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CD Players, Digital Music & Servers Aurender, dCs, Esoteric, Lumin. |
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#11
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Hey guys, why not read my signature block? My name is Bryan....
I'll also take it from the posts here that you're arguing the hardware (the DAC chip) in all their DAC's is identical from model to model? i.e., the ring DAC in the Pagianni, Vivaldi, and Scarlatti are all the same? I don't think so...Why do you think they release a whole new form factor; because they just got tired of the looks? |
#12
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If you're happy with your unit, that is fine. If you think it sounds great, I'll even agree...the MCD1100 is a fine peice of equipment. Other than function, however, it is not comparable to dCS' offerings in the quality of sound it produces. And, are you implying that anyone spending more money that what your MCD1100 costs has lost sight of why they own a system? That's quite a near-sighted statement. |
#13
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The thing Im not hearing here is whether DCS dealers have programs for current owners to upgrade/trade into newer gear.For example, I know of one manufacturer that will give you what you paid towards a trade up into the latest and greatest product.
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#14
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They probably don't have to, as dCS is releasing new FREE upgrades for their current models to keep them up to date and their customers happy.
If you take the Scarlatti for example, it first received an update that allowed it to accept 24/192kHz material on single AES/EBU and SPDIF inputs, than a new set of apodising filters which improved the sound a lot, and now it is to receive an upgrade that will allow DSD playback. All of those are software updates, that are loaded from the CD - no parts swaping or sending back to the factory necessary. dCS is known for very long production cycles (the Elgar DAC was manufactured for 11 years) and is one of the very few hi-end companies that DO offer real upgrades for their customers, not only talk about them at product launch. Best of all - most of them are FREE Last edited by Elberoth; 02-05-2013 at 05:07 AM. |
#15
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__________________
Audio Room: Sonus Faber Amati Faturas / JL Audio 13.5” Fanthom In Wall Subs / McIntosh C52 / McIntosh MCD 1100 / McIntosh MEN 220 / McIntosh MC 601’s / McIntosh MPC 1500 / McIntosh MT 5 / McIntosh MC 275’s / Luxman AS-55 Amp Selector / Silenzo (This thing is Amazing) / Gold Lion Tubes from Vintage Tube All items in green were bought thru the AA marketplace and blue from a current AA retailer |
#16
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It's nice that DCS isn't leaving the customers of older gear in the dust by providing them software updates. That's the least they could do seeing that their stacks cost anywhere from $60K-110K (historically and currently).
I'm more concerned with how their designs don't include any sort of hardware modularity, which currently tends to preclude piecemeal updates. It's an awful lot of money to get a new Vivaldi stack -- and the Beethoven is just around the corner (I have no idea what their nextgen is going to be called, just going with the naming trend). |
#17
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Hardware modularity is only good when you change the products every 2-3 years like some of the hi-end companies do. After 10 years (ant that is the lifespan of many dCS products), you have to design the product from scratch to keep it up to date.
You do not have to buy a full Scarlatti (Paganini, Vivaldi) stack at one go. I know many ppl who had older stacks (Elgar/Verona/Verdi), and after the Scarlatti came out, replaced the components piece by piece - first got the new DAC, than the new transport, then changed the Verona clock to the Scarlatti one, and eventually invested into the upsampler as well. With the Vivaldi line things become more complicated, as they ditched the firewire interface, so if you want to use the Vivaldi DAC with the Scarlatti clock/upsampler/transport, you will loose the SACD playback capability. But it is a small price to pay. |
#18
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Aren't they (dCS) issuing a software update to enable DSD on the other ports (AES/EBU and SPDIF) ? I thought I read that somewhere... That would render the older gear compatible with the Vivaldi stack.
alexandre |
#19
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Cincy
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MSB Select II DAC MSB M500 Monoblocks Magico M3 Speakers Magico Q-Sub 15 Subwoofers (2) Transparent Opus Gen5 speaker cables and Interconnects PS Audio P20 regenerator Roon file management |
#20
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Sounds like the OP/allen_bh/Bryan might be happier with the MSB Platinum range, which are completely modular.
But as many have stated, dCS have expanded their model range, rather than replacing models. It should also be noted that dCS have relatively strong resale value in a category where the depreciation is usually akin to jumping off a very tall cliff. That's worth a lot of consideration. For many the issue is that digital seems to be evolving quickly. If you buy an expensive pair of speakers, or amplifiers, they are not going to be out of date in a couple of years. So maybe we are unusually nervous in spending the very large sums required for the state of the art digital equipment. Especially as there are a number of DACs which can get relatively close at much lower price points. It makes it harder to determine the value equation. |
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