chesebert
18 Years An Extra-Hardcore Head-Fi'er
- Joined
- May 17, 2004
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The owner of the dCS dealer I visited is Andreas’ next door neighborI dislike my local DCS dealer so it was easier to be less curious.
The owner of the dCS dealer I visited is Andreas’ next door neighborI dislike my local DCS dealer so it was easier to be less curious.
I can't say I just think it's extremely overpriced and I didn't even get to hear it with the clock or upsampler. I'm sure with those 2 it's way better but the price is ridiculous for all 3 when the dac alone is $48500. I obviously didn't pay full price I got around 25% discount but I'm sure the mpd8 smokes it based on friends that have heard both. The vivaldi apex did everything good but nothing amazing for me. Could also of been bad synergy with my wa33 elite and red october and needs a crazy 2 channel to really shine but based on what i heard just wasnt wowed. Another friend has one right now he's borrowing and is saying similar things as well. @RoastyDo you think Vivaldi would work in a more lively and dynamic sounding system with slight greater emphasis on mid like Grado (cans), Avantgarde or Pure Audio Project (2 channel)?
Roasty is the brotha, very friendly down to earth guy.I can't say I just think it's extremely overpriced and I didn't even get to hear it with the clock or upsampler. I'm sure with those 2 it's way better but the price is ridiculous for all 3 when the dac alone is $48500. I obviously didn't pay full price I got around 25% discount but I'm sure the mpd8 smokes it based on friends that have heard both. The vivaldi apex did everything good but nothing amazing for me. Could also of been bad synergy with my wa33 elite and red october and needs a crazy 2 channel to really shine but based on what i heard just wasnt wowed. Another friend has one right now he's borrowing and is saying similar things as well. @Roasty
That’s fair. If I am not wowed and emotionally moved by the $90k stack after 4 hours it’s probably time to move on from the brand.I can't say I just think it's extremely overpriced and I didn't even get to hear it with the clock or upsampler. I'm sure with those 2 it's way better but the price is ridiculous for all 3 when the dac alone is $48500. I obviously didn't pay full price I got around 25% discount but I'm sure the mpd8 smokes it based on friends that have heard both. The vivaldi apex did everything good but nothing amazing for me. Could also of been bad synergy with my wa33 elite and red october and needs a crazy 2 channel to really shine but based on what i heard just wasnt wowed. Another friend has one right now he's borrowing and is saying similar things as well. @Roasty
AgreeThat’s fair. If I am not wowed and emotionally moved by the $90k stack after 4 hours it’s probably time to move on from the brand.
When your paying this type of money it has to move you and make you feel otherwise what's the pointI felt the same way with Rossini apex & clock. Which is one level below. Technical but not emotional. But was very nice in its own way.
Generally speaking this can be said of alot of the Ultra hifi sound...I heard a $400k CH Precision set up and thought it was horrible..But then heard a $350k Audio Note system and it was sublime...In my experience (over 25+ years in this hobby) alot of the time the really high end gear just means more soundstage, dynamics and detail or resolution, not necessarily musicality..Musicality is what I am after and there are only a handful of brands that do it well.I really hate to keep dogging on one brand, but I autditioned a Rossini+Clock (pre-Apex) into a high end D'Agostino Momentum preamp, and another D'Agostino stereo amp, and into $110k Wilson Alexx speakers, with Transparent Reference XL cabling in a treated room, and was not impressed. This room was probably well into the 200k range. I mean the imaging, left-right for panning sounds was very good, and overall control. But I was not inspired at all...
Which dacs do you use now?Generally speaking this can be said of alot of the Ultra hifi sound...I heard a $400k CH Precision set up and thought it was horrible..But then heard a $350k Audio Note system and it was sublime...In my experience (over 25+ years in this hobby) alot of the time the really high end gear just means more soundstage, dynamics and detail or resolution, not necessarily musicality..Musicality is what I am after and there are only a handful of brands that do it well.
Personally even if I had the means I would never buy DCS, CH, Wadax or even Aries Cerat..I recently had the Helene in my system and thought very little of it..Hugs soundstage and sounded hollow in the middle octaves.
This always surprises me, originally coming from working in analog multitrack recording studios. I never thought we needed super hifi digital, as much as DACs (and ADCs) that sounded like the analog source, whether tape or microphone. I figured that would always be the goal.Generally speaking this can be said of alot of the Ultra hifi sound...I heard a $400k CH Precision set up and thought it was horrible..But then heard a $350k Audio Note system and it was sublime...In my experience (over 25+ years in this hobby) alot of the time the really high end gear just means more soundstage, dynamics and detail or resolution, not necessarily musicality..Musicality is what I am after and there are only a handful of brands that do it well.
Personally even if I had the means I would never buy DCS, CH, Wadax or even Aries Cerat..I recently had the Helene in my system and thought very little of it..Hugs soundstage and sounded hollow in the middle octaves.
Which dacs do you use now?
I remember a video where the guy from Audio Note says their DAC measures like a "bag of nails" but sounds awesome for music. I respect that.Audio Note and I might be adding a Bricasti M21.