The new dCS Varese DAC...it is so good that all others are now relegated to history??

I would never buy a product from a company that did that. dCS or MSB? Hmmm. They made it easy for me. 

Are you aware of the history when it comes to MSB? Maybe not a great example in this context.

Anyone outraged by the review of the DCS Varese should read the review of the $11,100 MBL Cadenza in the December 2024 TAS.  There are many fine digital players at many different price levels.  

Anything that cost $250,000 and up from there better damn well move one to tears

I briefly heard the Varese. I didn’t have time for an extended audition unfortunately. But I wasn’t in the store specifically for that purpose either. So, please take my observations with a large grain of salt - they’re in no way conclusive - even to me. 

I found the instrument separation to be better than I’ve heard in any other digital front end by a wide margin. Indeed - it was to the point it actually didn’t seem natural, but disorienting. It pulled apart the music such that I felt like I was back in the studio listening to the separate tracks before mastering the final mix. Remarkable? Yes. Natural? Unsure. 

Detail was likewise exceptional. And the system sounded a bit brighter than I prefer, like all DCS systems have sounded to me. They were using the same speakers I own, but D’Agostino relentless amps (IIRC) and Transparent Opus cables (again - IIRC), gear with which I’m not familiar.

My takeaway was several fold. A huge five box stack to do the job? As joked by @jeffreyw - we’re moving to the realm of ridiculous in how many boxes can be sold. Yes, they achieved an astonishing result, but wow. 

Was it better than my DAC? Yes. And arguably no.  (Though I would likely struggle to find others to support that conclusion). The DAC(s) I own are very good in their own right and offer me nearly as much as I heard with the Varese. Nearly, but with a more natural (to my ears) presentation.

The Varese is out of my budget so I’m not an unbiased view here. But I personally wouldn’t purchase the system even were it in budget. Why?

There’s actually a fair amount of development occurring with Taiko’s new Olympus server and an analogue card (really a DAC plug in module) which takes an entirely different data path/approach between the server and conversion. Early reports suggest this is where state of the art is going. If I understand correctly (and that’s a BIG if), there are inherent advantages to their approach that surprised even the Taiko team.

I’ve yet to hear it and I’m in no rush. But it’s possible that they’re achieving even better results than WADAX and DCS, in a compact system, for less than $100k. Still fantastically expensive, but a fraction the cost of the others without being so incredibly invasive to living space.

For the sake of introduction.  You will want to familiarize yourself with a new product from Master Fidelity, the NADAC D and NADAC C.  A sonic rethinking of digital audio.  https://www.master-fidelity.com/