DCS Puccini/Scarlatti Master Clock upgrade

Barry2013 · Aug 4, 2015

For the past three years I have been a very satisfied owner of a DCS Puccini and Puccini u clock and the system has been upgraded in other areas, the most recent being replacing the YG Carmels with Kipod Signature passives and grounding the negative speaker terminals of the Vitus SIA 025 amp with two Entreq Silver Minimus and Apollo earth cables.Both highly successful upgrades.
Selling the Carmels proved something of a challenge so I traded them in along with the Puccini u clock for an ex demo USB equipped DCS Scarlatti Master clock which I installed a few hours ago.I had heard reliable reports that upgrading from a u clock to a Pagannini clock was a good move so when the opportunity arose to get the Scarlatti clock I decided to give it a go.
A successful upgrade? You bet! A really great move with a substantial improvement in the sound quality. Greater presence and body, vocals even clearer, better delineation of the different instruments and voices in the sound stage with improved depth, guitar leading edges more natural sounding and the tempo of the music sounds so much more true.
Only played a few SACDS and CDs so far so looking forward to playing many more and a more varied repertoire of different musical genres.
What is so impressive is how the Puccini has responded to the challenge of a Scarlatti clock. With results like this it is no wonder that the upgrade bug is so powerful.It's going to be difficult to resist the urge to replace the Puccini with Scarlatti DAC and Transport but that will have to wait for a while and I am currently very happy with the current combo.
So in conclusion I can very strongly recommend other Puccini users to try a DCS clock upgrade. I am not really in to digital downloads but I am certainly going to give it another try now the Scarlatti clock is in the system. I am sure that the benefits set out above with CD/SACD will equally be apparent with downloads but more of that anon.

jfrech · Aug 5, 2015

Your results do not surprise me. Next you'll have to try upgrading the clock cable ! Something like a Cardas Lightning 15 for $240 will make you shake your head...going up the ladder more to a Purist Audio Designs or Transparent Audio...you won't believe the improvement...

I went from a Puccini to Puccini w/clock then to a Scarlatti clock/trans/dac now with the Vivaldi...

Barry2013 · Aug 5, 2015

Thank you JF.
It is reassuring to have one's own experiences validated so to speak, especially by someone at the top of the DCS tree.
Thank you also for your suggestions on clock cables. At the moment it is an Entreq along with the rest of the system's cables but I will check out your suggestions.

asiufy · Aug 5, 2015

I can vouch for the clock cable upgrade! When I had a dCS setup (Paganini), I couldn't believe when a simple Van den Hul BNC made quite the difference against the stock cable!

Keep an eye out for a Paganini DAC, it'll already be quite an upgrade over your Puccini, and it'll probably cost a whole lot less than the Scarlatti DAC!

cheers,
alex

Barry2013 · Aug 5, 2015

Thanks Alex.
Will do.
Best.
Barry

Elberoth · Aug 7, 2015

Scarlatti DACs became quite cheap S/H lately - if you don't need/use a physical media, then the DAC itself will cost you just a bit more than the Puccini. Going from the Puccini to the Scarlatti (DAC) is quite an improvement.

Barry2013 · Aug 7, 2015

Thanks.
I do play a lot of CDs and Sacds so dispensing with the Puccini wouldn't meet my needs so I think the next upgrade will be a Scarlatti or Paganini dac or transport and after that trade the Puccini for a transport or dac as appropriate.

Elberoth · Aug 7, 2015

I would go with the Scarlatti then - not that much more than the Paganini, and ads a second power transformer for the analog circuits. Paganini is nothing more than a Puccini with the CD drive removed and firewire added. The are both 100% identical inside.

Barry2013 · Aug 7, 2015

Thanks Elberoth.
That is really helpful to know.
The Scarlatti was my preference but your info seals it.

jeffg2020 · Dec 4, 2016

Next upgrade from Puccini

Elberoth, I'm replying mainly to you since it sounds like you've thought through the situation that happens to correspond to mine:

1) I have Puccini player & U-Clock
2) I have a fair # of both redbook & SACDs. I may stream down the road, but for now for argument's sake let's say I need to play both formats.

So what would be cost-effective upgrade options? By "upgrade" I only mean better sound from shiny disks.

My thinking is, buy a Scarlatti DAC, use the Puccini as transport, thus keep the player AND U-Clock. But that begs 2 questions:
1) Is the Scarlatti DAC meaningfully better than the Puccini DAC?
2) Can the Puccini actually be used as transport in the way I described, i.e. for both formats?

Thanks for any feedback!

Barry2013 · Dec 5, 2016

jeffg2020 said:
Elberoth, I'm replying mainly to you since it sounds like you've thought through the situation that happens to correspond to mine:

1) I have Puccini player & U-Clock
2) I have a fair # of both redbook & SACDs. I may stream down the road, but for now for argument's sake let's say I need to play both formats.

So what would be cost-effective upgrade options? By "upgrade" I only mean better sound from shiny disks.

