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dCS Audio have been on the high of the digital playback mountain for awhile and people of us who’ve been lucky to audition their digital elements have walked away dreaming that someday we’ll have the monetary sources to afford one in all their state-of-the-art DACs. Their Ring DAC know-how is forward of the pack and that features Chord; one other British producer that focuses on ladder DACs and must be thought-about one in all their major rivals — not less than within the desktop headphone system class.
The ring DAC makes use of a resistor array and is in some methods just like a ladder DAC and has a few of the identical caveats together with the necessity for terribly tight tolerances and really tightly matched resistors.
This requires lots of the work be finished by hand and helps account for the premium worth commanded by dCS merchandise. Their flagship Vivaldi APEX retails for roughly $150,000 USD for an entire system.
Stepping right down to the Rossini brings the worth right down to a mere $110,000 USD.
Each of these outstanding techniques are out of attain for 99% of the planet and having heard what dCS merchandise are able to — I nearly want I had not been given the chance to pay attention as a result of I do know what I’m lacking.
Again to actuality.
The Bartok is a little more attainable and packs all of the performance of the dCS ring DAC, streamer, pre-amp, and upsampler into an $18,000 part; the headphone amplifier will run you an extra $2,000 USD.
$20,000 is much more attainable than $100,000 however clearly an enormous spend until you’re very dedicated to digital playback and high-end headphones.
With the Vivaldi and Rossini fashions having been upgraded to the brand new APEX model of the ring DAC although, some have argued the Bartok is now a step down mannequin, relatively than a sibling to the upper finish merchandise.
dCS have introduced the brand new Bartok APEX DAC which might be obtainable with or with out the headphone amplifier retailing for $20,950 USD; the headphone model might be $22,950 USD.
The APEX improve consists of the reference provide that feeds the DAC which helps decrease output impedance, enhancing the filter of the ring DAC, bettering the symmetry of the summing levels for extra exact management, introducing an all new output stage, changing the person transistors on the board with compound pairs, and redesigning the board structure to accommodate all the brand new goodies.
For APEX, the dCS engineering workforce is claimed to have made in depth adjustments to the Ring DAC’s {hardware}. Except the resistor array, which stays unchanged, the latest-generation Ring DAC {hardware} is all new.
Enhancements Embrace:
- Modified reference provide that feeds the Ring DAC, ensuing inlower output impedance
- Enhanced the filter, summing and output levels of the Ring DAC
- Improved the symmetry of summing levels
- Created an all-new output stage
- Reconfigured the primary Ring DAC circuit board
- Changed particular person transistors on the board with a compound pair
For these protecting rating, that brings the Bartok’s ring DAC to precisely the identical stage as these present in Vivaldi and Rossini APEX fashions.
The result’s a marked enchancment in each measurements and listening expertise based on dCS engineers. We have now reached out to dCS for a overview pattern and hope to have a full overview of all the brand new Bartok APEX in Q2 2023.
The official launch is Feb 7, 2023 with a major launch event set for February tenth.
Remember to tune in to hear interviews with dCS’s Managing Director David Steven, Director of Product Growth Chris Hales, and Technical Director Andy McHarg as they focus on the brand new Bartok APEX this Friday.
The opposite actually cool factor about dCS is that they don’t depart present homeowners out of this new characteristic set. Starting in March 2023, present Bartok homeowners can have their current models upgraded to the total APEX specification. The value of that improve might be introduced quickly.
For extra info: https://dcsaudio.com/products
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