dCS Bartok DAC with Headphone Amplifier Review

Riff Notes

Materials & Build Quality

Key Features

The Headphone Amplifier

With more and more audiophiles listening to headphones, it's wonderful that dCS chose to include a headphone amplifier option with the Bartok. This Class A headphone output stage uses an all-discrete transistor design along with its own dedicated power supply. The headphone amplifier is a custom design that works extremely well with both high and low impedance headphones in balanced or unbalanced formats. All of the outputs can be set to one of four maximum levels to enhance system compatibility. It's got dedicated power supplies for analog and digital processing (isolated from DAC section). With dCS' patent-pending Expanse technology, the headphone experience moves closer to the studio experience. Its unique processing method replicates the effects of studio listening, where sound is projected into the space around us rather than inside our heads, without altering the reverb in a recording or affecting a system's performance.

In a further stage of optimization, Expanse draws on a vast range of data to equalize audio and simulate the effects of sounds reverberating off our bodies including our heads, torso or ears, without using methods that would favor one particular set of physical characteristics over another. This technique allows dCS to recreate the original soundscape in a recording while preserving the unique tone and timbre of a performance. Because the effects of headphone optimization are dependent on how a recording is mixed or produced, Expanse isn't suitable for all types of music, but when used with the right track, such as those featured in the Expanse playlist, it can provide a heightened sense of space and depth, and a more natural and immersive soundscape.

The Mosaic App

Ring DAC

"The Ring DAC is a proprietary digital to analog conversion system that lies at the heart of all dCS products. Designed like no other DAC, it uses a combination of powerful hardware and ingenious software to deliver a transcendent experience where all aspects of sound are resolved, from the finest of musical details, to the sense of time and harmonic movement. With its unique architecture and ultra-wide bandwidth, it is able to process even the most challenging recordings with ease, while minimising signal errors and variations that can lead to distortion. The result? A performance that is unrivalled in its precision, depth, range and faithfulness to the music." - dCS

The heart and soul of the Bartok is dCS' proprietary Ring DAC. dCS builds its Ring DACs from the ground up; there are no off-the-shelf DAC chips. Now, as you probably know, digital-to-analog conversion is fundamental to our being able to enjoy digital audio. Sound is analog. When sound, or music, is recorded, it is then converted into digital files that can be stored on your device. In order to play back that music, it needs to be converted back to analog. This is where a DAC comes in. A DAC translates digital audio into analog voltage that is used to drive your headphones or speakers.

Digital audio is stored in binary format (1's and 0's) as a series of "samples." The number of consecutive binary digits that are used to represent the original sound wave is called a bit depth. 16-bit audio, for example (as in CDs) has 16 consecutive binary digits, all either 1's or 0's. Now, a DAC needs to translate these binary numbers into analog voltage - this is what drives your headphones or speakers to make sound. A DAC does this by using a series of current sources — electronic component that each generate an amount of analog voltage.

In one type of DAC, called a ladder DAC, one current source is always working for one of the digital audio bits exclusively. Think of it this way: One current source will always be following what the first bit in the digital audio signal is doing, and so on for as many current sources as are needed. As the current sources go on, the amount of energy they must generate gets smaller and smaller. If you look at a diagram of this process, it will resemble a ladder. There are two types of ladder DACs: binary weighted and R-2R. But there are inherent issues with ladder DACs. Resistors (like all electronic components) have an element of error in their values. For resistors used in a ladder DAC, the current generated by that section of the DAC could be lower or higher than needed. This, plus another issue with ladder DACs called Zero Crossing Point Distortion, leads to linear distortion in ladder DACs.

dCS' Ring DAC seeks to correct the issues that are inherent in ladder DACs.

