DCS Bartok APEX or LINA and master clock

I know this is off topic but I can’t help but notice the large quantities of Bartok dacs that have been on the used market this year. Seems like a large migration away from it. Wondering if the cost of the Apex upgrade vs the Lina is driving this or have people just grown tired and are moving on?

@designsfx we can only speculate, I suspect there’s something off putting about a company coming out with an upgrade option that expensive. Same thing happened with totaldac, saw an unusual number of those on the used market, when their latest upgrades were announced (bearing in mind it’s a boutique within a boutique in terms of size of customer base)…a “night/day” upgrade makes you think, was what I had before really not all that good in the first place? Let me try something else.

Grateful that my DAC hasn’t had any upgrades for 6 yrs, though if they did announce one, I couldn’t help but me curious. A dealer once told me digital is easy these days, it’s the analog output stage that really separates brands…get something with a killer output and you’ll quickly lose any interest you may once have had keeping up with the Joneses

I haven’t heard it personally but my dCS dealer told me that Apex upgrade was substantial and worth pursuing. I honestly don’t care for dCS as a brand, firstly its house sound and their policies for 2nd hand customers (upgrades and warranty).

I feel very fortunate to invest in a DAC that doesn’t do frequent upgrades and provides full support to all end users. 3 plus years, I haven’t felt the desire to upgrade to anything else out there.

@metaldetektor 

Rationalize much? So dacs for sale give you validation in the choice of dac you made...Thats what that statement says to me about TotalDAC since they have a robust upgrade program where one can send them in and have them upgraded to the latest and greatest..I am sure there was some other dac of the month everyone was herding to at the time you saw these "unusual" (lol) amount of TotalDacs for sale..

I had the Bartok(non-APEX) and Rossini APEX in my system for an audition. The Bartok lacked detail and my wife kept saying something was missing. The Rossini APEX sounds unnaturally bright, but has the best soundstage that I've ever heard in my system.