dCS Ring DAC and related digital gear

[AnotherJohnson]

It's possible that quboz had made a change on their end. The software running on dCS, roon, and quboz servers must be compliant. A failure of any one will cause a total failure.

It could well be Qobuz finally worked it out.

Mosaic would seem to have one of the smaller installed bases, so they may get less attention.

[AnotherJohnson]

AJ, when you pass you'd better hope your significant other doesn't sell your stuff for what you told them you paid !!

When she worries about such things, I console her by saying “Maybe you’ll be lucky and die first.”

The other consolation is that if she had it all carted to the dump, it would not impact her financial situation. And she get this really great room.

[AnotherJohnson]

FWIW, my acquisitions are often trade driven, and nearly always “a deal.” I’ve never hidden costs. But neither have I diverted funds from needs to wants.

As a rule, we don’t know the day or the hour of our last breath. But if I had notice of my demise, as my mother had due to her cancer diagnosis, I would do my best to dispose of my stuff through Audiogon, or The Music Room.

The headphone stack would be the last to go.

Yesterday a middle aged member of our Sheriff’s department who works as an undercover security officer at our Church was struck by a truck on his service motorcycle. He did not make it. His young family’s situation has been changed forever in an instant. Every day is a temporal gift to be savored. We are promised nothing.

[audiobill]

Relax, AJ, just trying for a little fun.

Thou dost protest too much!

Very best,

Bill

[AnotherJohnson]

All in good fun … no protesting allowed

[admin]

We should cherish the things we have and our ability to enjoy life. I am currently on vacation in Portugal. My wife eloquently pointed out that I was complaining about all the walking we were doing in such a hilly area. But I should be thankful that I could walk all day without issue. I witnessed so many elderly tourists shuffle off buses that probably had difficulty making it 100 steps. You never know what fate brings and when.

How lucky we are that we get to enjoy music on systems that are probably in the top 0.001% of all audio systems ever produced.

[AnotherJohnson]

I witnessed so many elderly tourists shuffle off buses that probably had difficulty making it 100 steps. You never know what fate brings and when.

Arthritis generally doesn’t kill you. It just makes you look forward to the day it’s finally gone … in the next stage of life.

How lucky we are that we get to enjoy music on systems that are probably in the top 0.001% of all audio systems ever produced.

As long as your hearing is good, it’s a joy.
We ALL lose hearing acuity as we age. Some faster than others. If you value this hobby, wear hearing protection at the range, on the mower, on the motorcycle, etc.

I have done this and have pretty decent old person hearing. Good enough to be discerning over important musical frequencies. I have many friends who were too macho to protect their ears, and they have terrible hearing. There is a genetic component to this, but the environmental component is large.

[Big Dog RJ]

Speaking of related digital gear, there are a few on some other forums who've highly recommended upgrading to top flight clocks. These clocks are the Master series found on the Esoteric line that cost a bloody fortune! Apart from the slightly less expensive one, which was the G01x ($AUD 20grand) which I did try out, it was a definite improvement but not justifiable to 20grand. No way!

So the other one that I highly recommended was this one, it's superb!!! Much better in every angle, even has a mirror!

Now, I cam finally sit back and enjoy those fine tunes.
Woof! RJ

[AnotherJohnson]

Is it coax or bnc?
George Tice would be proud.

I commented that dCS recommends doing the nearly $10k Apex mod for the Rossini before buying the nearly $10k clock. The other fellow who has the Apex AND the clock rolled the eyes back in his head and you could see the drool as he cooed “the Apex mod is sooooi worth it.”

Last night in a dream I pondered the question “How would I get the most bang from $20k dumped into my system?”

I woke up with the realization that the whole business is absurd. Streaming makes one incredibly lazy. Better to put the money into physical fitness.

[Big Dog RJ]

Ha! Good one mate. That's exactly my point.

If I could get the G02x clock for around 10grand or less may be I'll seriously look into it but for 20grand... poop!
It's very very easy to get carried away with all the bling, top tier this and top tier that... it never ends. The only way to so call it an end, is to have achieved that reference point as I've stated many times.

I've got a handful of albums that I use as references and of course the live events of some of my favourite jazz groups I've attended quite often: Fourplay, Bob James Trio, George Benson, Cassandra Wilson, Melody Gardot, Russell Malone, Norman Brown etc. Once those tunes have been experienced, they've stayed in my memory for life! So when I put together a system based on my personal preferences, I can guage which components will reproduce just that and then evaluate the final top three and close on the final one, depending on certain criteria.

Once this whole process is done and complete, my best advise, just leave it! Hence, if you attempt to add more gear hoping to enhance the performance, you'll find yourself reinventing the wheel, it just goes in full circle with a boat load of cash. So why bother?

The new Esoteric digital gear has replaced the previous line and this was only recent. It wasn't like over a decade or so, and of course there are improvements but they're only marginal. For example, on the models I owned and currently have (the K0-xs series) they all used multiple 32 Bit DACs (four DACs per channel) with a 34 Bit Master DAC chip set. They used the top of the line AKA chips for full differential config per channel with high current power supplies. Apart from the outstanding transport mechanisms that Eso uses, hardly anything has really changed. Now they use their own discrete Ladder type DACs, so no more AKA chip sets, slightly improved transport mechanism and beefed up power supplies, that adds greater weight of the unit by about 20kgs more, and of a hefty price tag close to 70grand!

I say whaaaat??? For a measely 10% improvement... forget it! Now I just simply laugh at these gadgets, that's why I still believe my huge mirror analog London city wall clock is still far superior in every way!

Woof! RJ

[AnotherJohnson]

A plus for the dCS Rossini rediscovered today…

I mentioned in another thread about the high gain of the Burmeister 911 mk3. It’s around 34 dB.

The Rossini has four different settings for the output level. .2 V, .6 V, 2 V, and 6 V. Setting it up on 2 V was perfect for the ARC tube amps in my system. 2 V put normal listening levels in the 15 to 30 volume setting range on most material. So quiet listening levels could be obtained at single digit settings, and they were actually quiet.

With the extra gain of the 911 mk3, normal listening levels were more like in the 5 to 20 volume range, making volume levels of 1 or 2 not really quiet.

Easy fix. I set the Rossini’s output on .6 V. And now low single digit settings are quiet again, with normal listening levels in the 15 to 30 range.

[admin]

That's great. Definitely nice to have that output setting capability.

[AnotherJohnson]

The dCS Mosaic Control App and the dCS Rossini app are both quite versatile.

I muted the preamp, paused the stream on the Mosaic app, opened the dCS Rossini app, changed the voltage, unmuted the preamp, and put the stream back into play mode. No drama. Worked great.

DCS have done their best to give their owners a first class, fairly intuitive experience.

The initial trouble between Mosaic and Qobuz was aggravating, but dCS did get it sorted. I can’t complain.