EQUIPMENT REVIEWdCS Vivaldi One APEX
digital player
Chris ThomasRare though they may be, there aresome audio systems that can take you
somewhere else. They go to that place
where you can look deep into the music
and lose yourself. More importantly,
they talk to you, and they ask questionsof you. But the really special ones also
add the indefinable to the experience. They invite you to
consider your reactions to what you are hearing. Emotional
connection through pure expression is not within the gift of
all musicians, nor are they part of the capabilities of everysystem. Truly great equipment simply must do more thanplay the music. It needs to allow the performance to expand
beyond the ordinary and into that area where the musicians,

Reproduced from hi-fi+ Issue 215

the music and the listener connect at an altogether
different level.
Recently I reviewed the startling new APEX hardware
upgrade from dCS. It features the latest thinking fromthe company’s digital engineers on the infamous Ring
DAC plus a host of other improvements that have beensynthesised into a single major board change. It can be
retrofitted to several of the company’s products. From myearly listening it became clear that this was going to beboth very important for dCS and musically memorable forme. It’s hard to think of any upgrade I have heard throughmy years of audio that addressed the music in as focussed
and profound way as the APEX does. In short, it’s agame-changer.

hifiplus.com

EQUIPMENT REVIEWdCS Vivaldi One APEXThis all-in-one hunk of dCS technology is a CD/SACD
transport, DAC and network player in one box.

Going further
But it went further than that and made me question, notfor the first time, what was the nature and true meaningof this upgrade. I was lucky enough to have a Vivaldi One
as my messenger. This all-in-one hunk of dCS technology
is a CD/SACD transport, DAC and network player in onebox. As the name would suggest it is based on the Vivaldi
system which, in its ultimate form, is dCS’s four-box
statement piece.
My time with the Vivaldi One would include a few months
before and after the hardware upgrade. That review tells
you what an impact the APEX had on me but, as it sadly
left the house I was pretty much consumed with theexperiences of that machine and it lingered on in my mind.
Nothing sounded quite the same. Then things looked up
and I was offered the opportunity to review the Vivaldi OneAPEX, probably because I had driven the right people crazyby going on about it all the time.
While the Vivaldi One isn’t exactly the ultimate four-box
Vivaldi system in a single chassis, that is certainly part ofthe concept behind it but, from what I am told, its design
required some critically out-of-the-box thinking by theirdesigners. Where the Vivaldi transport, DAC, Clock andUpsampler made up the system, the Vivaldi One would
utilise the same Esoteric VMK3 VRDS-Neo CD/SACD
transport which is a gloriously over the top sculptural pieceof heavyweight mechanical/digital engineering. The Vivaldi
One has multi-stage DXD upsampling with optional DSD/64
or DSD/128 plus multi-filters and DAC maps that give themachine extremely usable versatility and the user, many
configurable options. This is all housed in a case with abeautifully sculptured fascia just 24mm taller and 15mm lessdeep than the Vivaldi transport. A word about that case too.
The chassis is formed from an aerospace-grade aluminium
and you won’t see any bolts or screws on its top or sides.
This is pretty rare and it wasn’t until I saw one being
disassembled for upgrade that I understood the lengths thatdCS have gone to achieve this. It is a seldom mentioned
aspect of the design ethos of the company.

Formidable!
As a stand-alone digital hub/Network player this proved to
be a formidable machine. It supports all lossless codecs,
including MQA and all major music management platforms
plus Apple AirPlay, Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect. As
a control app I like dCS Mosaic which is the company’sown platform. From within it you can access all multi filter

Reproduced from hi-fi+ Issue 215

settings, the output level and type of Upsampling and thethree mapping algorithms. It is so much better to judge
which combination of these you prefer and make thosechanges in real-time while sitting in a front row seat rather
than next to the machine. The Mosaic platform also sounds
very good and updates, which I imagine will continue tobecome available, are easily downloaded.
The original run of 250 units with some interesting
finish options sold out almost immediately and I know
the company were thinking about another run for a while,especially as their 35th anniversary was fast approaching.
They were also inundated with enquiries from aroundthe world asking them to build some more. Early in 2022
the decision was made and 50 more would be built. The
rather sharp white, gold and unusual gloss black would
unfortunately not be making a comeback though and thetraditional finishes of anodised silver or black would carry
the banner.
As someone who has had the pleasure of experiencing
both the full-blown four-box Vivaldi system and the Vivaldi
One (without and with APEX) it would be foolish to reallycompare them. The cable-hungry Vivaldi system is without
peer in my experience. Building the box count from atransport/DAC before adding a clock and then the amazing
separate up-sampler was an unforgettable experience andyet it’s easy to hear that, where the Vivaldi One APEX isconcerned, those core values are still very much in play.

The Bill, please
Bill Evans You Must Believe In Spring has intrigued me foryears. With the Vivaldi One in play I couldn’t tear my ear
away from Bill’s playing. In a sparse piano, drum, bass
threesome he lights the way chorally and melodically.
This album is a virtual text-book of phrasing and musicalexpression. The APEX board opens the door very wide
indeed and Bill’s right hand is so lyrical and so consideredthrough his command of melody that he literally speaks,or sings through it. I’ve heard this album many times onvinyl and digitally but through this Vivaldi One APEX itwas extraordinary and compelling. I’d say a lot of thatis the extraordinary sense of timing and his phrasing
and movement against an eerie quietness, which wasmagically intense.
Sticking with the piano theme I spent quite a bit of timein classical mode comparing different interpretations of thesame pieces which of course with a top network streamer,
is very straightforward and endlessly fascinating. Krystian

hifiplus.com

EQUIPMENT REVIEWdCS Vivaldi One APEX

I always loved this piece but the Vivaldi One APEX
takes it to an entirely new level for me.

