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
The CD-7 was only replaced after 4 years - that is an awful lot of time for a CD player. The CD-8 is much better and so is the Puccini. No contest.

FYI - the software update for the Puccini has nothing to do with sound quality.
Elberoth,
Which do you prefer...the CD-8 or Puccini? My dealer has both and pre-
fers the CD-8. I haven't heard both side by side.
Jonathan Valin from TAS wanted to compare both players. I don't know if he has already done it
It is possible there is some licensing related explanation for this upsampling firmware thing, but I'm not sure what that is exactly. I suppose it is possible there are intellectual property issues at work here beyond dCS desire to simply charge more for the functionality. If that is the case it would have to be evaluated in that light.