master clock.

There are a few reasons for the difference in Clock performance. Firstly, the Lina Clock uses an OCXO for the 22MHz oscillator (for 44.1k) and a VCXO slaved to that for the 24MHz oscillator (for 48k). It can then stabilise temperature variations with the heating element on the OCXO. The Rossini Clock uses two VCXOs for both, with a much more complex method for stabilising the crystal temperature variations. We put the Rossini Clock board (and the Vivaldi Clock board) in an environmental chamber during production, where we measure the exact performance of the clock crystals on that individual board against a variety of temperatures, mapping the performance (oscillator frequency) at each stage. The unit then has a record of how the crystals behave at different temperatures stored in its FPGA, so as the temperature of the overall unit varies during playback the control voltage fed to the VCXO can be adjusted to ensure the output frequency of the oscillators is stable. It is a significantly more complex process, but it does yield really good results.

The Clock Dither feature is another reason for the performance increase on the Rossini Clock - I wrote a bit about this here.

Thank you for the elaborate answer

 

[adrianm]

Rossini Clock will give better performance than Lina Clock. Same again for Vivaldi Clock, and we do have customers who have paired the Vivaldi Clock with the Bartók. To try and contextualise the difference, Bartók < Bartók + Lina Clock < Bartók + Rossini Clock < Rossini DAC with no master clock.

There are a few reasons for the difference in Clock performance. Firstly, the Lina Clock uses an OCXO for the 22MHz oscillator (for 44.1k) and a VCXO slaved to that for the 24MHz oscillator (for 48k). It can then stabilise temperature variations with the heating element on the OCXO. The Rossini Clock uses two VCXOs for both, with a much more complex method for stabilising the crystal temperature variations. We put the Rossini Clock board (and the Vivaldi Clock board) in an environmental chamber during production, where we measure the exact performance of the clock crystals on that individual board against a variety of temperatures, mapping the performance (oscillator frequency) at each stage. The unit then has a record of how the crystals behave at different temperatures stored in its FPGA, so as the temperature of the overall unit varies during playback the control voltage fed to the VCXO can be adjusted to ensure the output frequency of the oscillators is stable. It is a significantly more complex process, but it does yield really good results.

The Clock Dither feature is another reason for the performance increase on the Rossini Clock - I wrote a bit about this here.

Hey James,

I ranted here earlier a bit on what a huge improvement the Isotek Genesis one power regenerator is when used on the clock (I'll keep A/B-ing as usual to make sure i'm not crazy lol).
Granted, I have bad power and conditioners made a big improvement on all my Hi-Fi. I hesitated to even try it for a few months due to the manual recommending against it.
Is a more robust power solution one of the upgrades the Vivaldi clock has over the Rossini clock? Just like Bartok/ Rossini?

 

[TDinCali]

I just ordered a Lina dac last night and after reading this thread I’m starting to think I may have made a mistake and saved up a little longer. I hate buyers remorse…

 

[adrianm]

I just ordered a Lina dac last night and after reading this thread I’m starting to think I may have made a mistake and saved up a little longer. I hate buyers remorse…

I've never heard the Bartok, but I know plenty of people that sold it for Lina(I guess buyer's remorse hit them when Apex came out for Bartok). I also loved the Lina with the clock added. A lot of people report Bartok being "too smooth".