Music Streaming - it's hard to find the right time

Hi Gregg - Hope all is good with you. The Brooklyn is great DAC and Headphone amp so i’m really enjoying what it does - I can’t really fault it and it works superbly with the MDR-Z1R. My only bit of tweaking was a Chord Shaw Can headphone cable otherwise it’s as it came.

I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on the Bartok for headphone duties. Looks to be a lovely bit of kit. The recent review in Stereophile was an interesting read and worth a look.

James

Hi James
I am going to go through the exercise and demo the Bartók however, as mentioned above, the Sony WM1Z continues to amaze me. I had put it aside for a long time however it is now out by the bedside and it’s performance is simply sublime with the Utopia and Z1R headphones. Let’s not forget that its price puts it in between the Hugo2 and TT2 - and it certainly holds its own against those two devices.

The Stereophile review was an eye opener. I came away with the opinion that the reviewer felt your Brooklyn DAC held its own against the Bartok - a powerful statement considering the price differential. The Brooklyn was also their product of the year. As you know I was extremely impressed with it when I demoed at last years CanJam - although it used an external HeadAmp GSX mini amp.

Are you running the headphones balanced or single ended?

Well i managed to nip into hifi lounge this afternoon and try a few things, didnt have hours and hours to kill, but i did get a good indication of what was what.

Nd555 first up, dcs Bartok next and finally dcs rossini with clock. Didnt try any chord gear as time ran out for me.
System was naim, 552dr, 300dr and fact 12’s speakers, being fed by a melco n1zh/2 using 16 and 24 bit

First off the naim, it sounded great and was completely what i was expecting it to be. No real need to go into the sound as i am sure we have all experienced it and this is more about what the dcs can add, if it can to the mix.
After about 30 minutes of me playing about with different tracks and different types of music, went from dire straits, fleetwood mac, nils lofgren to yello. So quite different and it was tracks i new very well.

Next up the Bartok, lovely build quality and looks a quality product that feels nice when you operate its buttons, straight away a different sound, more relaxed and less in your face compared to the naim, i wouldn’t say it was better, more just different, but it was very nice and for half the cost of the naim a bargin really. I could very easily have taken it over the naim, but in all honesty if you have a nd555 or like me a nds, then really little point as its more a side step than moving up, but it was good to try and if you havent already got yourself a nice streamer/dac, then its worth trying i feel, just make sure your rack is deep enough as its bid beast.

The dcs rossini/clock.
Well first off it looks fantastic and quite dominating sitting next to the naim gear and i wish i hadn’t listened to it. End off.
But my god its fantastic, the same system just stepped up quite a few notches, it just blew the other 2 away very easily, so much so i found myself just quietly laughing to myself. Its very special and just sounds like no other dac or digital system i have ever heard.
If you can afford it then go try it and if i was looking at a new ND555 and 555psdr then sorry naim my money would be going to dcs.

So come on naim its time to up your game, as would love to keep my system all naim and you have a while before i can afford a rossini but the saving has officially started today, but it’s that which i aspire to own and not the ND555

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Interesting feedback. You have the same opinion on the DCS Rossini / clock as Bluesfan.
It gives me the desire to listen to it a second time, in a different system.
I heard it without the clock with a Supernait 2. Not really the level of electronics I have. I found it clinical vs the KDSM in the same system.
Will try another dealer who has Solution and Ayre, on the level of 500 series and probably more.

I would have said it should be almost impossible to make the rossini sound bad, but maybe not.
But on what i heard today, it just grabbed me, it made me sit up, just so alive. I personally just loved it and hope to own one some day soon

Great, thanks for sharing your impressions Dunc.

The clock was key to making the Rossini sound that good for me. Without the clock, it was tremendous but unengaging hifi.

We found the Bartok to be a lovely piece of kit that didn’t really put a foot wrong. Crucially though, it was just polite and uninvolving for us.

Finally, if you are going to save for the Rossini, then I would strongly recommend auditioning it against an MSB Premier dac with Powerbase. If you love the dcs (we did!), the MSB may raise the bar even further, as it did for us.

Best regards, BF

Hey @Dunc and @Bluesfan, isn’t that dangerous to listen to such nice stuff? Doesn’t it make you hate your current system? Or is it motivation to set that as a goal for the future? I’m nearing the end of my spending years so may not want to know how much better that high high end stuff is.

Like most things you can spend and spend and there is always better.
But from an early age and going into high end hifi shops, the naim gear has always grabbed me and the 500 series gear the most, just so lucky that i have been able to reach my dream, yes i know that there is better and i could move, but i like what the 500 / 552 does and did think that the ND555 would complete it all, but on this i have been turned and for me i like to aspire to own something

Sometimes we have to tempt fate and take a dance with the devil :imp:!

On a more serious note, after listening to all the streaming systems that we mentioned in this thread, we chose the OpticalRendu + Chord combo.

