New dCS Varese Components Launching August 7, 2024

5 minutes ago, semente said:

I have to try it hard not to comment on the absurdity of these prices. There is a question of morality that is best left unsaid.

Last week I learned that the berth for a large yacht in Ibiza can cost €5k/day...

I present you the Millers, from today's New York Times.

Quote

...they rented a 4,382-square-foot, five-bedroom apartment on the corner of Park Avenue and East 71st Street, according to court records — keeping up appearances for $47,000 per month. They decorated with rented furniture for which they paid $180,000 for one year, according to a lawsuit filed this spring, and $12,000 per month after the first year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/nyregion/brandon-miller-suicide-debt.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BU4.BtGJ.mEqvZltW0lHa&smid=url-share

15 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

I present you the Millers, from today's New York Times.

 

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/nyregion/brandon-miller-suicide-debt.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BU4.BtGJ.mEqvZltW0lHa&smid=url-share

 

 

Intracranial void should be taken more seriously by the WHO ...

1 hour ago, semente said:

Last week I learned that the berth for a large yacht in Ibiza can cost €5k/day...

This, my friend, seems to be an example for the purest form of trickle-down-economics facon Truss.

Give them the freedom to pay for such a berth and the Spanish harbor master may gain the freedom to subsidize the little berth for the poor 30-feet boat people asking for a safe place.

Gosh, we're not in Edinburgh 😜

I vaguely remembered some person ordered one-off, money-is-no-object DAC to famous DAC designer about 10 years ago and it costs about 200K

10 minutes ago, yamamoto2002 said:

I vaguely remembered some person ordered one-off, money-is-no-object DAC to famous DAC designer about 10 years ago and it costs about 200K

 

A one-off car is $13,000,000. Sounds like that guy got a deal on the DAC 🙂

https://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/en_US/bespoke/coachbuild/coachbuild-sweptail.html

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

A one-off car is $13,000,000. Sounds like that guy got a deal on the DAC 🙂

 

https://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/en_US/bespoke/coachbuild/coachbuild-sweptail.html

I think you can spend roughly similarly on a Koenigsegg and in my opinion it is much more interesting from technical perspective. 😉

8 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Does this do Dolby Atmos? 11.2 channels worth of mono DACs would make it pretty expensive and tall stack!

 

🤯

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

A one-off car is $13,000,000. Sounds like that guy got a deal on the DAC 🙂

 

https://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/en_US/bespoke/coachbuild/coachbuild-sweptail.html

Which one off car would that be?

This might be 13 million if Porsche hadn't already done a lot of the engineering and development.

https://www.grahamrahalperformance.com/Pre-owned-Inventory-1990-Porsche-Car-911-Singer-DLS-grahamrahalperformance-15171563?ref=list

1 minute ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

Which one off car would that be?

 

The Sweptail. Amazingly beautiful. 
 

5 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

The Sweptail. Amazingly beautiful. 
 

 

Thanks again Chris, you just made that Porsche affordable. be back in a few, I need to call the bank...

;-)

edit: I wonder where in the Middle East that car is going.

search modern coachbuilds to find more expensive cars. IMO most of them are fail but there are several beautiful bespoke cars

1 hour ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

Thanks again Chris, you just made that Porsche affordable. be back in a few, I need to call the bank...

 

;-)

 

edit: I wonder where in the Middle East that car is going.

The Sweptail is owned by Hong Kong-based customer Sam Li, son of billionaire real estate mogul Samuel Tak Lee.^[6]

Giles Taylor, former director of design at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars described the vehicle as "the automotive equivalent of Haute couture".^[7]

In 2019, it was overtaken as the most expensive new car by the Bugatti La Voiture Noire which sold for US$18.7 million.^[8]

52 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

 

The Sweptail is owned by Hong Kong-based customer Sam Li, son of billionaire real estate mogul Samuel Tak Lee.^[6]

Giles Taylor, former director of design at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars described the vehicle as "the automotive equivalent of Haute couture".^[7]

In 2019, it was overtaken as the most expensive new car by the Bugatti La Voiture Noire which sold for US$18.7 million.^[8]

 

Thanks Chris. I should have known it could be going to Hong Kong as that seems to be where these cars are going these days. To return this to music related, Eric Clapton had a one off Ferrari made and I personally find it stunning. Much better looking than the 458 it was based on.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/official-clapton’s-one-ferrari

I find the watch market to be similar to the high end audio market.

People who like watches buy them for the looks, for the design/engineering, and for the craftsmanship. As jewelry. And for the prestige. 

We all know even more accurate time keeping can be had for a few dollars - that's not the point.

And even adding in useful/practical features like sapphire crystal, water resistance, and titanium build (light) - you can get all that for, say, $300. 

