[enatai252]

Here is something I provided to a similar question a few months ago

Unfortunately I am going to be little help comparing the dCS units with current other digital contenders. I did compare the Vivaldi stack to the MSB flagship over 5 years ago when I bought the Vivaldi and the Rossini to ARC and Linn when I bought it....and I felt like the dCS units provided a more natural presentation with more resolution, a wider and deeper soundstage along with a more three dimensional picture of the individual performers. I have literally never heard anything better than the Vivaldi and it has gotten better over the years. I primarily listen to ripped CD's, high rez PCM and DSD downloads along with Tidal - initially using the Vivaldi app but more recently using Roon. I do not have Roon do any processing and let the upsampler handle the DXD upsampling or DSD passthrough into the DAC.

With respect to the Vivaldi vs the Rossini. I have them in two different systems so my comparison is not completely apples/apples. However, I am comfortable in saying the Vivaldi DAC/clock/upsampler is quite a bit better. primarily in those areas I discuss above. but it is more like 20-25% better for 3X the cost when you include all of the cabling. And in my study system which uses Wilson Alidas and Ayre VXR twenty/KX5 twenty components - I am not sure that the Vivaldi's superiority would even completely come through so the Rossini/clock is a good match for that system. And I do believe the clock on both systems makes a huge difference is timing which comes through as pace and rhythm.

if I were to put a new system in the study - I would consider the Vivaldi One - which has the Rossini upsampler but Vivaldi DAC (and comes in about 15-20k cheaper than the Vivaldi stack sans transport + cables) or to be even more frugal since I don't use a transport much - the network bridge and Vivaldi Dac and Rossini clock combo is an option to consider Especially if you get a good dedicated NUC to play roon. I find using Roon to upsample to the Rossini does sound better than using the Rossini upsampler and the Vivalidi DAC is superior. So the bridge receiving upsampled data and passing through to the Vivaldi DAC with Rossini clock could be the best value/performance combo out there

I may actually switch to that from the Rossini but want to have dealer bring out to compare. The Rossini is really good so it may not be enough to switch