No sooner than I had received word on the dCS Varese review going public, I got a message from Hugh saying that Scott Carpenter was bringing the Varese to his music room for a comparison to Hugh's MSB Select 2 DAC. I was at the local record store so I walked home and jumped into the car. Finally here was a rare opportunity to compare two flagship digital systems with all else being equal.
As many of you know, Hugh has a flagship Gryphon system of Kodo loudspeakers, Apex stereo amp, and Commander preamp. Line conditioning is a recent Shunyata Everest and cables are a combination of Gryphon Vanta and Shunyata Sigma V2. Digital server is an Innuous Statement server and switch feeding digits into a MSB Select 2 DAC.
After some fiddling with internet service, Scott Carpenter and his friends Matteo and Kevin were able to get it the Varese up and running right in front of the MSB rack. The Select was Input 1 on the Commander and the Varese was Input 2 on same. We used a second basic ethernet cable for the Varese (from the switch) as there was not a second one so a bit of an advantage there for MSB.
Once hooked up and warmed up, everyone felt the Varese was a huge step up over the Select 2 even though it sounded good. But the A/B testing stopped after a while as it was obvious and we were just enthralled with the musical engagement and power of the system. We listened to a wide variety of rock, modern rock, female vocals, big band, and other genres and heard the following:
1. The soundstage was super wide and super deep. It was almost as if the walls disappeared, especially the left and right one.
2. The bass was fuller and more realistic. The Kodo bass towers can really pressurize the room and we felt it viscerally and the waves hit our bodies.
3. There was noticeable more detail and clarity. The low level information I discuss in my review was there and in volume.
4. Vocals were incredibly detailed and lifelike. There was a little bit of sibilance when the Select 2 tried to do vocals.
5. Instrument separation was breathtaking. Every instrument full delineated even in Mancini's big band doing the Pink Panther theme.
There was some consensus on the above aspects but I will ask Hugh to add his own color commentary.
I left the experience not only feeling confirmed on my thoughts on the Varese but also genuinely astonished at what this flagship Gryphon gear is capable of. Wow.
As Scott famously says, our Flabbers were Gasted!
As many of you know, Hugh has a flagship Gryphon system of Kodo loudspeakers, Apex stereo amp, and Commander preamp. Line conditioning is a recent Shunyata Everest and cables are a combination of Gryphon Vanta and Shunyata Sigma V2. Digital server is an Innuous Statement server and switch feeding digits into a MSB Select 2 DAC.
After some fiddling with internet service, Scott Carpenter and his friends Matteo and Kevin were able to get it the Varese up and running right in front of the MSB rack. The Select was Input 1 on the Commander and the Varese was Input 2 on same. We used a second basic ethernet cable for the Varese (from the switch) as there was not a second one so a bit of an advantage there for MSB.
Once hooked up and warmed up, everyone felt the Varese was a huge step up over the Select 2 even though it sounded good. But the A/B testing stopped after a while as it was obvious and we were just enthralled with the musical engagement and power of the system. We listened to a wide variety of rock, modern rock, female vocals, big band, and other genres and heard the following:
1. The soundstage was super wide and super deep. It was almost as if the walls disappeared, especially the left and right one.
2. The bass was fuller and more realistic. The Kodo bass towers can really pressurize the room and we felt it viscerally and the waves hit our bodies.
3. There was noticeable more detail and clarity. The low level information I discuss in my review was there and in volume.
4. Vocals were incredibly detailed and lifelike. There was a little bit of sibilance when the Select 2 tried to do vocals.
5. Instrument separation was breathtaking. Every instrument full delineated even in Mancini's big band doing the Pink Panther theme.
There was some consensus on the above aspects but I will ask Hugh to add his own color commentary.
I left the experience not only feeling confirmed on my thoughts on the Varese but also genuinely astonished at what this flagship Gryphon gear is capable of. Wow.
As Scott famously says, our Flabbers were Gasted!
