dCS Bartok as a one box solution

You never give up. Defend as pointing my preference. But above all pointing that I disagree on the superiority statement. But could have stopped that discussion well before. But you reply and reply.
Strange ? No more than posting in several threads, always the same posts as » DCS Rossini is so good and miles ahead of the Nd555 » on a Naim forum.
We have not the same definition of strange apparently.

Still going i see lol
Superior statement, well if you feel something is better, then would you prefer.
Better
Greater
Nicer
The other worse
Etc, lol.

I know this is a naim forum and some go ballistic if you say anything bad about a naim product, but really its all in the end just music, different ways to enjoy it, its good to have other great gear to try and having good competition can only help inpove all products all round.
The ndx2 is good, the nd555 is superior or is that better lol, and for me and others the dcs rossini and clock beats them both, nothing wrong with that, just like in the end i found the naim 500/552 superior to the vitus sia025, others don’t it seems.
The only real advice is, you need to hear one in the right system before you can really say, just hope it doesn’t have the same effect it had on me, as your bank balance might not be quite as superior as it was lol

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I have 2 wishes for 2021:
1: listen to the Rossini / clock vs Nd555 on 500 series and maybe Proac speakers. Or Wilson Benesh.
2: discover that I prefer still the Nd555 and will not have to sell my wife to finance a Rossini. :joy:

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They Will look funny in My al black fraim:)

Hi FR,
Let’s leave DCS discussion for the rest of the year.

I wish you a wonderful Christmas and a healthy, happy New Year.

My very best wishes, BF

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My best wishes too !

Pierre

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I’m fortunate enough to have an ND555 on demo over the Xmas break. I too wasn’t sure it was much better than my NDS but at two weeks in it it clearly much better.

And me…a Bartók :+1:

DJM , i am sure your Bartok is very fine, and congrats on it.
All the discussions above started because someone said that a lot of Naim users went from Naim Nd555 to Rossini. I just don’t believe in it, even if some has done it.
I don’t believe also that DCS, in the same price range is better, despite some claims that Naim dacs are prehistoric and not competitive with some modern dacs.
I was just refuting both arguments, not saying that DCS is not good . It’s a matter of taste only.
You like it, it’s the most important.

I hope that this discussion is closed . All was being said above.

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Hi @Dunc and @ampwat

Have you ever compared the same recordings streamed from Qobuz hires files vs Tidal Masters files on your Rossini/clock dac?

I’d be interested to know whether you can hear any difference between the two.

Jim

Sorry @anon77199223, I’ve never tried that option an don’t currently have access to either

Yes had tidal master on trial for 3 months, the MQA tracks do sound nice and the dcs does a nice job of encoding them, but some sounded better and others worse, as sounded like it had been messed about with to much, but the catalogue isnt huge. Certainly didn’t get me excited enough to pay the extra for it, then with qobuz slashing the price down, that was decision made, qobuz it is.
I think they released a lot more in MQA since, and might be worth a revisit, but i am happy to stay at the moment with qobuz, but its great to have the option to use if i want

Thanks Dunc.

Just so I can interpet clearly your description, did you ever sit down and compare the exact same version of a track in Tidal Masters format and in Qobuz hires format?

Thanks ampwat

If you ever get the urge to get a free trial of Tidal and Qobuz at the same time, and feel like comparing the exact same version of some tracks in Tidal Masters vs in Qobuz hires - then please do let us know the results.

This would be a useful service to audio knowledge.

The reason I ask you is because you have a very revealing and resolving dac in an excellent system that must be able to show up any differences between those 2 formats (if there are any differences).

@T38.45 - I think you also have the same dac - in case this question is of interest to you too.

Best wishes
Jim

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I see you coing Jim. If you learn that Mqa Tidal sound better than hires Qobuz, you will see if it’s not better to have an Mqa dac and sell your Ndac / 555dr to finance a 250dr.
A bit that or I am completely out of your vision?

I have to say I at one point was toying with the idea of selling up the Naim system and buying a Bartok with some Utopia cans.
Decided against it.

No, I’m delighted with my nDAC/555DR and new system generally.

My interest in this comparison between Qobuz hires and Tidal Masters is because I am interested in whether one format is better than the other in terms of SQ.

(This wouldn’t make any short or medium term difference at all to my own system).

But it’s rare to be able test that for several reasons:

  1. You need a very resolving and revealing dac at home to test this as I think the differences (if there are any) would be quite subtle.

  2. That dac needs to be in a carefully set up and very resolving and revealing system.

  3. You need to have Tidal and Qobuz and be prepared to find suitable tracks to make the comparison where you can be as sure as possible that the same versions of the same tracks are being compared.

  4. Many people have a priori reasons for being anti or pro MQA, so there is a lot of disinformation about this flowing around.

For these reasons the pool of people who can do this is very small.

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I‘m running Qobuz now, streaming Bach‘s Weihnachts Oratorium…never tried Tidal.

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You have a free month subscription. If you would try any day.

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Cant say that there’s much to choose between them, i was happy using tidal when i had the nds, but then not much else you can use on it directly.
But since i have had the rossini, i have tried both at the same time, mostly using the MQA, when i tried tidal, if i am honest, but always steered back towards qobuz, its always sounded right and more natural to me.
But its difficult to find the same exact track to compare, and i didn’t dig that deep, i was more interested in MQA versus qobuz

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