Just like we can probably get an audio system that we like and exceeds our ability to hear the differences from more expensive stuff for a lot less than many of us think. 

All the rest is gravy, personal preference, design needs, etc. 

33 minutes ago, firedog said:

I find the watch market to be similar to the high end audio market.

People who like watches buy them for the looks, for the design/engineering, and for the craftsmanship. As jewelry. And for the prestige. 

We all know even more accurate time keeping can be had for a few dollars - that's not the point.

And even adding in useful/practical features like sapphire crystal, water resistance, and titanium build (light) - you can get all that for, say, $300. 

 

Just like we can probably get an audio system that we like and exceeds our ability to hear the differences from more expensive stuff for a lot less than many of us think. 

All the rest is gravy, personal preference, design needs, etc. 

dCS make a big deal of R&D. Very little of that will be development of stack fascias. Most of it is electronics R&D ostensibly for SQ. It follows that the Varese acid test is its SQ advantage over the previous flagship. The value for money ratio is simply SQ delta/net spend (= cost of Varese less any offset from sale of "old" stack). Now we are firmly in the territory of diminishing returns arguments. Unless of course the whole SQ thing has become a red herring fallacy. Whilst SQ progress will be earnest for dCS, the R&D-hinged marketing conspiracy between dCS and its customers may implicate customers as deluded: they are getting something other than SQ - but don't even know it. This is what I suspect - a qualitative shift in buying motives in a sector of audiophilia. In audiophilia we have seen high end - but unlike watches we do not hear people confess, "Yeah it sounds like sh*t [keeps time no better than a 5$ street market watch], but I paid royally for it so it looks good in my home [matches my business suit] or makes me feel like [James Bond/] George Martin." I want to know whether Varese sounds "different" and by how much. Some people who hear Varese will gush over it - but how convincingly? Chris will review Varese later this year. Will he be able to discuss SQ delta over the previous flagship. Will he present cogent SQ observations - or wave his hands and say it sounds marvellous and good luck to the already lucky few who can and want to buy it.

36 minutes ago, firedog said:

Just like we can probably get an audio system that we like and exceeds our ability to hear the differences from more expensive stuff for a lot less than many of us think. 

All the rest is gravy, personal preference, design needs, etc. 

Its quite possible that the average non audiophile might think that principle applies to the majority of systems owned by audiophiles including here on AS.

20 minutes ago, Iving said:

This is what I suspect - a qualitative shift in buying motives in a sector of audiophilia. In audiophilia we have seen high end - but unlike watches we do not hear people confess, "Yeah it sounds like sh*t, but I paid royally for it so it looks good in my home or makes me feel like (James Bond/)George Martin."

I know one or two rich people that bought mainly on looks but they are not audiophiles, and that's okay too.

 You may be mixing with very different folks but I don't know any audiophile that doesn't consider sound quality the major attraction. Sure, other factors exist, why shouldn't they.

The argument that audiophiles are being audiophooled on SQ is an old and tiresome one

31 minutes ago, Iving said:

Chris will review Varese later this year. Will he be able to discuss SQ delta over the previous flagship. Will he present cogent SQ observations - or wave his hands and say it sounds marvellous and good luck to the already lucky few who can and want to buy it.

Do you  think he won't be able to produce cogent SQ observations?

1 hour ago, firedog said:

Ladder needed to get to the top of the stack. 

Ladder DACS have them built in !😄

25 minutes ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

The argument that audiophiles are being audiophooled on SQ is an old and tiresome one

What's hackneyed about audiophools is the mismatch between their Subjective self-reports and the available or probable empirical data. We are all subject to biases, and brain is a fascinating topic for further contemplation and research - which means it's far from a tiresome topic. Maybe it's actually the one most deserving of our consideration for the future. I'm not talking about that here. I'm talking about congruent and ulterior motives in buying sectors. Whether and how people justify audiophile purchases on SQ grounds. Whether that is changing qualitatively.

26 minutes ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

You may be mixing with very different folks

No doubt about it

38 minutes ago, Iving said:

What's hackneyed about audiophools is the mismatch between their Subjective self-reports and the available or probable empirical data

What empirical data would that be, apart from hackneyed (and tiresome) claims about audiophools?

40 minutes ago, Iving said:

We are all subject to biases, and brain is a fascinating topic for further contemplation and research

100% agree. happy to see that research about "audiophools" and their "mismatch between their Subjective self-reports and the available or probable empirical data"

41 minutes ago, Iving said:

I'm talking about congruent and ulterior motives in buying sectors. Whether and how people justify audiophile purchases on SQ grounds. Whether that is changing qualitatively.

Yep, bring on that research.