dCS Bartok DAC - Interesting Video Review

melm,

"Given what’s available in the marketplace can a DAC, even with a built in streamer, be worth that kind of money?" To some Yes, because "value" is determined by the individual

@ricred1

Agreed!

I admire and appreciate open honesty of Goldensound just reporting his conclusions rather then cowering in fear of offending someone. Surely others can disagree with him and have opposing results. Just report truthfully what you hear.

I don’t agree that USB is inherently superior to SPDIF. This will depend on the specific components and cables in use.

Charles

Sounds like a matter of taste and maybe synergy.  It also looks like he's using a desktop setup(?) which is not exactly the best way to let the product shine.  He touched upon it but one of the things I love about dCS DACs is the ability to unravel and present complex, large scale music in a very natural way with great depth and nuance.  

It might be of interest to some that a thread very much like this one was pulled by Steve Hoffman over at his forum.  When I say like this one, the OP posted the negative video review and it was followed by about 16 posts.  Some of the posts favored the review; some were partial to the quality of the DAC.

Given what happened to the reviews at Stereophile, IMO it does raise again the issue of manufacturers' influence over editorial content and user commentary.

@melm good point: that’s why these fora are useful and honest contributions much appreciated

It was nice seeing a review that was obviously totally honest. I'm sure it's a great DAC and I would love to have one, but I like to hear differing opinions, too...