Digital Drive: REVIEW: DCS Verdi/Elgar/Purcell/Verona SACD Player by Tyke

Model:	Verdi/Elgar/Purcell/Verona
Category:	SACD Player
Suggested Retail Price:	£26,000
Description:	Four box CD player
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available

Review by Tyke ( A ) on February 04, 2004 at 22:30:55
IP Address: 82.37.89.250

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for the Verdi/Elgar/Purcell/Verona

As a contented owner of a Verdi/Elgar Plus/Purcell CD player, I was very excited at the opportunity to be one of the first in the UK to listen to the new Verona Master Clock. Calibrated to better than 1 part per million, this clock was over 10 times more accurate than the Elgar's built in clock, Although it was stated that this would drift over time, dCS promised that the improved performance and stability of the clock would yield extraordinary results.
The demo evening was run by a local dCS dealer, and David Steven from dCS. The system consisted of Spectral Pre/Power Amplification, and the Krell FPB700cx run direct from the Elgar through Verity's flagship speaker.
Initially we heard Red Book replay through the Accuphase DP77 as a reference point for what was to come. I recalled the sound of this machine, as I has auditioned it some months previously when eventually purchasing my dCS stack. A jazz piece sounded warm and detailed, but without the definition and sense of space that I was used to from my system. This helped me also to reference against the rest of my system, where overall I missed an octave of bass and a real sense of presence and a vivid soundsatge. Further listening confirmed my opinion that the Accuphase presented a compelling sound, but one which I always felt lacked that sense of real musicians performing in their own space, almost as though the edges of the individual space were blurred. Moving to the Verdi/Elgar/Purcell combination wrought huge changes. The blurred edges were gone, the soundstage snapped into focus, and for the first time there was a real sense of performers being in the room. I must stay here that in this review, I do not intend to spend to much time reviewing the absolute performance of the various components. This is for a few reasons: firstly, the demo was not the ideal environment to do so, secondly because the ancillary equipment was not familiar to me, and thirdly because the choice of music was not always to my taste (what, no Eagles!). In particular, the Verity speakers did not appeal to me - I much prefer a mor upfront weighty sound. I am left therefore to comment on the relative performance of the components within this system. What struck me again as we went through the various stages of the dCS stack, was how relatively subtle the efect of the Purcell upsampler was. For me the Verdi was always a far more important component than the Purcell, and this was once again confirmed. Not to say that the Upsampler is not a worthy addition, particularly at the top end, where it brings a delicacy and almost valve-like featheriness, the effects are welcome, but we are talking degrees of improvement here.
And so the evening built towards the climax: the introduction of the Verona Master Clock. At £3999 I was expecting improvements in the order of the Purcell. My wife (keeper of the Tyke purse strings, amongst other duties!) was next to me to bring a level of reality to proceedings. We heard a track on the dCS, then sat back to hear the same track with the Verona now in line. To stay I was stunned would be an understatement. The dCS stack, which I had always believed to be at the pinnacle of CD replay was transformed. It was as though the whole soundstage had suddenly snapped into focus. The sense of live performance was palpable, especially noticeable on vocals, where notes came out of a background that suddenly seemed blacker than black. It was as if the contrast had been turned up on a bland TV picture, everything was in sharper relief, and the overall effect was mesmerising. I turned to my wife who fortunately smiled (subtle approbation of my desire to spend £4000 immediately) - she had had the same experience as me. To my ears the order of improvement wrought by the Verona is of the same magnitude as as the introduction of the Verdi into my system. Anyone with a dCS system MUST hear it. A Verona will be taking its place in my system shortly, and then I will do a more in-depth review in the context of my own system.

Product Weakness: None
Product Strengths: Presence, imaging, detail

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Spectral Pre/Power, Krell FPB700
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Spectral
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	dCS/Accuphase
Speakers:	Verity Parsifal
Cables/Interconnects:	Cardas
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz/Classical
Time Period/Length of Audition:	2 hours
Type of Audition/Review:	Dealer Demo

Product Weakness:	None
Product Strengths:	Presence, imaging, detail