I am interrested in a new upper end Dac, and now that there’s no more TSS, I decide to go to my local dealer with my friend CF and brother, and audition the DCS Vivaldi Apex Dac ($46,000) played through the Wilson Alexx V’s ($157,000) powered by a Boulder stereo amp ($45,000). Boulder preamp and Transparent Reference XL wirings. Nice room and setup.
To make things short, I’ll just talk about the first file we listened to “Dave Brubeck Take Five”. It sounds nice, but nothing like what I expected. I thought the DCS would give me something really to rave about, but I was not too impressed. Sorry DCS owners. Maybe the speakers are just revealing the digital nature of the sound. Same reaction from CF and my brother. The dealer played 2 versions, one PCM and one DSD. We all prefered the DSD as it had nice tonal colors and less edginess, but when the drums kicked in, both didn’t have the liveness I was used to like in my system even though my Alexia 2’s are not nearly the same size as the Alexx V’s. But the bass lower extension from the Alexx V, you have to hear to believe!
I went home and played Take Five in my system and everything came alive! Even the drums sounded more real. That was with a PCM recording, but when I played the DSD256 recrding, there were more bloom, and even more natural and analog like sound, and that is with the PS Audio MK2 Dac. The MK2 is a better Dac than what most people might think, just use it with better equipment and you’ll see. My analog system is still in another league as far as realism goes, but that’s not going to stop me from looking for a better digital Dac.
Oh, the reason we did not listen to vinyl is because the dealer said the Benz Ebony cartridge is old and dated and the phono preamp is subpar and that in that system, the digital sounds much better anyway. I guess not too many new customers are interested in vinyl anymore. See phono stage under turntable in picture below.
I heard the Vivaldi Apex stack. Same speakers. All the gear was top shelf. The DSC sound was flat and lifeless. Dull even. Quite a surprise to me. I have a few DACs, not one I would trade even up for the Vivaldi Apex. Not even my PS Audio DSD Jr.. I love listening to it, the Vivaldi not even a little. Shocking.
Agree with @aangen. The dealer near me Quintessence who has a large area on the main floor of Axpona each year and had the Wilson Chronosonic’s this year. Fantastic dealer, great guys highly recommended if Wilson, AR, Sonus Fabre, Boulder and DCS is your flavor. Like Al I heard the same system and I don’t know what it is because I want to love it but there’s something missing. I like the sound but there is no emotional attachment to the sound it’s dry, dull, somewhat boring. Is it the DCS? The speakers? Amplification? I’ve heard the Vivaldi/Wilson combo with both AR tube amps and AR preamps. I’ve heard it with a top of the line Boulder and the result was the same good but doesn’t make me want listen for long periods of time. The room is also fully treated by Vicoustic maybe it’s over treated? I don’t know all I do know it’s not for me.
I should mention the cabling was all Transparent Opus.
Break through presumptions, promises, and pitches. Get real.
Even the ‘perfect system’ does not yet compare to real aurality. Play such systems and then let a real drum set, most especially cymbals, open the air. Same is true for all other acoustic instruments. The deep textures of the sax, the sizzling timbre of brass, the seemingly infinite overtones of percussive instruments like piano, and oh yes, the many powerful emotions of voice. Oh my.
Alas, our audio setup illusions can be nice when they bring inspiration and excitement and touch the torch of why we do this venture. And, as many of us have found, it doesn’t take a ‘perfect system’ and certainly not the million-dollar system heard by @waymanchen11.
In my experience, dcs has always sounded dry. Never with Wilson (had it with kef blade, boenicke W11 and YG Sonja 3.2). Had a full Vivaldi stack for about 2 years. Consider giving nagra hd dac, or MSB cascade (my current dac) a listen.
Nagra is a tubed dac, that will give a most pleasant and life-like experience. It is the opposite of the Vivaldi. MSB will leave you in middle ground (this is at least in my personal experience)
I have never liked the sound of Boulder amps. I’ve heard them a few times with different Wilson speakers and also Rockports and each time I came away feeling like “humanness” was missing.
Similar experience here as well when auditioning the Sabrina X speakers. Digital was DCS Rossini Apex DAC and Master Clock. Integrated amps were Sim Audio, Boulder, and Accuphase. Wire was Transparent Reference, The sound was lifeless and sterile. Sounded better with Accuphase’s warmth. Now the Playback Design MPD-8 is a DAC I could live with.
The new DAC from PS Audio looks promising. My recent and somewhat short tenured experience with the Bacch4mac makes me think If I was in the market for a new DAC I would probably go with the Bacch Adio. No it doesn’t do DSD but my Grimm MU1 will not play native DSD and I’m surviving. The limitation of DSD on the Bacch doesn’t bother me because its ability to place the music and musicians in the room and create a sense of realism far exceeds anything DSD imo. As for DSD 256 and lesser 128, 64 Roon will convert it where I can still enjoy the music.
I imagine the Esoteric D1X is on your list. If I were shopping dacs in that range, it would have to tick all my boxes and then some
No real experience with DCS so won’t weigh in on that. I did hear the Cascade with Alex V’s and Dag Momentum amplification, it sounded fantastic, I am an MSB fan, but it sounded ridiculous
Years ago, I went to a Hi-Fi show in Orange County. I remember DCS was there, and it did not make an impression on me. But it was hard to criticize any product because most of the rooms sucked. However, it did not make my top five list.
The reason I remember this was that there was a vote for the top three rooms at the end of show. I voted and did not think of anything about it until I received a $500 check in the mail (and a certificate). Apparently, I won the grand prize from the voting.
Whether they drew the winner randomly or based on scoring of some sort I had no idea, but I kept telling my friends I had the best pair of ears in the show. Well, back then my ears were a lot better than now for sure.
Thanks for all your comments and suggestions guys.
I saved up for the TSS, so my budget is between $20k to around $35k. The orginal reason I didn’t get an Esoteric was it didn’t have an I2S imput since I have a PST, and I did compared an Esoteric N-01 XD. The MK2 with my Esoteric streamer was clearer and more musical to me. I could go for the Esoteric Grandioso, but it’s out of my budget, now it’s even worst, it went from $46k to $50k because of tariffs. I’m not using my PST much anymore, and because my Esoteric streamer outperforms it in SQ, I2S capability is no longer a must have.
There are some used MSB Select II’s, but they are in black. My system is in silver. The other Dac I was thinking about is Playback Designs MPD-8, but they are in dark gray only.
Well, back then my ears were a lot better than now for sure.
