A $42,000 transport.

Mike Lavigne

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Apr 25, 2010
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Sorry, I'm still chuckling. Yes folks, that is what a dCS Vivaldi version costs:

https://www.paragonsns.com/product/dcs-vivaldi-transport-cd-sacd/

My old Wadia 861SE with a similar Esoteric transport cost less than 10k and included a Dac/preamp.

What on earth goes on inside this remarkably-priced transport that makes it this expensive?

to be fair to dCs; almost every Esoteric VRDS-NEO based transport (all the big guns) gets into the over $35k price range as the raw parts cost exceeds $5k each piece, just for that piece, no matter the volume. plus all the rest of the build costs for casework and circuit boards.

then do the 5x BoM calculation and there you go.

not saying it makes sense; but it's reality.

you want that pretty stack of boxes you will pay for it.
 

microstrip

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Sorry, I'm still chuckling. Yes folks, that is what a dCS Vivaldi version costs:

https://www.paragonsns.com/product/dcs-vivaldi-transport-cd-sacd/

My old Wadia 861SE with a similar Esoteric transport cost less than 10k and included a Dac/preamp.

What on earth goes on inside this remarkably-priced transport that makes it this expensive?

Well, I hosted a Wadia 861SE last year for an afternoon. It was being bought used from an hifi broker by a good friend and he asked me to run my Pierre Verany test disk on it. It failed in many tracks that the Vivaldi manages to go through. We opened it to look inside. There is no possible comparison between the VRDS mechanism and the VRDS NEO of the Vivaldi - besides the Vivaldi reads SACD's.

Although I am skeptical on the use of measurements in high-end, it is nice knowing that technically the Vivaldi is beyond reproach. :D Anyway, it seems no one knows exactly why the Vivaldi transport plays so good in the Vivaldi DAC.

The Metronome Kalista uses the same mechanism as the Audio Research CD7 player - Philips CD-Pro2LF. The Kalista costs 3 time more and IMHO plays 10 times better in an appropriate DAC ...
 

KeithR

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May 7, 2010
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to be fair to dCs; almost every Esoteric VRDS-NEO based transport (all the big guns) gets into the over $35k price range as the raw parts cost exceeds $5k each piece, just for that piece, no matter the volume. plus all the rest of the build costs for casework and circuit boards.

5k? The Esoteric P-03 costs 13k with the same transport (which I'm sure is jacked up pricing-wise vs. true Japanese price, but that's a different story). I'm still confused at 3.5x for the same transport.
 

jtinn

Industry Expert
Apr 20, 2010
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to be fair to dCs; almost every Esoteric VRDS-NEO based transport (all the big guns) gets into the over $35k price range as the raw parts cost exceeds $5k each piece, just for that piece, no matter the volume. plus all the rest of the build costs for casework and circuit boards.

then do the 5x BoM calculation and there you go.

not saying it makes sense; but it's reality.

you want that pretty stack of boxes you will pay for it.

Sorry Mike, I agree with KeithR :)
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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5k? The Esoteric P-03 costs 13k with the same transport (which I'm sure is jacked up pricing-wise vs. true Japanese price, but that's a different story). I'm still confused at 3.5x for the same transport.

Well, you then have Esoteric circuits. The highest end seems to have not chosen that direction. So this is not relevant to CH Precision or dCs owners
 

RogerD

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caesar

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Do you guys think it sounds better than ripping disks to a drive? Or different?
 

caesar

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Is this a product for those who don't feel like ripping CDs? For guys who have a lot of SACDs?
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Is this a product for those who don't feel like ripping CDs? For guys who have a lot of SACDs?

The Asia market is very high end and it's primarily silver discs, so our local read on this situation is not really true.

The best possible transports are important there and price is a badge of honor
 

DSkip

Industry Expert
Aug 26, 2013
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The Asia market is very high end and it's primarily silver discs, so our local read on this situation is not really true.

The best possible transports are important there and price is a badge of honor

Very true. Different markets, different approaches.
 

microstrip

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Do you guys think it sounds better than ripping disks to a drive? Or different?

Better, significantly better. But here we have a problem - owners will have experience, but some people will also consider that they have owner bias ... Speculation is much funnier ...

BTW, I did not order the transport when I ordered the Vivaldi - I was thinking about keeping the Metronome Calypso Reference. But after listening to the transport for a few weeks I understood it was part of the package.
 

PeterA

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Dec 6, 2011
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And Asia is the 800 pound gorilla in high end digital.

Here we just eliminate the tranport and do our file thing

I have two audio buddies who refuse to go to files and only play their CDs. They contend that dedicated transports sound better than files. I've never done a direct comparison in the same system, so I don't know if I would prefer one to the other.
 

caesar

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May 30, 2010
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Better, significantly better. But here you have a problem - owners will have experience, but some people will also consider that they have owner bias ... Speculation is much funnier ...

BTW, I did not order the transport when I ordered the Vivaldi - I was thinking about keeping the Metronome Calypso Reference. But after listening to the transport for a few weeks I understood it was part of the package.

That's my general impression also about high quality transports also, but I have not extensively experimented. Did you, by chance, compare to ripped files or only to your older transport?
 

ack

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May 6, 2010
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I have two audio buddies who refuse to go to files and only play their CDs. They contend that dedicated transports sound better than files. I've never done a direct comparison in the same system, so I don't know if I would prefer one to the other.

Yeap, and proven by the sound - when it comes to high end digital, only spinning will do, at least so far, and a slaved transport goes even further: enter the dCS and many others like it in the past. Two words: jitter and noise. Nothing USB-based can come close to the low noise of the best transports, and we have yet to see how ethernet fares here.
 

caesar

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May 30, 2010
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And Asia is the 800 pound gorilla in high end digital.

Here we just eliminate the tranport and do our file thing

Mike, any desire to pick up the MSB transport down the line? Or are you happy with ripped files?
 

microstrip

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May 30, 2010
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That's my general impression also about high quality transports also, but I have not extensively experimented. Did you, by chance, compare to ripped files or only to your older transport?

I have a Sinology NAS filled with rips and a computer with Roon. But is is not "audiophile approved" system ...
 

caesar

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2010
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Yeap, and proven by the sound - when it comes to high end digital, only spinning will do, at least so far, and a slaved transport goes even further: enter the dCS and many others like it in the past. Two words: jitter and noise. Nothing USB-based can come close to the low noise of the best transports, and we have yet to see how ethernet fares here.

Ack,
Thanks. Where do you believe jitter and noise are introduced? In one case there is probably a NAS full of music files that is connected by ethernet to a streamer, which is then passed the music file to a DAC via SPDIF, AES, or USB. In the case of a transport such as this dCS, it is a separate box connected via SPDIF (?) or AES (?) to their DAC.
 

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