Many thanks Dunc!
Hi T38.45
The Rossini on its own has absolutely amazing levels of detail resolution - far more than the ND555 and at least as much as the Chord M Scaler + DAVE. However, I found music to sound sterile & unengaging with a bare Rossini.
Adding the clock to a Bartok made a very small, marginal improvement to the Bartok, certainly not £5.5k worth. However, adding the same clock into the Rossini made all the difference to these cloth ears. The Rossini stopped sounding analytical & sterile. It suddenly timed right and sounded emotionally engaging, while all the hifi stuff improved too. With Rossini + clock, we stopped listening to hifi and just sat back to enjoy glorious music. The Rossini + clock gave us the best resolution of the Chord combo, together with the analogue like emotional engagement of the ND555, for the price of the ND555 +PS.
Hope this helps, BF
BF, thanks for the info- so my next stop would be a demo for Rossini then;-)
Chiming in with my limited dCS experience. Recently wanted to audition very expensive Magico speakers. The dealer had them at the end of a Bartok / Gryphon system, and the music was very engaging. Like everything, I’m sure that the rest of the system contributed to the engagement factor. ($90,000 worth of gear downstream of the Bartok.)
That is what exactly happened to me. Net result - Bartok out - Rossini + Master Clock in - Linn Klimax DS put out to pasture in the Master Bedroom.
Rossini/Clock through the 552/500 and I cannot imagine digital getting any better than this
Best
Gregg
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did you folks here with dcs had SQ improvements by adding a pre-amp or would it be ok to use dcs as pre direct attached to power-amps?
thanks!
Ralf
I have tried both ways and normally run mine through a 552, but its away right now being serviced and DR’ed.
The pre in the DCS is very good, but it does have one problem, the digital volume control, it really needs to be left at 0.0, or atleast very close to it, or you will encounter a slight dynamic drop.
Its not huge, but its there, you can try and work around it by adjusting the output volume on the DCS, and right now i am running mine direct into my 500dr amp, as i made up 2 cables from some old teddypardo 250 amp cables, its sounding great, but can’t wait to get my 552 back.
If i didnt have a rega P10, i might be tempted to try running without a pre, but it would be a true balanced one, so i could run balanced out from the DCS, and hope this helps a bit to over come the volume.
But really just try it as like i said its not huge and you may feel its not a problem at all, as some guys on the DCS community site dont run pre amp and are very happy and you will get more answers on it and views.
Many thanks Dunc, I have only one source 
Sold my LP12 months ago…
Let me come back to the clock discussion again…is the origin dcs clock a must or do alternative clocks with dual bnc work as well?
Thx!
I tried the external DCS clock on Bartok. Decided that it was £5.5k of spend for a tiny improvement so was not worth it at all to these cloth ears.
By way of contrast, the very same clock made all the difference in the world to the Rossini, transforming the Rossini from highly analytical to highly musical.
YMMV.
Best regards, BF
As I said a few times, if you are looking at a bartok and also looking at adding a clock to it at the same time or soon after, you would be much better to add the clock budget to the bartok and make the jump up to the rossini.
This will out perform the bartok and clock, as for different clocks, then there are a few threads on the DCS committee site, and it might be worth a read.
Cheers dunc
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Bluesfan, Dunc, thanks- Rossini is on order;-) without clock …
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What they said
(former Bartok owner for 1 month and then Rossini + Clock)
Best
Gregg
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The rossini is fantastic, you will just love it
Thanks Dunc👍
If you haven’t already joined the DCS site, you want to, as its a great site for info
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Will do after receiving the unit, takes one week or so…
I have the clock now for demo…and my words can not describe this transformation. I had many many sources, digital and analog, over the last 30years but this combi is from another galaxy. Endgame- I will stop my source journey if my wife agrees:-)
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Delighted that the clock enables you to enjoy your music even more.
Have a lovely time with your even better Rossini should you decide to buy the clock.
Best regards, BF
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It certainly is a fantastic bit of kit thats j7st get better with the clock.
Looking on the dcs forum, we might be in for another treat next year, with the new vivaldi coming out, us rossini owners might just get an upgrade to the vivaldi spec being used now, and that will be nice and the Bartok could also go to the rossini spec, that will certainly be nice for all, and the Bartok will be a bargin if so