dCS Rossini CD/SACD Transport

Designed and manufactured at their Cambridge head quarters in in the United Kingdom, dCS has been at the forefront of digital audio development for over a quarter of a century. Upsampling, Oversampling, Clocking, PCM-to-DSD conversion are all areas in which the company has taken a revolutionary path. dCS  are deeply proud of the extraordinary performance of both their legacy and current systems, but they never stop measuring, refining and improving.

The dCS Rossini CD/SACD Transport uses the very latest dCS Digital Processing Platform, originally developed for the flagship Vivaldi series. Its single FPGA brings improved signal processing and superior flexibility, effectively making it future-proof.

The Rossini Transport upsamples CD data to DSD, DSD/128 or DXD (24-bit 352.8 kS/s) and transmits the data over the Dual AES/EBU interface. SACDs are played in their native DSD format, again over the Dual AES/EBU interface. Native CD data is available from 3 PCM outputs (1x AES3 and 2x SPDIF), as is down-sampled SACD data.

The Rossini CD/SACD Transport mechanism features a 2mm steel frame, cast aluminium disc tray and vibration dampening materials delivering excellent performance in rigidity, vibration resistance and resonant-free operation. Electronics have been optimised to ensure extremely low-noise disc reading and the heavily damped mechanics ensure minimum unnecessary servo operation and current draw.

Rossini Transport can be controlled via the custom Rossini control app, allowing listeners to manage their music playback from any source in an elegantly simple way – accessing CD or SACD playback, digital and UPnP sources all from one control point. The Rossini app also features an intuitive install and configuration wizard for ease of set-up.

Rossini Transport is intended to be used with the matching Rossini DAC or with any suitable industry standard DAC. The unit may be run in Master mode or by using the DAC as the system clock. Performance will be enhanced further by adding the Rossini Clock to the system. The Rossini range supports the simple yet highly effective dCS ‘auto clocking’ architecture as used in Vivaldi, which minimises jitter and improves sound quality significantly.

Designed and made in Great Britain to the highest standards, Rossini’s elegant chassis uses aerospace-grade machined aluminium with internal acoustic damping panels to reduce sound-degrading mechanical vibration and magnetic effects. Multi-stage power regulation is employed, with the mains transformer isolated from the analogue, digital and clock circuitry.

As with all dCS disc Transports, Rossini’s firmware can be easily updated via CD. This lets dCS add new features and improve the performance of Rossini over its lifetime.

When listening to digital music through a Rossini system, listeners are immediately struck by its natural musicality and faithfulness to the original recording. It delivers a powerful and visceral sound yet is highly transparent too, making for an immersive and realistic listening experience.

Specifications.

• Type

  Upsampling CD/SACD Transport.

• Colour

  Silver or Black.

• Mechanism

  Dual laser CD/SACD mechanism.

• Dimensions

  444mm (17.5”) long x 435mm (17.2”) deep x 178mm (7.0”) high. Allow extra depth for cable connectors. Allow space for air flow around the unit.

• Weight

  20.6kg (45.3lbs).

• Digital Outputs

  Dual AES interface on 2x 3-pin male XLR connectors (AES1+2). While an SACD is playing, the interface outputs encrypted DSD data. While a CD is playing, the Settings > Upsample Mode menu page sets the interface to output either encrypted DSD data (1 bit at 2.822MS/s) or DXD data (24 bits at 352.8kS/s) or DSDx2 data (1 bit at 5.644MS/s). AES interface on 3-pin male XLR connector (AES3), outputs 16/44.1 data, whether a CD or SACD is playing. 2x SPDIF on 1x RCA Phono and 1x BNC connectors. Each outputs 16/44.1 data, whether a CD or SACD is playing.

• Wordclock I/Oworldclock Io

  Word Clock Output on 1x BNC connector. With the transport in Master mode, a TTL-compatible 44.1kHz word clock derived from the internal crystal oscillator is available on this output. Word Clock Input on 1x BNC connector, accepts standard word clock at 44.1, 88.2 or 176.4kHz. Sensitive to TTL levels. Lock range is +/-300ppm.

• Clock Accuracy

  The calibration accuracy when shipped is +/-10ppm, (not temperature compensated).

• Software Updates

  Updates are loaded directly from CD-R.

• Local Control

  dCS Premium Remote handset (not supplied with Rossini Transport as standard. Via the Rossini app, RS232 app or a third party device.

• Power Supply

  Factory set to either 100, 115/120, 220 or 230/240V AC, 50/60Hz.

• Power Consumption

  16W typical / 50W maximum. Consumes less than 0.5W when powered down from the front panel