Incredible!!!
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I placed order on Bartok. I hope to get it by the end of the month.
@AMP Andrew, could you comment on my last questions, so that I finally calm down and wait for the Bartok))
Thanks!
And you really do not hear any degradation of the sound with this digital attenuation in roon ?
I understand your concerns but the noise put back onto the power line isn’t simply a factor of linear vs switching. It has to do with the overall design of the power supply, the components chosen, and the way that they’re implemented. In many cases switching supplies are seen as bad because most switching supplies are actually sourced as inexpensive, off-the-shelf modules that designers drop into a product as a block. There are a number of switching supply designs out there which are very well-designed and do not result in negative interactions with other components connected to the same line.
As to your question, I’ve already answered it. The supply is a proprietary design which is neither strictly linear or strictly switching and, in fact, combines the benefits of both. As for negative interaction with other components I have neither experienced this myself in my system nor have I heard of credible reports from the field.
Stop worrying and enjoy the Bartók when you get it. If you run into an issue I’m sure your dealer is more than capable of helping you with it.
For clarification, @miguelito is using the Rossini volume control not Roon’s volume control. They are very different animals and the dCS volume control offers quite a bit of attenuation before one could argue that the signal is being degraded. Our typical recommendation is to configure the output so that normal listening levels are in the -10 to -20 dB range. That gives plenty of headroom when you want to listen loud and plenty of adjustment for quiet listening without compromising the data stream.
Running our products directly into an amp (without a downstream volume control) is a very common configuration.
The lower settings are specifically for use with Airplay as in some scenarios airplay can do some stupid things with the volume setting. Very few people ever bother to enable these output settings and instead focus on the choice between 2V and 6V.
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In the case of the Rossini, all Roon is doing is setting the volume in the Rossini, there is no attenuation in Roon. I do not hear a degradation of the sound, but I the max attenuation I would use is -20dB.
If Roon is doing the volume digitally then sending to the DAC with a given resolution, I suppose there could be some degradation. IIRC, HQPlayer/Miska has argued this is not the case anymore with a proper digital volume control.
I recall a Linn phono stage many years ago that used a switching supply. A phono stage with a 64db gain at 1KHz of all things!!! Needless to say the audio world was up in arms. Guess what? It was amazing.
Edit: 21 yrs ago!!! - https://www.stereophile.com/phonopreamps/88/index.html
Thanks Miguel for your answer but I’m not 100% I understood. Do you mean that roon is controlling the volume level of the Rossini ?
Yes, that is correct. With a RoonReady device that has a volume control what’s shown and adjusted in Roon is the state of the device’s volume control.
Exactly. Like @AMP said, Rossini’s volume is controlled by Roon. In fact it is a two-way communication - if I change the volume in the DAC (via the knob or dCS Mosaic) it reflects back in the Roon interface.
Other DACs do the same, even if connected over USB (so not just those RoonReady ones over the network). For example, the Dragonfly Red.
This is pretty common, Audirvana for example is able to control the Dragonfly Red as well.
Not sure if this has been discussed so am posting my query.
What are the recommended settings within Roon for DSP and Device Setup when using a Roon Rock with the Bartok.
I understand the Bartok is doing its own upsampling so is the upsampling offered by Roon to be ignored as redundant?
Within Roon device setup do you set the Bartok MQA Capabilities to both “Decoder and Renderer”?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
The Roon core will make sensible choices for default options when the device is enabled. This is all done based upon the capabilities that the device advertises. There should be no need to make any changes to device settings as we tell the core up-front how the device should be configured.
This is the correct setting and it should be chosen automatically when Roon configures the device. All that this does is tell Roon that the device is capable of doing MQA decoding and rendering. It has no impact on performance.
As a dCS dealer why didn’t you make direct contact with your dCS rep (or enlist the assistance of your distributor) rather than submitting a query via the website? Furthermore, why didn’t you follow-up after you didn’t receive a response?
While we make every effort to acknowledge support queries that come in via the website within one business day sometimes things get missed and it would appear that is what happened here. While I’m truly sorry for that I do question why you didn’t pickup the phone and give us a ring given that this was a time-sensitive issue. If your house is on fire do you pickup the phone and call the fire brigade or do you post it on their facebook page?
Miguel
I think you have my ‘lottery win’ system. In my lottery win room - that is very tasteful indeed (out of interest what are the room dimensions?).
Phil
Thank you. Room dimensions are 22ft wide x 36ft long, ceilings are about 10ft (I think). Also note the glass windows are slanted - this softness some of the reflections and bass modes of the room.
John Darko published a review on the Bartok as a headphone amp/DAC/streamer recently;
Check out Naim’s Uniti series. They support all 3. And the cheapest one, Uniti Core, is just $3K.
Regards,
Sourav
dCS dealer delays the Bartok delivery, he has moved the deadline to mid-September. I’m so sad 
It seems that people in dCS will not see summer this year !
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Uniti core is not a streamer nor Roon Ready it’s a ripper and upnp server, with a digital out. Atom, Star and Nova are the all in ones that support all the streaming options of Airplay 2, Chromecast, upnp and Roon.