dCS Varese short review

[Gregm]

(...) a little off with digital is way off. more limited than analog so we hear system set up easier since wrong is more prominent.

This is my hands-on experience as well -- in fact I recently discovered that there is much in digital that is, or can be, off. The little things, that do not always make an earth shattering difference in good analogue.

Like signal tansfer, for example:
my DAC is, reportedly, one of the best sounding available: so, one could say, the digital signal processing part is OK. I also have high-erformance re-clocking device which, I thought, should complete the digital reproduction puzzle.
I was wrong.
Lately I discovered that in digital, processing the file isn't enough... you need to address signal transfer as well.

I inserted a USB isolator between streamer & DAC -- in other words I addressed the signal transfer part of the digital equation.
The improvement is astonishing!
Remember: nothing else changed, I only added a device (and an extra cable)

Analogue: at one point I rewired the arm using a reportredly ultra-resolving wire, with no mid-way termination, so the arm plugs directly into the riaa. The result was better resolution and instrument separation... probably. If it's there objectively, it's subtle.

Low quality LPs (ex: low-cost Italian pressings from the 80s) still sound just as horrible.
Please excuse the rambling -- but this contrast is an often overlooked quirk

 

[Mgrif104]

I hadn’t thought about software being the next frontier. Perhaps I should have. But I also gather Taiko might be on to something with the XDMI path they’re taking with Olympus. I can’t begin to understand those complexities (I’m a finance guy), but reviews suggest it’s a substantively better way to feed a DAC(s). And it would appear that Varese, which is an all out assault (and an all or nothing system), does not take a similar path, though I could be wrong.
When i reflect on my time with Varese (again, way too brief to draw conclusions - only observations), I was most struck by how separate the instruments sounded - more delineation between them than I’m accustomed to relative to my reference points (my current system and the most pleasing systems I’ve heard). However, it’s also logical for me to conclude that Varese was a more accurate retrieval of what was on the streamed files. And, therefore, a more accurate reproduction of the recording.
But - it didn’t necessarily sound more of a piece even though it clearly revealed more. Please don’t misunderstand - it was fantastic in so many ways. I’m just not sure more accurate is “better” rather than “different”. Perhaps that’s the difference between digital and analog. Using an oversimplified analogy, is digital is assembling a whole from disparate pieces, whereas, analogue is, in essence, already compiled before playback?
If even partially correct, software, recording and streaming protocols are likely the next frontiers to improving digital as I’m not sure how much more there is to retrieve from packeted bits.
I hope so - because that means I might be able to reach a summit of sorts - without it requiring such extraordinary expense and corresponding space to house it. (Or am I just exhibiting sour grapes?)
Thanks for letting me chime in.

 

[bonzo75]

Second, audiophile consumers are less willing to spend $250,000 on new software vs. a new form factor.

This is it. They fancy sizes, prices, and ability to discuss why their big TT or digital design is better more than pressings, recording engineers, and performances

 

[bonzo75]

i know that professional hifi set up guys (Stirling Trayle, Jim Smith) use digital files for set-up references.

Stirling starts with digital and ends with analog. At least that’s what he did with the CH Stenheim in London, and I believe he would have done for doc’s Stenheim as well.

The digital would have helped the speed to get there, but by no means is sufficient or necessary.

Either way, if some set up expert did only digital, he will be successful surely given the audiophile profile, does not mean he is correct