dCS Varése: First Listen, the email response!

Editor’s Note: Our contributor, Paul Soor, was fortunate enough to have an exclusive first listen to the dCS Varèse system at the dCS factory in early June. He was under a Non-Disclosure Agreement which meant he couldn’t even discuss that he’d seen the product until the press release dropped earlier this week. He asked me if he could write his findings, but instead, we decided the unedited ‘Thank You’ email he sent describes those early listening experiences.

First of all, thank you. I feel privileged and honoured to be the first to see and experience the mind-blowing Varèse. It was a wonderful presentation. I had no idea of the magnitude and significance of what I was going to see, understand, and experience.

The Music

The Vivaldi was always the reference. No one could have any complaints about its musical reproduction. But it was immediately clear that Varèse has redefined “reference” and taken musical reproduction close to real musical performances that I had never dared to imagine, because that would be crazy, yes? Well, the answer is clearly no! What I heard was a step change.

What struck me was timing information that completely changed a good, but not outstanding musical performance, into one that was engaging, involving, and demanded my full attention. In some magical way, the Varèse presented micro-timing information that was, previously unknown to me, multilayered with colour and texture dramatically elevating my emotional response to the music. Until today I did not know that level of timing information towards a new level of communication existed. I’ve certainly never written that before!

That performance is no mean feat. It just goes to show there are so many technical barriers that inhibit musical communication, yet somehow you and your team have identified those and, with great success, eliminated them. You have achieved your goal of letting the music speak for itself. Not only have you achieved your goal you have knocked it out of the park.

The Engineering

This is another step change. I must also congratulate you on the technical achievement and the engineering. It is the definition of innovation. I can see that you’ve truly taken an open minded and creative approach to every aspect of the design towards the goal of the technology not getting in the way of the music. I mentioned that making something simple is complicated and I can see you’ve done that. For example, the new connector protocol I think is fabulous engineering that you would only really see in high-end defense, aerospace, and communications. And in common with those environments, those solutions require the best talent, a lot of time, and millions of pounds of investment. Again, it is super clear that’s what has resulted in the success of the Varèse.

The mono DAC’s using a balanced architecture in the phase domain to cancel errors is wonderfully elegant and applied with great ingenuity. I wonder (do let me know) if the amazing musical timing and intelligibility have something to do with that.

I’m still digesting and giddy about what I saw and experienced, so, perhaps a little selfishly, I’d love to spend more time with the Varèse.

The Varèse is a true step change in high-end audio. The sort of thing that only happens once in a generation. I think your challenge is how to get across the significance of the Varèse to the world.

I’ve been involved in technology development and delivery. I know it takes an enormous amount of blood sweat and tears. From my perspective, it’s now time for you and your team to breathe and celebrate a bright future at the forefront of high-end audio for many years. Huge congratulations.

We look forward to testing the dCS Varèse – Ed.

Manufacturer:

dCS

https://dcsaudio.com

UK Distributor:

Absolute Sounds

www.absolutesounds.com

+44 (0)208 971 3909

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