DCS Vivaldi

jfrech

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Sep 3, 2012
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Austin
I added the line on USB after you grabbed the quote. I swapped the Ethernet for some cheap cable I had, but I just found out the AQ Pearl I tried is shielded. I have another issue of intermittent humming in the Alexia midrange, but may from the high A/C activity this time of year. I've been working with very kind post-production engineer from a download site; he has a few techiques for eliminating the ticks from downloads since often there are ticks in the material he receives. It may be a matter of how senstive a given system is to the DC offset, as well as the amount of DC offset, and the type of music (noticeable in quieter music that segues tracks).

Have you tried plugging in a AC tester. Has 3 lights and tells you if you have hot, neutral and ground right on your 3 dedicate lines. These gizmo's are like $5 at home depot. Just a total shot in the dark on this...

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Power-Gear-3-Wire-Receptacle-Tester-50542/206212329
 

pleroma

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2018
167
198
150
Thanks. I'll try that along with some UTP cable. Your kind help is much appreciated.
 

shapo

Member
Jul 5, 2018
29
11
8
Hi guys, I've had the Vivaldi DAC 2.0 with the Network Bridge for a few months now and I'm planning to get the Vivaldi Clock in the near future. If I already have the Network Bridge should I still consider getting the Upsampler? I understand that some of their functions overlap?
 

pleroma

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2018
167
198
150
Hi guys, I've had the Vivaldi DAC 2.0 with the Network Bridge for a few months now and I'm planning to get the Vivaldi Clock in the near future. If I already have the Network Bridge should I still consider getting the Upsampler? I understand that some of their functions overlap?

I asked the same question on CA and here's a good response I received:

"As far as I am aware, there is no difference in the basic functionality. That said, I did have two demonstrations of the Upsampler a couple of years ago, this was with a Devialet D800. In one demonstration the Upsampler was being fed 16/44.1 material, upsampling to DSD, and feeding this to the Devialet that will accept DSD64, but converts to PCM for it's ADH core. This made no sense to me, and I thought it would sound better upsampling to PCM. I was wrong, It sounded utterly sensational upsampling to DSD, and definitely ahead of upsampling to PCM. At home, I can feed my Devialet DSD using HQPlayer, and although this sounds good, it does loose a little in dynamics and bass accuracy versus PCM. With the dCS Upsampler everything sounds good, every aspect of the performance. At the time I had listened to the D800 with the Aurender N10, Aurender W20, Melco N1Z, CAD CAT and others. Nothing sounded as good as the Upsampler. If it was a little cheaper I would buy one, but £16K for something in what is a fast developing product category is just a bit too steep for me. It is good though! So yes, it is just the upsampling, but dCS's upsampling is very special indeed."

My system sounds great with the NBR, apart from some occasionally intrusive pops with DSD file transitions. I intend to evaluate the Vivaldi Upsampler.
 
Last edited:

microstrip

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May 30, 2010
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I asked the same question on CA and here's a good response I received:

"As far as I am aware, there is no difference in the basic functionality. That said, I did have two demonstrations of the Upsampler a couple of years ago, this was with a Devialet D800. In one demonstration the Upsampler was being fed 16/44.1 material, upsampling to DSD, and feeding this to the Devialet that will accept DSD64, but converts to PCM for it's ADH core. This made no sense to me, and I thought it would sound better upsampling to PCM. I was wrong, It sounded utterly sensational upsampling to DSD, and definitely ahead of upsampling to PCM. At home, I can feed my Devialet DSD using HQPlayer, and although this sounds good, it does loose a little in dynamics and bass accuracy versus PCM. With the dCS Upsampler everything sounds good, every aspect of the performance. At the time I had listened to the D800 with the Aurender N10, Aurender W20, Melco N1Z, CAD CAT and others. Nothing sounded as good as the Upsampler. If it was a little cheaper I would buy one, but £16K for something in what is a fast developing product category is just a bit too steep for me. It is good though! So yes, it is just the upsampling, but dCS's upsampling is very special indeed."

My system sounds great with the NBR, apart from some occasionally intrusive pops with DSD file transitions. Sounds like we have the same front-end.

Curious that some years ago I met Paul Miller from HifiNews at a presentation at a distributor and we talked about Devialet. He is also an admirer of the DCS Vivaldi, but at that time, in his opinion, some of the best sound we could get in digital was feeding the Devialet from the DCS Upsampler using AES/EBU.
 

JimmyS

Well-Known Member
Sep 1, 2013
163
34
335
Chicago, IL
Hi guys, I've had the Vivaldi DAC 2.0 with the Network Bridge for a few months now and I'm planning to get the Vivaldi Clock in the near future. If I already have the Network Bridge should I still consider getting the Upsampler? I understand that some of their functions overlap?

