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dCS Puccini Clock

I had yesterday the oportunity to hear for first time the Puccini clock.

I must admit that I was a little sceptical. The system consisted of:

Howland preamp HP-200 SE
Howland amp RADIA SE
Avalon Indra
Transparent power cleaner / station ?
I can't tell which cables

Well the effect is quite amazing and you can easily recognize it in a blind hearing. If I have to describe it I would say, you become aware of the hall / the space in which the recording has been done. The difference is very noticeable when you switch the clock off, suddenly the music sounds dryer, shorter and the space all around the whole music desapears.

I heard:
Luiz Bonfa plays and sing Bossa Nova (Verve)
Bruckner 4th by Jaap van Zweden (bad SACD & interpretation)
Bruckner 4th by Günter Wand (the last recording)
Ports of Call by Eiji Oue (Ref. Rec. bravo Prof. Johnson you are a great sound engeneer!)

One of these days I will take it home and have a test on my system ... and will make some blind hearing with my wife ;-)

I will report then about the experience.
clavil
elberoth2's avatar
elberoth2
1,223 posts
 
A friend of mine, who owns the old stack (Verdi LaScala, Verona Clock, Elgar Plus) has auditioned Puccini in his system (Nagra PL-P + VPA; Avis Acutus/SME V/ZYX) for the period of 2 weeks.

He came to the conclusion that his old stack betters Puccini (sans U-clock) in the following areas:

- resolution,
- HF air,
- bass definition,
- dynamics,
- soundstaging.

Acording to his words, dCS Puccini was better at portrayig midrange, had more texture and was more fluid sounding.

Overall he prefered his old stack, but it all depends on personal preferences.

I should have the Puccini with the U-Clock on loan in the next two weeks.
jb0194
476 posts
 
I would suggest using a good quality clock cable for the Puccini. The dCS technical staff recommended such to me. My experience validates this:

I use the Esoteric P-70 transport which has two different word sync terminals. "Mode 2" has a PLL filter cutoff frequency about ten times that of the other terminal and, per the users manual, "almost completely eliminates jitter". The manual, however, notes lock status takes much longer to achieve with "Mode 2" and essentially says to use the other more "forgiving" terminal. I tried both the generic dCS-supplied and a Stealth BNC digital cable - only the Stealth Varidig Sextet allows a reliable lock with "Mode 2", and the lock occurs with a second or two every time.

Just my 2 cents
arthursmuck
447 posts
 
Thanks Elberoth2, I'd be interested in your impressions in relation to the MBL 1531 which I know you had for some time and that I would be moving from. I am interested in whatever I get having digital in, not so much SACD. I expect the Puccini with or without U-clock to be an overall improvement over the MBL, I'm specifically curious as to how it is different/better. I plan to audition Puccini and a couple others at CES and then determine how to get my favorites to Dallas for a demo in my system. I had the Playback Designs here already and it is on my short list. Any added thoughts are always helpful.
microstrip
180 posts
 
Elberoth2, I am very curious about your opinions concerning the Puccini versus the ARC CD7. I have tried several CD players, but always returned to the CD7. Although it is not as detailed as some of the competition, it is airier and handles large orchestras in a way no other player did in my system. Also its fast transients complement very well the Sound Lab A1PX.
clavil OP
254 posts
 
Arthursmuck,

a curiosity, your loudspeakers look like the Focus Line Source LS9 ... could you tell me more about them.

thanks
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