Nice to see this thread gaining traction. A big thank you to Pale Rider for his detailed impressions of the DCS lineup.
I come at the Bartok from a different angle and point of view. My primary listening is via my 2 channel system with headphones as a side hobby. I joined Headfi back in 2003 and played around for a few years and then put headphones away for the next 15 years until 2017. I came back to the hobby 3 years ago with Utopia’s, Z1R, and a full Stax system. All of these were used in my 2 channel system in a dedicated listening room. I am now looking to separate the two systems and move my headphone listening to the bedroom with dedicated equipment.
My 2 channel system is in direct competition with DCS as the 3 brands are part of the triumvirate of illustrious British manufacturers. Two channel electronics are from Naim while my digital source is from Linn - a company who even more than DCS can be considered as the leader in digital playback in the UK. Linn were THE FIRST to completely renounce the manufacture of CD players back in 2007 at which time they took the 2 channel world by storm with the introduction of the Klimax DS digital player/streamer - before Naim and before Chord. Linn showed their engineering chops by implementing an ethernet only input to their player - foregoing USB and all of its associated problems. The passage of time has shown the wisdom of their design and others, including DCS, agree that ethernet is the best way to feed a signal. The Klimax DS can be considered in direct competition with the DCS Rossini from a price and performance comparison (actually it prices slightly higher than the Rossini).
I had my second demo of the Bartok last week at CanJam NY. I attended the show on Saturday morning and had the luxury demoing with my Utopia/Axios headphones for about an hour. I had a previous demo two weeks earlier at a local DCS dealer and came away extremely impressed. I was curious to see what impressions I would have after a second round.
Before going to the DCS suite I stopped by the Chord booth and demoed the TT2/MScaler and the DAVE (in which I requested the MScaler to be removed) both for the second time. I also had the chance to speak with Rob Watts and ask a series of questions having to do with how to properly feed the Chord equipment ie optical, USB etc. and how to integrate ROON. Questions quite similar to ones he has answered back in the UK to various Naim owners who use and consider Chord components. While I realize that HeadFi is a hotbed of Chord proponents there are those who prefer to go in different directions. On our Naim forum Chord is met with an approximately 1/3 pro and 2/3 con opinion. Everyone mostly agrees that the ability of the Chord players to dig out detail and resolution is on an extremely high level however a majority feel that they are not engaging and do not “make music” - they are not involving and lack in emotional connection. This was my second demo of both the TT2 and Dave and I remain of a similar opinion. I can appreciate what they do - however they are not for me. For those who are interested the Dave was significantly better than the TT2 - which I found thin and lacking body and weight. From the Naim world which I come from robust power supplies with heavy duty toroid transformers are a must. DCS obviously knows this as well.
For the dedicated headphone system which I want to put together simplicity and a lack of multiple boxes/cables is a must. Here in lies the problem with Chord imho. One needs a box to act as a ROON endpoint, many use various types of USB or ethernet regenerators, some use additional headphone amplifiers as they find the DAVE not powerful enough for certain headphones (many say the TT2 is more powerful than the DAVE) and then various high end cables are required to connect everything together. A veritable spaghetti mess of cables and components.
This is why, for me (and obviously others), the Bartok immediately jumps to the head of the line as a definitive end game product. It is an all in one box housing an industry leading DAC, a totl network card solution currently acting as a ROON endpoint as well as capable of playing TIDAL, Qobuz, Deezer via the Mosaic app, as well as Spotify and Airplay. It is also software upgradeable and future proof as new services can be added at a later point in time. On top of this, as Pale Rider and almost all professional reviewers have added, a Headphone amplifier which is absolutely beyond belief in its performance - especially considering that it is DCS’s first foray into headphone amplification. Effectively, at their first time up at bat, they hit a GRAND SLAM and knocked it out of the park.
I am not going to try and repeat my listening impressions as I think that between Pale Rider’s post and the various professional reviewers, there are more than enough impressions to go around. I will however summarize a particular review which appears in the magazine HiFi Critic. For those who are not familiar, HiFi Critic is a subscription based magazine written by a group of the foremost stereo critics and appassionatos in the UK. The magazine accepts NO ADVERTISEMENTS and is completely ad free. In this way reviewers are free to write it as they see it. The review of the Bartok was written by Rafael Todes - a world famous musician and audiophile. He was absolutely floored by its performance - especially when listening to playback of his very own concert recordings. What was of particular interest to me is when he brought the Bartok over to co reviewer Martin Colloms who inserted it into his Naim 500 reference series system and compared it head to head with Naim’s new reference ND555 streamer/player ($33k). Collom’s effectively called the Bartok a “giant killer”. These are exceptionally strong words coming from such a Naim partisan.
In the end I have placed an order for a Black Bartok w/ headphone amplifier. It will take up residence in my bedroom atop a Quadraspire shelf unit which was sitting in storage after being replaced by my Naim Fraim rack system. I will be taking my Stax 009S/L300LE and Mjolnir Carbon amplifier and removing them from my Linn Klimax DS source and bringing all into the bedroom to front the Bartok which will perform DAC duties. The Bartok will also act as DAC and Headphone amplifier for my Utopia’s and Sony Z1R’s. At this point, for me, it is now endgame - game over. I think with the Bartok I have reached the point where I want to be.
I hope others have the opportunity to demo this amazing new product.
PS a previous poster is correct in that April 15 the Bartok/Headphone amp will see a price increase. The DCS rep explained that this was not done to “make more money” but rather to bring the US price in line with other parts of the world. In the UK the addition of the headphone amp results in a 2000 gbp premium ie $2600. In the US the headphone amp option only added $1500. DCS has received multiple emails from potential buyers in various countries asking about the discrepancy.
PSS to those who may consider the Bartok/Headphone amp pricey at $15k I point to the fact that a stand alone DAVE is $12,500. To that one must add additional components and cabling to make it Roon ready. In other words DCS priced the Bartok exactly where it needed to be.