Zimerman strikes me as being somewhat other-worldly in
his abilities. His masterful command of Chopin is laid bareby the Vivaldi One APEX.
The Piano Concerto No 2 with the Polish FestivalOrchestra is a particular favourite of mine and during theLarghetto he achieves the seemingly impossible. I knowthat he travels with his own Steinway and I imagine that theaction of that great instrument is being constantly adjustedfor him. But when you consider the mechanical route fromfingertip energy on key to hammer against string, quite how
he achieves both the speed and especially his delicacyof touch sounds improbable and seems to defy the lawsof physics.
The Vivaldi One was like a great musical lens here andgave the most fantastic aural view of pure musical genius.
Like some ethereal ice skater who seems to hover a few
centimetres above the ice while executing tortuous turns

Reproduced from hi-fi+ Issue 215and spins, Zimerman shows us an impossible lightness anddelicacy of expression through mastery of note control andtouch that is both astounding and very moving. I always
loved this piece but the Vivaldi One APEX takes it to an
entirely new level for me. It’s those tiny dynamic shifts again.
When a truly great musician brings his technique to bearlike this and you have a system capable of taking you to theepicentre of the action, then emotional involvement is anentirely natural consequence.

Playing the changes
For me, the smaller changes in playing pressures is the realtest of a system’s dynamics rather than the big zero to 60swings. This is one of the Vivaldi One APEX’s true strengths
and the main reason why I love listening through it. Yes,
it’s easy to hear how overtly dynamic and sharply detailed
it is as the transients burst from the speakers. The APEX

hifiplus.com

EQUIPMENT REVIEWdCS Vivaldi One APEX

If you are interested in the nuts ‘n’ bolts of the ways great writing andmusicianship manifests itself then this is the machine for you.

upgrade has also enhanced its colour palette and increased
its musical strength, but I believe we can get used thesethings within a few months.
I much prefer to look at the inner workings of the music
because, for me, that’s where the real long-term satisfactionlies as I never tire of discovery. It’s precisely what keeps
me coming back for more. How are the instruments being
energised and what shape are the notes? These are bigquestions that the Vivaldi One APEX has the answers to.
The special feeling of the way a musician interacts with theirinstrument, the way they speak through it and ultimately
how that makes you feel. The interactions between time andspace and if it’s a multitrack recording, how the producer
has interpreted and shaped the music and knitted it all
together. These unfolding discoveries outlast the initial wowfactor in my world.
If you are interested in the nuts ’n’ bolts of the ways that
great writing and musicianship manifests itself then this is
the machine for you. Having said that, I don’t discount theVivaldi One’s more obvious impact so when you put thesequalities together with the exuberant dynamics and thetremendous focus and rhythmic drive then you are in forsomething of a thrill ride when the occasion demands it.
The Vivaldi One APEX is incredibly focussed, compact, tightand very, very punchy when it needs to be.
This speed, response and enhanced colour, without
electronic emphasis, carries into everything you ask ofthe dCS Vivaldi One APEX. Scrolling through some oldfavourites and stumbling across a blast from the pastin George Duke’s Brazilian Fantasy showed me that thetransient intensity I remembered from the multi-layered
percussion was far better than I had expected as theVivaldi One calmly dissected it, but in a good way. Thisis a very decent, if not stellar multitrack studio recording,
now minus the compression and rather breathless pace.
All trace of hardness had gone and there wasn’t theslightest hint that the pace and attack of the various drums
might become confused as the polyrhythms of Brazilian
percussion exploded in full glory. There was no confusion
and no flattening of perspectives. In fact there was a joyous
freshness to the sound which has been a constant joy
through recent dCS equipment and it was also a further
reminder of just how dynamic these older recordings
are. I’ve heard people describe the tonal balance of theVivaldi One as bright. I’m not convinced. While it certainly
and thankfully isn’t warm I would say that it preserves
those high frequency elements of instruments that soReproduced from hi-fi+ Issue 215

many digital systems simply don’t. Plus there is always
the accompanying equipment and its tonal contribution toconsider. But, bright? I don’t think so. I think there used to
be an expectation that good digital audio meant ‘bright’ and‘forward’ but dCS is one of the handful of high-end digitalbrands that is leading us out of that digital cul-de-sac.

Part of the story
The dCS Vivaldi One APEX will no doubt become an iconic
part of the dCS story as the years pass. It can imprint
its musical ways into the psyche of anyone who is lucky
enough to get hold of one. It is unquestionably a technicalmasterpiece. Build quality, functionality, user-configuration,
you name it. But, it’s really the musical rewards that itdelivers which make it stand out from any other single box
device I have heard in the digital world and is second only
to the full-blown Vivaldi system itself.
Getting all those components into one-box couldn’t
have been easy but this is a machine that was conceived
and built to serve the music and not the other way round.
This it does, ensuring that every listening session ismemorable and can bring new discoveries and revelations.
We all need music in our lives, perhaps now more thanever in a volatile world and the relatively few of us who getto own this wonderful machine should consider themselves
very fortunate.

Technical specifications
Type Single box Upsampling CD/SACD / Network player
Digital Inputs AES 1 and 2 (Balanced), S/PDIF, USB 1 and 2
Inputs Word Clock/in and out
Analogue Out 1 pair x RCA, 1 pair x Balanced (fixed andvariable levels)
Conversions User selectable upsampling to DXD,DSD 64 or 128
Control Downloadable dCS Mosaic app
Software Updates Via Mosaic app
Remote Control dCS Universal IR remote
Dimensions 220 × 444 × 420mm (H×W×D)
Weight 27.4 kg (60.4 lbs)
Finishes available Anodised silver or black
Price £76,000
Manufacturer dCS

dcsaudio.com

Distributor Absolute Sounds

absolutesounds.com

hifiplus.com