W-O-W! Congrats! That is huge news! You clearly have been enjoying it for a few months now! Very happy for you. What is the rest of the system now? Still SoundLabs?
dCS Varese short review
- Thread starter craigr
- Start date
Soundlab's are now in storage for the last four months I have been playing with a pair of Sonus Faber Aida I could get in nice conditions. They are wonderful speakers, but in the process of setting them up (thanks Jim Smith for a great book and great advice) I found that my new vaulted room probably can accept the XLF's and they are now returning. Electronics are CJ GAT2 and ARTs.
Thank You and congratulations on both the DAC and the speakers!
I am glad to see that you have not stacked the DCS components and have given each one a dedicated shelf space.
It's surprising what a difference that makes.
In fact the dCS Varese stayed stacked for more than a month, as I could not find a suitable rack in my racks - the Core is voluminous. I built the shown one from solid pine panels - currently the DACs and preamplfier got the honors of the Taiko Daiza's, other platforms are plywood.
I recently listened to the Varese at an audiophile's home. We spent a few hours comparing streaming with CD playback and vinyl. I didn't expect anything less and was greatly impressed by how close digital has come to analog.. the midrange presence, the density of tone, the harmonics, the dimensional soundstage. Congrats to dCS on this achievement and to those who have good fortune of owning one...
which CD transport and how was it connected? it's own internal dac or playing through the Varese dac?
A denafrips CD transport connected to Varese DAC.
Currently in order to listen to CDs we have to use the AES input of the I/O core module. The forthcoming dCS Varese will be connected using the proprietary ACTUS system and cable. The dCS Varese does not accept analog signals.
Waiting for the four strong people that will soon (I hope, it is holiday season ...) climb the stairs with the XLF's woofer modules - around 250 kg each.
Do you have a sense of the differences? If so would you mind elaborating on them?
Elliot G.
Dealer - Bending Wave
The word on the street is that an American reviewer has had the Studio Player and the Varese in his big system and the results?
The HiFi police have made them Classified!
I listened to the Wadax several times, and even when I had the dCS Vivaldi I preferred the dCS sound by far - as several other members of WBF who expressed it better than me , I could I could not appreciate the Wadax type of sound. The Varese keeps the basic dCS neutrality attributes but is truly a quantum step ahead - in some sense there is truth in the hyperbolic comments by some reviewrs - surely not all of them! IMO the dCS does not embellish sound and brings me closer to the model of dynamics of real classical music experiences.
Perhaps my opinion is unconscionably influenced by my disfavor of the whole Wadax concept - I dislike the intrinsic expensive DC power cables and the pseudo technical marketing and mystery associated to the brand. Surely others love it.
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