dCS has now issued details on its new Apex version of its Ring DAC technology and where it will be implemented in its product ranges, following last week's teaser announcement.
The British company's Apex Ring DAC will make its debut in new editions of its Vivaldi DAC, Rossini DAC and Rossini Player, which are available from today, 4th March, replacing the previous versions.
The dCS Vivaldi Apex DAC will cost £33,000 (roughly $44,170, AU$60310); the dCS Rossini Apex DAC is priced £25,500 (around $34,130, AU$46,610); and the dCS Rossini Apex Player's figure is £28,000 (approximately $37,480, AU$51,180).
An Apex upgrade service will also be offered to existing Vivaldi and Rossini owners via dCS distributors worldwide, starting in May. For owners in the UK, this upgrade cost is £6000 per unit (which roughly translates to $8035 and AU$1100, although international pricing and availability are not yet known) and Absolute Sounds will begin taking bookings in mid-April.
dCS's original Ring DAC technology features in our 6 of the best British hi-fi innovations roundup (we even went to see how the firm makes it). In 2017, dCS released a major update to the mapping algorithm that controls its Ring DAC, allowing listeners to tailor the performance of their system to suit their listening preferences and musical tastes.
Following this software upgrade launch, the British audio specialist embarked on a project last year to further interrogate the Ring DAC’s circuitry and analogue performance. Several months of intensive research and development later, dCS engineers reconfigured the Ring DAC circuit board and developed an all-new analogue output stage. The result? New Ring DAC Apex hardware, promising a range of sonic and measured improvements and the enhanced performance of two renowned product families: the Rossini and Vivaldi.
With the exception of the resistor array, which remains unchanged, the latest generation Ring DAC hardware is, says dCS, "all new". The changes include – deep breath – modifying the reference supply that feeds the Ring DAC (resulting in lower output impedance), enhancing the filter, summing and output stages of the Ring DAC, improving the symmetry of summing stages, creating an all-new output stage, reconfiguring the main Ring DAC circuit board and replacing individual transistors on the board with a compound pair.
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