When purchaing my Vivaldi, I had the opportunity to discuss the various configurations with my dealer and John & Jesse from dCS USA. The Vivaldi DAC/network bridge was the upgrade starting point from my Rossini, but the recommendation from everyone was the get the DAC/upsampler as the performance benefits upsampler provided were worth the additional cost. The clock was defined as adding additional refinement to the overall system and everyone agreed they would get the DAC/upsampler first over the DAC/Clock configuration.

I did listen to the Vivaldi One vs Rossini at my dealer before purchasing, which should be close to the separate DAC/upsampler. I ended up getting all three boxes at once, so removed any additional research into adding a clock later.
 

AudioAl

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2016
7
0
131
Hi guys, I've had the Vivaldi DAC 2.0 with the Network Bridge for a few months now and I'm planning to get the Vivaldi Clock in the near future. If I already have the Network Bridge should I still consider getting the Upsampler? I understand that some of their functions overlap?

The added benefits from Upsampling are significant. I would not want to run my Vivaldi without it.
 

ksalno

Well-Known Member
Mar 29, 2015
71
2
238
When purchaing my Vivaldi, I had the opportunity to discuss the various configurations with my dealer and John & Jesse from dCS USA. The Vivaldi DAC/network bridge was the upgrade starting point from my Rossini, but the recommendation from everyone was the get the DAC/upsampler as the performance benefits upsampler provided were worth the additional cost. The clock was defined as adding additional refinement to the overall system and everyone agreed they would get the DAC/upsampler first over the DAC/Clock configuration.

I did listen to the Vivaldi One vs Rossini at my dealer before purchasing, which should be close to the separate DAC/upsampler. I ended up getting all three boxes at once, so removed any additional research into adding a clock later.

Having bought my stack a piece at a time, I would agree with this assessment. I started with the DAC and then added the Upsampler and the improvement was substantial. Plus adding the integrating streaming eliminated the USB feed into the DAC. I then added the clock and the improvement was much more subtle. I then replaced my Esoteric K-01 player with the Vivaldi Transport and got another big bump in performance on SACDs.
 

shapo

Member
Jul 5, 2018
29
11
8
So if you have the Network Bridge already and you get the Upsampler after, would you still keep and use the Network bridge at the same time, or sell the Network Bridge?
 

JimmyS

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Sep 1, 2013
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335
Chicago, IL
So if you have the Network Bridge already and you get the Upsampler after, would you still keep and use the Network bridge at the same time, or sell the Network Bridge?

The upsampler would replace the network bridge function. You could always use the bridge in a second system if you need a network interface to another DAC, otherwise it could be sold to apply the funds to an upsampler.
 

AndrewChen

Well-Known Member
Jul 27, 2018
43
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113
So if you have the Network Bridge already and you get the Upsampler after, would you still keep and use the Network bridge at the same time, or sell the Network Bridge?

Keep the Network Bridge. Currently, it's the only dCS component that will core decode MQA (assuming MQA/Tidal is something you want to listen to). If you have a full Vivaldi stack, you should no longer have a spare AES port, so then take the Network Bridge's SPDIF out to a spare SPDIF port on the Upsampler - decoded MQA that can be upsampled to DXD or DSD and filtered to your taste :)
 

JimmyS

Well-Known Member
Sep 1, 2013
163
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335
Chicago, IL
Keep the Network Bridge. Currently, it's the only dCS component that will core decode MQA (assuming MQA/Tidal is something you want to listen to). If you have a full Vivaldi stack, you should no longer have a spare AES port, so then take the Network Bridge's SPDIF out to a spare SPDIF port on the Upsampler - decoded MQA that can be upsampled to DXD or DSD and filtered to your taste :)

Rossini also decodes MQA, and the Vivaldi beta Firmware at Axpona was playing MQA. No official release date for the Vivaldi firmware, but since my upgrade to the Vivaldi I’ve not been worried about having MQA capability. Been playing with qobuz and the native hirez playback sounds great.
 

microstrip

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May 30, 2010
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(...) Been playing with qobuz and the native hirez playback sounds great.

Can I ask how do you play Qobuz using the Vivaldi upsampler? I am a Roon user and as far as I know Roon does not support Qobuz.
 

JimmyS

Well-Known Member
Sep 1, 2013
163
34
335
Chicago, IL
Can I ask how do you play Qobuz using the Vivaldi upsampler? I am a Roon user and as far as I know Roon does not support Qobuz.

I am a Roon/Tidal user as well, and also have a NAS serving my CD/SACD collection and Hi-Rez downloads.

From the NAS, I run Bubble uPnP server. Using Bubble UPnP, I configure the Upsampler to be an OpenHome renderer.