My thinking is, buy a Scarlatti DAC, use the Puccini as transport, thus keep the player AND U-Clock. But that begs 2 questions:
1) Is the Scarlatti DAC meaningfully better than the Puccini DAC?
2) Can the Puccini actually be used as transport in the way I described, i.e. for both formats?

Thanks for any feedback!

I'm afraid you can't use the Puccini as a transport with a Paganini or Scarlatti DAC.
A Scarlatti or Paganini clock will improve the Puccini but thereafter if you want to move up the DCS range you need to replace the Puccini with both a DAC and a transport.

Elberoth · Dec 5, 2016

Barry2013 said:
I'm afraid you can't use the Puccini as a transport with a Paganini or Scarlatti DAC.
A Scarlatti or Paganini clock will improve the Puccini but thereafter if you want to move up the DCS range you need to replace the Puccini with both a DAC and a transport.

You can, you can clock link both, but you will not be able to play SACDs.

Barry2013 · Dec 5, 2016

Thanks for that clarification Elberoth.
It is helpful as it does allow the option of upgrading from Puccini to Scarlatti in two stages albeit at the cost of SACD playback.
Worth considering

jfrech · Dec 5, 2016

Barry2013 said:
Thanks for that clarification Elberoth.
It is helpful as it does allow the option of upgrading from Puccini to Scarlatti in two stages albeit at the cost of SACD playback.
Worth considering

Awhile back I went from a Puccini/U Clock to a Scarlatti dac/trans/clock. It's a substantial upgrade-order of magnitude type of change. Sorry...I didn't compare the dac alone...

jeffg2020 · Dec 5, 2016

Got it, thx

jfrech said:
Awhile back I went from a Puccini/U Clock to a Scarlatti dac/trans/clock. It's a substantial upgrade-order of magnitude type of change. Sorry...I didn't compare the dac alone...

Thanks all for these clarifications. Unfortunately I don't at this moment have the $$ to go for the full Scarlatti stack.

So I'll amend my question: is there a "baby steps" upgrade that will allow me to get more out of the Puccini and still play SACDs? The only thing I can think of based on what I'm reading here is sub Scarlatti clock for Puccini clock.

microstrip · Dec 5, 2016

jeffg2020 said:
Thanks all for these clarifications. Unfortunately I don't at this moment have the $$ to go for the full Scarlatti stack.

So I'll amend my question: is there a "baby steps" upgrade that will allow me to get more out of the Puccini and still play SACDs? The only thing I can think of based on what I'm reading here is sub Scarlatti clock for Puccini clock.

Did you consider ripping the SACDs?

jeffg2020 · Dec 5, 2016

microstrip said:
Did you consider ripping the SACDs?

I am considering that. But I want to understand the branches of the decision tree. Branch 1: IF I insist on playing SACDs, my options are X. What is X?

Barry2013 · Dec 5, 2016

jeffg2020 said:
Thanks all for these clarifications. Unfortunately I don't at this moment have the $$ to go for the full Scarlatti stack.

So I'll amend my question: is there a "baby steps" upgrade that will allow me to get more out of the Puccini and still play SACDs? The only thing I can think of based on what I'm reading here is sub Scarlatti clock for Puccini clock.

That is what I have done and it has made a significant difference.
I have also upgraded the mains and internal fuses on the Puccini and the Scarlatti clock with Phonosphie and SR fuses with really beneficial results.

jeffg2020 · Dec 5, 2016

Barry2013 said:
That is what I have done and it has made a significant difference.
I have also upgraded the mains and internal fuses on the Puccini and the Scarlatti clock with Phonosphie and SR fuses with really beneficial results.

When I got started in audio I would never have believed that a clock or a fuse could make that much difference - but I've learned that the improbable can often be true...

What's your take on Audio Horizon fuses? I'd be nervous opening the thing up & replacing stuff - I assume only the mains fuse is accessible from the back. But presumably that would make some difference.

Elberoth · Dec 6, 2016

I have used to have an arrangement like this for a few months - Puccini + the Scarlatti DAC. Puccini U-Clock didn't make much of a difference in my system, but the Scaralatti DAC did.

I have finally sold the Puccini and got myself the Transport, but since a few months past between the sale of the Puccini and acquisition of the Scarlatti transport - I cannot say if the Scarlatti Transport was any better than the Puccini, apart from the fact that it allow me to play SACDs. It was certainly more noisy (disc spinning noise) than my Puccini, which bothered me a bit.

DCS Puccini/Scarlatti Master Clock upgrade

VIP/Donor

VIP/Donor

VIP/Donor

Industry Expert/VIP Donor

VIP/Donor

Member Sponsor

VIP/Donor

Member Sponsor

VIP/Donor

New Member

VIP/Donor

Member Sponsor

VIP/Donor

VIP/Donor

New Member

VIP/Donor

New Member

VIP/Donor

New Member

Member Sponsor

Similar threads