DCS ROSSINI V2.0 FIRMWARE UPGRADE

British digital-audio specialist dCS has been on a roll.³ Since the September 2015 introduction of the Rossini DAC ($23,999), the single-box Rossini Player ($28,499) and the Rossini Clock ($7499),⁴ they’ve released a number of new products and software/firmware updates. In January 2016 came software updates that established dCS DACs and Players as Roon endpoints. Next came improved (v1.05) firmware for the Rossini DAC and Player, as well as MQA firmware updates, followed by the October 2018 introduction of the Rossini upsampling SACD Transport ($23,500—see John Atkinson’s review in the May 2019 Stereophile). Then, in January 2019, dCS released their Rossini v2.0 software, which applies to both the Rossini DAC and the Rossini Player, and which is offered free to Rossini owners.

So that I could evaluate the changes, if any, brought about by the arrival of v2.0, dCS loaned me two Rossini DACs, loaded with software v1.10 and v2.0. I also had on hand a number of other dCS products: a dCS Vivaldi DAC v2.11