dCS Varese short review

[still-one]

This DAC sounds promising. Has anyone compared it side by side with a good turntable system?

That would never be consideration for me.

 

[Lee]

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 dcc’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. You can get there by measurements alone sometimes, does not make it right not to also listen. There is an overlap between what is correct and what is not, it is not a mutually exclusive Venn diagram

For setup folks, there are real advantages to digital playback.

1. You can easily carry the gear unlike a turntable.
2. You have a drive of setup tracks like Jim Smith’s list in Get Better Sound.
3. You know what characteristics to listen for on each track.
4. The setup guy knows what ‘levers’ to adjust to get improvement.

I think digital files, even just 16/44, are sufficient for optimal setup even when analog playback can sound better.

 

[Lee]

with digital the media is 'wanting'.......not robust......in terms of degrees of sounding real. so as our technology is approaching digital's ideal it seems to really reward over-the-top approaches to noise and power supplies. tiny incremental steps matter and we can hear them. it's one reason we use digital to set up systems, it tells you clearly the slightest restrictions. analog is not nearly as sensitive to not being perfectly optimized.

the CD media seems to be a little better by degrees with this, but with files or streaming it's extreme.

so when you see Wadax with all it's exotic chassis shapes and mass, very large heavy power supplies, crazy spendy DC cables......then read about all the stuff Taiko is doing lowering noise with the Olympus efforts just for the server......what dCS is doing is simply staying with that trend. and it will likely get more that way than less. with the Varese i was actually surprised there are not separate added power supplies, or even interfaces to add them later. it's just the way it is chasing ultimate digital. one piece 'simple' chassis digital can't compete, and is not sufficiently relatively future proof. maybe a trickle-down piece like the Wadax Studio Player might be one answer that does some of that. i'm sure there will be a dCS version of that based on the Varese technology at some point.

the good thing is the ease of use of digital and musical access makes up for it's fragility and cost/complication of all the chassis pieces. so the experiential equation chasing great digital performance makes it worth it to some.

Well said. I found a significant improvement with my Rossini Apex from router getting plugged into a conditioner, adding a Sortz noise control device, getting better ethernet cable, adding Wilson Pedestals, and adding an Ansuz ethernet switch. It sounded great before but these things took it to a new level.

 

[jfrech]

For setup folks, there are real advantages to digital playback.

1. You can easily carry the gear unlike a turntable.

Huh? 13 digital cables, 4 power cords, interconnects, plus each box 30-50 pounds... haha, not a very portable set up

 

[Lee]

Huh? 13 digital cables, 4 power cords, interconnects, plus each box 30-50 pounds... haha, not a very portable set up

I'm obviously not thinking about a Varese system here. Think about what Peter McGrath brings...a laptop with his recordings, a Berkely USB SPDIF converter, a cable or two, and he uses the customer's DAC. Jim Smith will bring along a DAC, a MacBook with his preferred playlist, and a good line conditioner.

Much lighter than a turntable and phono stage.

 

[SuperDave]

Not always

 

[Gregm]

Not always
View attachment 139122

I marvell at the mechanical complexity of that machine!
Sharp indeed!

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Not always
View attachment 139122

Appreciate the humor, but a laptop is 1/3rd to 1/2 the weight….more than likely even less

 

[ationg]

That would never be consideration for me.

Not sure why you said that…

 

[still-one]

Not sure why you said that…

The post I commented on asked whether anyone compared the Varese to a turntable. If you would like I can briefly elaborate on my "not a consideration" response. Bottom line, life is too short to fiddle with vinyl. I do not enjoy jumping up every 10 to 20 minutes to flip sides or skip tracks. I don't want to clean or have to store X amount of albums. It is bad enough that I have to store and retain the original CD's I have burned as music files. Unlike LP's that I might want to play, these CD's can be stored anywhere and do not need to be kept in close proximity to my music room.

I will let others debate any SQ differences they attribute to the two sources. I grew up with vinyl and RtR. Thank goodness I don't have to deal with it these days to get great sound.

 

[Gregm]

Bottom line, life is too short to fiddle with vinyl.

I do not enjoy jumping up every 10 to 20 minutes to flip sides or skip tracks.

Actually, I enjoy doing just that - but I do understand your point...

I don't want to clean or have to store X amount of albums.

Apart from being heavier than CDs, they offer (to me) lots of fun reading the sleeve notes and admiring the artwork... Being lazy, I rarely clean my LPs other than when I first purchase them.

I will let others debate any SQ differences they attribute to the two sources.

Indeed, music comes first and good sound makes listening to music a more enjoyable experience.

I grew up with vinyl and RtR.

Likewise

 

[ationg]

The post I commented on asked whether anyone compared the Varese to a turntable. If you would like I can briefly elaborate on my "not a consideration" response. Bottom line, life is too short to fiddle with vinyl. I do not enjoy jumping up every 10 to 20 minutes to flip sides or skip tracks. I don't want to clean or have to store X amount of albums. It is bad enough that I have to store and retain the original CD's I have burned as music files. Unlike LP's that I might want to play, these CD's can be stored anywhere and do not need to be kept in close proximity to my music room.

I will let others debate any SQ differences they attribute to the two sources. I grew up with vinyl and RtR. Thank goodness I don't have to deal with it these days to get great sound.

Noted. I am not interested in a rehash about how convenient digital is or its pros and cons vs analog.. there are tons of threads on those to read. At $300k, i will very curious to hear how it sounds compared to a good analog or turntable front end..

 

[still-one]

Noted. I am not interested in a rehash about how convenient digital is or its pros and cons vs analog.. there are tons of threads on those to read. At $300k, i will very curious to hear how it sounds compared to a good analog or turntable front end..

I am sure that as more individuals have the opportunity to hear the Varese you will get their opinions as to how it sounds compared to analog. I did not have to wait for the release of Varese to form my opinion. Varese would get me closer to what I want from this hobby. The price of entry is probably something I am not comfortable with.