The DCS and the Brisciti have a similar sound which is very clean with low levels of coloration and good detail, both of these dacs are not particularly warm sounding.
The Aqua Hifi Dacs are much more liquid sounding with a much warmer fuller midrange, partcularly the Lavoice and the La Scala which both use tubes.
In terms of upgradablity the Aqua products are the most up-gradable products on the market. The La Scala can be upgraded from the original to a mk II to a MK II XHD if so desired.
DCS has had a poor track record with real upgrades to a platform, they tend to replace an entire platform with a brand new one years later.
Briscati has had a power supply upgrade board swap, however, the company hasn't offered any upgrades to the main circuit boards, the design is very modular however. The chip is an older Analog Devices converter so in terms of processing the lastest higher resolution formats don't know what the Briscati can handle.
If you look inside a La Scala you will see 8 individual circuit boards everything is changeable: the power supply, the analog board, the digital input board, the digital processing board, the front panel and there are a few additional boards, are all removable.
With the Lascala XHD you also have a full FPGA board for software and firmware changes.
The Aqua sound is very warm and full bodied and tend to favor the tube warmth and dynamics over hyper detail. A lovely analog presentation.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Aqua Hifi dealers
The Aqua Hifi Dacs are much more liquid sounding with a much warmer fuller midrange, partcularly the Lavoice and the La Scala which both use tubes.
In terms of upgradablity the Aqua products are the most up-gradable products on the market. The La Scala can be upgraded from the original to a mk II to a MK II XHD if so desired.
DCS has had a poor track record with real upgrades to a platform, they tend to replace an entire platform with a brand new one years later.
Briscati has had a power supply upgrade board swap, however, the company hasn't offered any upgrades to the main circuit boards, the design is very modular however. The chip is an older Analog Devices converter so in terms of processing the lastest higher resolution formats don't know what the Briscati can handle.
If you look inside a La Scala you will see 8 individual circuit boards everything is changeable: the power supply, the analog board, the digital input board, the digital processing board, the front panel and there are a few additional boards, are all removable.
With the Lascala XHD you also have a full FPGA board for software and firmware changes.
The Aqua sound is very warm and full bodied and tend to favor the tube warmth and dynamics over hyper detail. A lovely analog presentation.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Aqua Hifi dealers