Once this is enabled, I use the Lumin app which will recognize OpenHome devices. Their app supports Tidal and Qobuz. I also run Minimserver on my NAS as a "plan b" to Roon, so using the Lumin App I am able to access my local library as well.

If you have any question, feel free to send me a PM. Happy to help getting this setup.

Cheers,
Jimmy
 

still-one

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Aug 6, 2012
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I have been working with my dealer to move from my current dCS Rossini and clock to the Vivaldi DAC, clock and Upsampler. I decided to pull the trigger now that the MQA update for Vivaldi trio is almost ready. In addition I have found that I have no need for a disc spinner so I can avoid the significant extra cost associated with the Vivaldi transport. After I purchased the Rossini player/DAC I never once inserted disc into the tray.

Another point for consideration I was also reluctant to add another box to my set-up as there is really space in my "cabinet". To make space I had been contemplating dumping my vinyl rig altogether. Trading in the SME would have lessened the impact on my wallet but once I saw the current entry point for a turntable close to the quality of mine it made no sense to trade it in. I will jury rig a platform raising the turntable jus enough to get my phone stage underneath it freeing up a spot for the additional dCS unit in the cabinet.

It will be at least a week before the swap is complete. I will keep you updated.
 

jfrech

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Sep 3, 2012
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I have been working with my dealer to move from my current dCS Rossini and clock to the Vivaldi DAC, clock and Upsampler. I decided to pull the trigger now that the MQA update for Vivaldi trio is almost ready. In addition I have found that I have no need for a disc spinner so I can avoid the significant extra cost associated with the Vivaldi transport. After I purchased the Rossini player/DAC I never once inserted disc into the tray.

Another point for consideration I was also reluctant to add another box to my set-up as there is really space in my "cabinet". To make space I had been contemplating dumping my vinyl rig altogether. Trading in the SME would have lessened the impact on my wallet but once I saw the current entry point for a turntable close to the quality of mine it made no sense to trade it in. I will jury rig a platform raising the turntable jus enough to get my phone stage underneath it freeing up a spot for the additional dCS unit in the cabinet.

It will be at least a week before the swap is complete. I will keep you updated.

Glad you kept the SME 20/3, really quality table, I had a 20/2 years ago...Just the way SME builds things is special. Big congrats on the Vivaldi ! I go back and forth with my Vivaldi transport vs NAS drive/Upsampler. It's kind of like going back and forth from good vinyl set ups to good digital. It's all good...just different...and the different isn't all that big. Just enjoy great music ;-) Looking forward to your comments when it all shows up !
 

still-one

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Aug 6, 2012
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Milford, Michigan
Glad you kept the SME 20/3, really quality table, I had a 20/2 years ago...Just the way SME builds things is special. Big congrats on the Vivaldi ! I go back and forth with my Vivaldi transport vs NAS drive/Upsampler. It's kind of like going back and forth from good vinyl set ups to good digital. It's all good...just different...and the different isn't all that big. Just enjoy great music ;-) Looking forward to your comments when it all shows up !

I am not sure what to expect with the move from the Rossini. I have been playing with the filters and a bit with Roon's DSP settings lately and I have found a excellent combination. It will be fun to see how things go with the Vivaldi.

My analog rig gets virtually no use but it is nice to have it if needed.

That is an amazing system you have put together. I was very impressed with the Nagra HD products when I auditioned them at one local dealer about a month ago.
 

jfrech

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Sep 3, 2012
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I am not sure what to expect with the move from the Rossini. I have been playing with the filters and a bit with Roon's DSP settings lately and I have found a excellent combination. It will be fun to see how things go with the Vivaldi.

My analog rig gets virtually no use but it is nice to have it if needed.

That is an amazing system you have put together. I was very impressed with the Nagra HD products when I auditioned them at one local dealer about a month ago.

What roon DSP settings are you using? The filters can drive you nuts ;-) but careful listening does reveal differences.
 

still-one

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Aug 6, 2012
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What roon DSP settings are you using? The filters can drive you nuts ;-) but careful listening does reveal differences.

This past week I have been outputting DSD from the Rossini and using Roon DSP for a slight bump in the 65hz range.
 

stevelgbch

New Member
Aug 18, 2013
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Long Beach, CA
It’s now out. The Vivaldi MQA update for the DAC and Upsampler. I used the check for new firmware in the Vivaldi iOS app. It downloaded and installed the few version, 2.10 for the Upsampler. Called my dealer and he said the DAC firmware 2.11 disc will be ready SOON, he’s trying the upgrade out in his store system. Can't wait to get it and try it out. From I’ve heard what really interests me is the “time domain” improvement I’m sure I’ve heard going to audio shows where it was shown.
 
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