Was it the best? Not to us but it brought music to life more than our benchmark, the CDS3/555PSDR, we preferred it to the excellent ND555 (which was considerably more money) and it was within budget.

Once we win the lottery, a DCS or MSB streamer could be on the cards. In the meantime, we are genuinely content to enjoy music from such a wonderful source. And the key word is content.

Best regards, BF

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Cant get that pesky rossini out my head lol, yes i know its my own fault, but sometimes it has to be done especially when i am looking at replacing my nds and the nd555 was on the radar.
It is just so good, just need to find some spare change. But seriously go and have a listen guys and if you have a ND555/555ps dr trade it in now while its still worth a few quid, as the rossini and clock is not just a step above it in sound quality, its a complete league or 2 above it.
Simply stunning

Hello Dunc
I know what you are going thru, as I faced something similar 10 months ago. I even pinged Naim Support to at least confirm that they had something in the pipeline. They did not give me even a hint. I took the plunge and made the switch. SQ was the determining factor. It took me about 5 seconds into my home demo to make up my mind. It was not a small difference to my ears. To be fair, I had only 1 PSU555 and did not have a 552 pre. That Naim upgrade would have cut seriously into my Tesla budget. I am in the USA and Naim does not bring the ex demo or slightly loved return that is does in other countries.

Even better guys if you already have the Rossini trade it in now while it’s still worth a few quid and buy the dCS Vivaldi, it’s 2 or 3 leagues above it. Incredible.

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Like that, but i dont even want to go there thanks, the rossini and clock is bad enough

Hi Gregg,

Yes the review was quite interesting, especially with regard to the price difference. I’m just using single ended with the Brooklyn and Z1R ‘phones. It sounds so good as it is that I’m not in any rush to change anything. I only use balanced now if using the Z1R with the 1Z Walkman.

The Chord Shawcan was a really good buy though and for me, better than the Kimber Axios. Beautifully made as it was (the Chord looks rather agricultural in comparison), the mechanical noise transmission and the small benefit in SQ didn’t justify the price.

The 1Z is still doing the business though. I recently bought a 512GB microSD card (so I could use the 400Gb card in the car) so I can fit more music on it for work and away from home duties. Still waiting for that 1Tb card to drop in price and then I can take my whole collection with me… :sunglasses:

James

interesting, comments, I heard the full DCS vivaldi stack, but it did not really move or emotionally engage me, I had such high expectations of it. The system was unfamiliar, though.

On the hand, the ND555DR does a wonderful job of communicating music, and so does my Chord Dave driven by SPDIF inputs…

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There are 3 other streaming dacs to consider, in the DCS Rossini price range: CH precision C1 Dac, with streaming board, EMM labs D2 , and Metronome AQWO.
The last Stereophile reviews the Metronome. The Metronome is more on the nice , holographic and mellow side.

Well yesterday i got to hear the new software on the ND555, it had only been done the day before and to be honest it didnt hit me as being any different, but then as some have said it need time to settle in? Dont know how true that is with software but willing to give it the benefit for now.
But as the Bartok was not booked out and was offered it, it would have been rude to say no, then so its now in my system and so far enjoying it as its certainly different from my nds on twin supplies.
Also tried the headphone amp built in late last night and that sounds simple stunning running through the sennheiser hd800s.
I tried this in the shop a few weeks back, then i liked it, but at the same time it didnt say buy me, but as always a home demo is what is needed and have to say its sounding better here, or could it be that its just so much better than my NDS?
Also qobuz is very nice and out shines tidal by quite a bit.
The filters are also a strange one, hard to tell the difference unless you go from the first to the last quickly, but its a nice feature to have and would be nice to have on the nd555.

Anyway got it for a week or so and will let you know how i get on.
But i haven’t givern up on the ND555 and with its new software upgrade it might be back in the running as the rossini and clock is just too much for me.
I did also get to hear the chord dave and its not for me, the m scaler might change things, but it was out. So right now i feel its either keep the NDS, go for a second hand ND555 and make sure its ok (trip back to naim) or the dcs Bartok.
I would like to keep the all naim look and part off me feels the slight upgrade could be just what i was asking for a few weeks back and i must try it once again before i right it off.

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Well ended up with a rossini player and clock and its just everything i could have ever wanted, even spinning the silver disc sound great. The space this thing does and just fills the room, so fast, so detailed, so deep, so musical, it has it all.
Playing with filters, mapping and the other features it has, very happy with it

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Congrats Dunc.
I know what you are going thru, as I did something similar. dcs was the next on my short list almost a year ago, when the Meridian Dealer dropped the Ultra Dac in my listening room, and that took about 5 seconds to make up my mind. The dcs dealer was a little slow in getting back to me and did not seem to want to take my ND555 in trade? I have never looked back.

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Shame about the dealer, but looks like you are sorted now.