Do it ! There is a substantial difference between the two (CD-7 and CD-8). |
Blackstonejd - how does the U-Clock compare to Squeezebox ? |
I do not agree with your theory.
If dCS was "affraid" of their CD bussines, why would they offer the optional upsampling from external digital inputs feature at the first place ?
The Scarlatti upsampler on the other hand, looks to me to be an afterthought. Remember, that the Scarlatti range was first introduced back in 2005, long before PC-Audio took off, so introducing the external upsampler was the only way to offer the benefits of upsampling to the PC-Audio users. |
I agree about Puccini beeing an outstanding player. Prolly the best single box CDP available right now. I have had it in my system on loan for 2 weeks (without the clock).
A friend of mine, who owns Puccini, also reported excellent resoults with a Puccini Clock, so his expirience mirrors yours. |
A friend of mine, who owns the old stack (Verdi LaScala, Verona Clock, Elgar Plus) has auditioned Puccini in his system (Nagra PL-P + VPA; Avis Acutus/SME V/ZYX) for the period of 2 weeks.
He came to the conclusion that his old stack betters Puccini (sans U-clock) in the following areas:
- resolution,
- HF air,
- bass definition,
- dynamics,
- soundstaging.
Acording to his words, dCS Puccini was better at portrayig midrange, had more texture and was more fluid sounding.
Overall he prefered his old stack, but it all depends on personal preferences.
I should have the Puccini with the U-Clock on loan in the next two weeks. |
Arthursmuck,
Definately. ARC CD-7 was already an improvement over the MBL 1531, and Puccini is even better. Another player worth considering with the digital in is Accuphase DP-700 - it is smoother, not as detailed, but overall it is a very good CDP.
Microstrip,
I already had Puccini in my system for a week or so, now I'm gonna have it again, this time with the U-Clock.
Compared to the ARC, Puccini has much better resolution, more air and better HF extension, the harmonic structere of music is better presented, image specify is better (CD-7 is a bit out of focus in comparision), bass is better defined, miscrodynamics and transcient speed are much improved and overall - it just sounds more like live music.
I personally hated the previous dCS offerings - the 8Pi integrated was the worst of them and absolute disaster, sounding very bright and mechanical, but Puccini is a real gem. |
The CD-7 was only replaced after 4 years - that is an awful lot of time for a CD player. The CD-8 is much better and so is the Puccini. No contest.
FYI - the software update for the Puccini has nothing to do with sound quality. |
I have been playing with the U-Clock for the past week, but unfortunately, did not hear the difference other ppl reported. The sound may be a bit more smooth and palpable, but differences are very small at best. To give you a proper perspective - I got a much bigger efect from swapping power cords.
I tested the dCS U-Clock as supplied by my dealer - with $2000 Shunyata Anaconda Helix VX PS and Stereovox VX2 BNC-BNC digital cable.
So if the U-Clock was to be judged purely as a clock, its value for money at +$6000 with the supplied cabling has to be regarded as poor. However, the U-Clock has an additional feature - USB->S/PDIF (on RCA) converter, which IMO is exceptional.
It allows to connect a computer through USB out to the Puccini (although due to a certain "soon to be fixed" bug in Puccini software, when in external source mode, Puccini cannot sync to the U-Clock - which, ironicly, is when it needs the external colck THE MOST).
More on the quality of PC-Audio through the U-Clock later. So stay tuned. |
You can use whatever clock you want, as long it supports 44.1k rate. You can get a Puccini U-Clock, the older dCS Verona, one of the Esoteric offerings or even one of the studio clocks available, like the Apogee BigBen (~$1000 from ebay).
Effectivnes of using external clocks with single box CD players has always been questionable. I remember coments posted by another user on this forum a while back - he connected uber-expensive Esoteric Rubidium (Rb) clock to his Esoteric X-1 single box unit and also did not notice much of a difference. |
Clavil - I do not belive different digital cable would make much of a difference. The price I gave you does include $2000 Shunyata Anaconda Helix VX power cord.
I belive the Puccini U-Clock itself is around $4000. I'm not from the US anyway, so this is just rough estimate. |
Lula,
CD-8 and dCS offer very different perspective. Puccini is more transparent of the two, is more forward and has loads of details.
CD-8 is much warmer sounding, with lots of texture and much better rendering of soundstage depth.
When I first heard the Puccini, I was ready to proclaim that it is much better than CD-8. But after some 4+ weeks, I'm not sure anymore, I find myself listening to the CD-8 more and more, 'cos it seems to be more musical.
The rest of my system is Dartzeel pre / Dartzeel pwr / Wilson Sophia 2 speakers. |
I just got this info from dCS:
"March 24th will see the release of v1.10 software update for Puccini Player that provides a number of enhancements to Puccini Player. All dCS distributors will be sent copies of this update disc for the Puccini users in their country. I can also mail you a copy if you would like?
Features provided in this update include:
- Lock time for digital inputs is substantially improved
- A menu allows the user to lock to wordclock on per-input basis for digital inputs
- It is now possible to turn off the LEDs when the display is set to Off
- Upsampling from digital inputs is now possible, dependent on the user buying a unit-specific license from our website
All Puccini users should be encouraged to install this update.
For users who want to purchase the upsampling feature from dCS, this update is a pre-requisite and must be installed before upsampling on the digital inputs can be enabled. We recommend that if users want to hear the differences that upsampling makes then they play a CD in CD mode with upsampling disabled. This can be done in the menu section by setting the CD upsampling page to PCM.
Hope this helps
David J M Steven" |
This is only for the external inputs. |
Nothing wrong with having to pay for extra features that expand units functionality, IMO.
If they ask you to pay for software update that fixes bugs etc - that would be another story. |
Blackstonejd,
I have to agree with you. I have wrongly thought, that the new "upsampling from digital inputs feature" requires additional hardware updates.
Since it is only a case of software update, I think this is unfair. |
Elgar,
A friend of mine, Elgar Plus/Verdi LaScala/Verona owner, told me that the Puccini is a sideways move.
Since you seem to lack the Verona clock, getting the U-Clock makes a lot of sense - it will serve double duty as your system clock (which will brang a substantial improvement by itself) and USB receiver. |
Elgar,
Upgrading is a tricky route - pls remember that the final outcome is always unknown, and it is always very difficoult (if possible at all) to recover the money spent on upgrades. |
Siltech also offers Firewire cable. |
