Tonight, I had the opportunity to experience the dCS Varese. I just returned home, and although late, I feel literally compelled to post this brief "review".
And God said, “Let there be light.” And, the world was illuminated, its beauty revealed.
And dCS said, “Let there be music.” And there was, appearing from the void, filling the room with sound as natural, as pure, as the light from the sun.
The sound is simply there, it does not seem to eminate from any source, it does not have limits other than the original recording, it does not have color other than what the instruments and/or voices provide.
Is this over dramatic, “purple prose” as my literature professor use to say?
No.
When asked, “what does the Varese sound like”, the only answer is “nothing”. Just as there was nothing before God created light, there is no sound except the music itself, no speakers, no amps, no preamps, no cables, no power conditioner. Nothing. There is the primordial void, and then there is music.
The usual review discusses the sound stage, the tonal quality, the noise level, etc. There is simply nothing to discuss. None of the traditional characteristics apply, any more than one can describe a true vacuum— in nothing, there is nothing to describe.
It is so “unreal” in comparison to anything else (including the dCS Vivaldi) that the experience is actually somewhat discomforting. We are conditioned to be able to tell a recording from attending a live performance. Given even a streamed source (Qobuz in this case), you simply could not differentiate.
This included not only jazz, acoustic guitar with male and female singers, but (at my request) Poulenc’s Concerto for Organ, Tympani and Strings. The latter I have heard on many systems and none presented the organ so clearly, so realistically, such that every pipe was clearly discernible yet sounded coherent, singular. The tympani robust and reverberant, the various strings evident and complimentary. I was, without a doubt, in the venue complete with its acoustic signature, live about the 5th row orchestra.
The demo included an A/B comparison between the dCS Vivaldi and the Varese. The Vivaldi was clouded, flat, distant and indistinct in comparison, and the Vivaldi has long been a standard to which other DACS are compared.
Granted, the system used for this demonstration was worthy of the Varese: D’Agostino Momentum M400 MxV mono amplifiers, Wilson Audio Chronosonic XVX speakers, Nordost Odin cabling between the DACs and both the amps and the speakers and for the interconnects on the Vivaldi. (Note the Varese comes with its own unique cables to connect the 5 boxes.)
Most of us (certainly not I) will never be able to own such a system. But, if you get the opportunity to hear the Varese, do so. It is certainly a worthy musical experience and perhaps a religious one as well.
I want to thank Steve Kennedy at JS Audio in Bethesda, MD, for inviting me to the presentation.
