The AudioWorks

dCS Scarlatti News

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 09:58:49 +0000

The dCS Scarlatti system has been provided the ultimate reference point for us since it's launch. The system, well in particular the Scarlatti DAC, has just received a step change improvement in performance. The latest Scarlatti DACs when supplied with a DSD signal, either from upsampled DSD or SACD, gives a significantly improved performance over the previous Scarlatti DAC.

Upsampled CD (or computer audio upsampled by a dCS upsampler) sounds very significantly better in terms of dynamic range and timing, SACD if anything seems to have benefitted even more!

If you were contemplating a Scarlatti system, or were considering upgrading your old dCS DAC, then now is the time to do it. Note, great dCS trade in offers are still available for owners of older kit.

Customers who have an older Scarlatti DAC, fret not! This change has been implemented through a software update. Contact us for more details.

dCS Puccini CD (SACD) / U-Clock

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:29:22 +0000

Very rarely does a product offer such superiority over its competition that to hear it is to know that you are in the presence of something remarkable. Even more rarely does this product get the universal acclamation it deserves from the Hi Fi press.

Well, the dCS Puccini with it's associated master clock (U-clock with patented asynchronous USB input) has just received yet another adulatory (and accurate) review courtesy of the current issue of Hi Fi Plus magazine.

If you buy a top flight integrated player without hearing the dCS Puccini, then, I guess you get what you deserve.

David Berning Amplifiers

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:08:31 +0000

We are delighted to announce that we have been appointed one of the only two dealers in the UK olffering the remarkable David Berning amplifiers. If you have been keeping an eye on the goings on in High End audio, you will know that these products are creating a mighty stir.

This was of academic interest to most people when only the Quadrature Z monoblocks were available (at £22,000 / pair) . Now, however, the new ZOTL Pre One and ZH230 stereo power amplifier are available for £7,500 each. This makes owning a David Berning amplifier a more realistic prospect for a lot of people.

These new products are now on demonstration.

MIT Oracle MA-X Has Landed

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:15:41 +0000

It may not (quite!) be the world's most expensive speaker cable, but it has a very good claim on being the best. We now have this remarkable speaker cable on demonstration - by appointment only, please.

We had the pleasure of running it in at the recent Northern Sound & Vision Show in Manchester, where, even under reasonably adverse circumstances, it was showing us some things that we have never heard before.

For Robert Harley's take (The Absolute Sound Magazine) on the Oracle MA cable:Click Here

Focal Utopia 3 (Objet d'Art? 2)

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:04:51 +0000

I wouldn't be surprised if speakers from the new Focal Utopia range are bought for their looks alone. Truly sculptural in appearance, they could be snook (snuck?) into Tate Modern and it would be months before anyone realized that they shouldn't be there - after all, they are a little too beautiful to be a true work of modern art.

Anyway, despite appearances, it really is the sound that's the thing. Focal have taken the previous ground breaking Utopia Be range, and improved everything.

If you are after one of the world's great speakers that happens to be a work of art (or vice versa) you need to audition this remarkable new range.

The Diablo and Scala Utopia are on demonstration.

dCS Paganini System

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:18:37 +0000

The new Paganini CD / SACD player has arrived and is now on demonstration. This system can be configured in 2 box (Paganini transport + DAC) or 3 box (adding the wordclock) packages in a similar fashion to the Scarlatti system. The difference is that the Paganini is substantially less expensive than the Scarlatti.

First things first, if Scarlatti did not exist, then the Paganini system would be, by far, the best CD playing system that we have heard!

Now, the million dollar question, how does Paganini fit in with respect to the Scarlatti, the one box Puccini, and the old 3 box Verdi La Scala (Encore) with Elgar Plus?

CD Clock Cables

Thu, 22 May 2008 18:04:55 +0000

Calling all dCS owners, and other owners of CD transports and DACs with clock links or external clocking.

We have been experimenting with new digital cables from MIT as clock cables, and the difference they can make is profound. We are not saying that this is so in every case, but in our trials with dCS kit, the results are remarkable!

Avalon Acoustics Ascendants

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:25:58 +0000

We are delighted to announce the addition of our third loudspeaker from the Avalon Acoustics range, the Avalon Ascendant.

Whilst this loudspeaker is priced at a not inconsequential £9,000 it is, in fact, the entry level loudspeaker of Avalon's full performance range. What you are getting from this loudspeaker, and it's larger and more expensive brethren, is a level of transparency and coherence that we have not heard bettered. As you move up the range to the Indra (also on demonstration) this is refined, whilst dynamic and frequency ranges are expanded.

New Spectral DMC 30 SS Preamplifier

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:39:17 +0000

With a justifiable claim to be the best preamplifier available, and certainly the best we have heard, the new Spectral 30SS is now on demonstration.

Spectral have re designed the power supply, to provide further isolation from the effects of noise. A new, custom designed volume control radically reduces the distortions associated with this unavoidable necessity. (Interestingly, Accuphase have tackled the same problem with a different approach)

New MA Cables from MIT

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 10:01:27 +0000

We now have on demonstration some of the new MA (Maximum Articulation) cables from MIT. On a sympathetic system, these cables can bring a degree of focus that we have never experienced before. A second interesting aspect of these cables, actually their claimed unique selling point, is that they maintain dynamic range and clarity across the the whole frequency spectrum in a way that other cables simply don't do.

Warning: early indications are that these cables will only do their thing in a very well set up, wide bandwidth, time coherent system. However in such a system, magic may well occur!