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Yet another vintage DAC - dCS Delius this time…

Dowser

Dowser

Learning to bodge again..
…pre 1394 interface unfortunately (& the upgrade is no longer available according the the excellent dCS support email account), originally shipped from dCS just over 23 years ago. Damned expensive for me (~£465), but think I can still get my money back if I don’t like it?

I’ve been interested in vintage DACs for a few years now, and a couple of Wadia X-32s last year completely pulled me away from legacy TDA1541 based DACs. I still cannot clearly explain why, the Wadia is just so damned enjoyable to listen to.

I hope the dCS Delius will be better - anyone ever compared early Wadia/dCS kit? Pick it up tomorrow evening, cannot wait :)

Oh, and anyone aware of sources for Delius Boot Roms and iee1394 hardware interfaces, pls get in touch :D

thanks, Richard
 
Let us know how you get on. On and off, I’ve been keen on getting a Delius for a few years. I used to have the dCS P8i SACD player, which I recall had similar architecture to the Delius ie. not as advanced as and a bit simpler than the dCS Elgar DAC.
 
Nagraboy said:
Let us know how you get on. On and off, I’ve been keen on getting a Delius for a few years. I used to have the dCS P8i SACD player, which I recall had similar architecture to the Delius ie. not as advanced as and a bit simpler than the dCS Elgar DAC.
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Think the Delius/Purcell (upsampler) was a replacement for the Elgar - the Delius was sold as a budget version of the Elgar, at £5k/€10k retail back in 2000 :D Delius includes a Wordclock output, but you needed the Purcell to get the upsampling into the Delius too.
 
Dowser said:
Think the Delius/Purcell (upsampler) was a replacement for the Elgar - the Delius was sold as a budget version of the Elgar, at £5k/€10k retail back in 2000 :D Delius includes a Wordclock output, but you needed the Purcell to get the upsampling into the Delius too.
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The Delius was a lower cost version of the Elgar, it might be that the Elgar+ replaced the original Elgar around the same time. I used to know all the dCS history but would have to check now!
 
Yeah, think Elgar had upsampling built in, no need for Purcell that you had with Delius.
 
Oh lordy, this thing is good - mixture of delicacy, hardness, depth & space around everything. It’s like an emotional punch in the guts and brings tears to my bastard eyes on pretty much everything so far, it simply connects you to the music. I haven’t even played with filters yet. Pretty much end game stuff I think - with the Micromega Duo as a CD transport it’s much better than what I remember my modded CDIs to be. I’m already considering trying it as a digi pre straight into my power amps and dropping integrated CD and vinyl.

much more listening to be done :)
 
Anyone know how you're supposed to open these things? Think you should be able to remove glass plate over top, then gain access to internals. But I've a crack in the glass plate on mine, and removing the 4 screws holding it down did not immediately free it...and I did not want to force it. So I went in from underneath, complete PitA :)

Does not look much like an audio product, huh?
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Decoder/OP stage board
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Balanced (6 pin connector) and unbalanced (4 pin) OP stages
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The difficulty of going in from underneath...easier to take off than put back on :)
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As mentioned up-thread, this is an early Delius - no firewire interface and I even think the decoder board may have been changed in MKII guise. dCS technical support have been very responsive, giving me the date it left their factory in Feb 2020...but I'd guess it has never been touched since. I'd need at minimum a new boot rom to update it, which no longer exist.

Still a stunning DAC - sometimes I feel it is too polite, or that it puts an artificial sheen on things, then 5 mins later it just sucks me in again. Weird beast - will listen more then swap back to Wadia X-32.

Richard
 
They normally say 'less is more' but those photos suggest the opposite. What's that decoder/output board all about....?
 
Thanks @fran - I already got 15% off due to un-noticed damage (crack in top glass plate), expect another 15% soon. Given sound differential to what I have heard before I’m stupidly looking at a non-Apex upgraded Vivaldi currently - completely stupid :D
 
DAZZZER said:
Hi Richard! Did you buy dCS Delius for

???
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I did… I then got 30% back due to a damaged top glass plate :p Immaterial as of a month or so ago, as I got a cheap 2nd hand Purcell upsampler to stack on top. My end game DAC I think - unless I ever get a windfall that justifies the expense of their newer kit!

amazingly, RP via RaspberryPiOS browser and Allo Digione into the Purcell, upsampled to 24/176 into the Delius is now my best source I think!

Richard
 
Paraheadache said:
That's bloody good for even an aged Delius
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Well, remember, it is an early pre-firewire version with no parts available (hardware or software) anymore to upgrade it. That means no DSD, only dual-AES as an interface from the upsampler. Still sounds good to these old ears :)
 
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