DCS Verdi Elgar Purcell VS. Audio Aero Capitole

I can only second thant Fred. The Mana stands do incredibly well with the Lindemann (I would even say they deserve to be tested in every audiophile sytem). I am using Mana in combination with a Neuance shelf and it was amazing what a difference the Neuance can make to an already great stand. My brother bought a Mana-Neuance combination immediatly for his own audiophile system, after hearing my system.

I recently sent my DCS gear in for the upgrade. My experience with DCS and Audiophile Systems is the opposite of Jonathan's....they offer terrific customer service. I know that the DCS gear was quite a bit better than the Accuphase DP75V I had before I got the Elgar and Purcell. That was before the upgrade. I sold the DP75V to a friend who had the latest Audio Aero Capitole Mk 2. He likes the Accuphase better. I'm sure, depending on the strengths and weaknesses of your system, that the DCS stuff may not be right for you. But there has to be a reason why everyone wants to compare the performance of their digital gear to DCS. DCS sets the standard in digital performance.

DCS never was top 16-bit digital. It has better publicity, more BS-presents in the audio propaganda but performance wise it sit somewhere at the very mediocre Wadia-Levinson level. As usually, it has that glitzy but dry impressiveness meant to electrify a typical audiophile with it’s taste of pterodactyl. In particularly DCS DACs works miserably when they do upsampling… If you looking at the top 16-bit performance (and I am taking about the out of box commercially available units without going into a world of the custom built DACs) then you might find interesting some older DB technology DAC (I think it is 924). Also, the new Waiss Media sounds pretty promising…

So now we're "upsampling to SACD" too?? It's amazing how effective marketing bull**** can be! Wasn't dCS the first to start using the "upsampling to 24/96" phrase? I'm inclined to believe what Verybigamp said above in his 2nd sentence about the qualities of dCS.

For those who are aware that "upsampling", as it has been used over the last few years is simply a marketing ploy, please disregard my next sentence. Folks, you cannot "upsample" to DVD-A and you cannot "upsample" to SACD. Furthermore, and technically speaking, any non-integer oversampling (eg. 44.1 -> 96 or 44.1 -> 192) has the potential to compromise the overall sound. Please read one of the many articles published regarding the marketing hype that is "upsampling". I recommend Sim Moons; it's very clear and readable for a layperson (and short too), but there are many others by Madrigal, Wadia, etc.
http://www.simaudio.com/technical.htm

Having said all of that, I own (and love) the Audio Aero Capitole 24/192. I have no pretensions that the very fine quality of sound I hear has anything to do with 192 or "upsampling". It is a very smooth and rich sounding player (some may call this analogue-like). It does many things very well, but it is not due to "upsampling". It is due to a good integral transport, good digital filtering and conversion, and a good analog section. Nothing more, nothing less.

dCS components do not upsample to SACD. Nothing can do that. They do convert the digital signal to Direct Stream Digital (DSD), and then use firewire as a transmission method between components. Anyone who has any experience with firewire or I2S cables between digital components knows how much more effective these types of connections are for the transmission of digital information. I2S or firewire are the only true methods of transmitting a 24/192 signal, unless you use the dCS method of using two XLR cables between the upsampler and DAC, as dCS does with the non-Plus version of the Elgar and Purcell. If you would refer to the dCS website at www.dcsltd.co.uk, you would see that nowhere do they claim to be upsampling to SACD.

As far as your statement about non-integer oversampling, dCS and many other DACs give you the option of interger oversampling at 88.2 or 176.4, unlike the Capitole. I have compared those settings with 24/192, and prefer 24/192.

I have owned 2 different DACS that use the Anagram Technologies resampler....the Audiomeca Enkianthus and the Camelot Uther Mk2 V4. The smooth, relaxed, and detailed sound of the Anagram Technologies resampler was present in both of those products. Whether you like it or not, you have upsampling, and it IS responsible at least in part for what you're hearing. If not, then Audio Aero's claims about S.T.A.R.S. and it's effects must just be marketing bull****!

Now you will have to excuse me. My pterodactyl is getting cold.