Digital Clocking

 "Our pioneering approach to clocking ensures all dCS systems are synced to a precise and stable reference source which sets world class standards for accuracy and jitter control. The absolute precision in a dCS system ensures that no subtle timing or spatial cues are lost during the conversion stage, providing a lifelike and three-dimensional sound." -dCS

dCS is a pioneer in the use of external clocks in digital audio systems, using quartz crystal oscillators as the basis of its clocking systems. The Bartok includes the clocking architecture from the dCS Vivaldi master clock. In audio systems with multiple units, an external clock helps to ensure that all of the components, like DACs and streamers, are operating in sync. This is important for reducing the occurrence of jitter. Jitter refers to time distortions in the playback of a digital audio signal, which can significantly degrade audio quality. In the digital world, everything operates at the sample rate; this is how frequently "snapshots" of bits of digital information are taken. In the case of a DAC, for example, one of its main tasks is to convert digital audio samples into analog signals. The timing of this process is crucial to ensuring the audio we hear is an accurate representation of a musical event. If audio signals aren't converted by the DAC at just the right moment, you get an artificially distorted version of the music.

When you're running multiple audio devices that are processing the same audio, you need something that will keep playback in sync, regardless of the sample rate. That something is a master clock. While the DAC in the Bartok could be configured to act as a master clock, tests have shown that there is no substitute for having a dedicated clock. Having an external master clock allows dCS to isolate a clock's sensitive circuitry from the other circuits within a system and ensure that the clock signals aren't affected by crosstalk (electromagnetic leakage), physical movement (such as the act of a disc spinning), or power interference (which can occur when multiple circuits are fed with the same power supply). With a master clock in place, all aspects of the sound are enhanced, from detail and imaging to rhythmic movement and flow.

Now, you do have the option of adding the Vivaldi (or other) external clock to the Bartok. That is a personal as well as a financial decision, but anecdotal evidence points to significant gains in sound quality in what is generally considered to be an already top-tier DAC.

Sound Quality

If "realism" were a quality that could be captured, packaged, and sold, the Bartok would be the vessel. Of course, "realism" in digital recordings is achieved by degrees. Most high-end audio products deliver a realistic, lifelike sound. You might think you've heard "the one," and then you hear something else that sounds even more realistic. The Bartok is "even more." The level of realism is such that it might even sound "over real," if that's even a thing. (And if it is a thing, it most certainly isn't a bad thing, right?)

The Bartok's signature leans analytical, but it's not sterile. It's got some natural musicality to it. The sound is crisp, clear, immersive, dynamic, powerful, and detail rich. I'm talking layers upon layers of detail. Subtleties are revealed, emotions are triggered. Highs are airy and sweet, mids are immersive and present, and bass is clean, deep, and robust. If one frequency was crowding out or dominating the others, I couldn't hear it.

Listening to "Skating Away," I felt like I was hearing it for the first and not the 200th time. Let's start with the opening sequence, where Ian Anderson is making tea. This hit me on a whole new level of immediacy and realism. My mind had no doubt that I was at a small table with him while he clinked his teaspoon against the side of his cup and slurped his freshly brewed tea.

The Bartok showed its chops with the instrument separation on this song, allowing flute, bells, guitar, and more to coexist and shine without getting in each other's way. It was an auditory delight. When guitar blasts were juxtaposed with delicate flute, neither lost its footing. Now, it's difficult to describe realism as a sound; you know it when you hear it. Something turns on in your brain and says, "Wow, this sounds as much like a flute as I've ever heard." And that's the experience I had. Vocals were simply out of this world, rich with texture, dimension, and emotion.

Listening to Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 2, I was blown away by the clarity and sweetness of the sound. The violins weren't just playing notes, they were evoking images of billowing sheets of satin swaying dreamily in my mind. During the most quiet, spare sections of the piece, as well as during the louder, more aggressive sections, the Bartok kept everything cohesive and dynamically stable, such that I never had to adjust the volume knob. In this piece and everything else I listened to, the sound was projected generously out to either side.

On a whim, I called up The Final Cut from Pink Floyd, one of my favorite albums from yesteryear. The Final Cut is Roger Waters' tribute to his father, who died during Rogers' infancy during World War II. The album is full of scathing songs and gut-wrenching reminiscences, with searing vocals, gorgeous melodies, and tons of lifelike sound effects (birds, motors, etc. The first track, The Post War Dream, left me dumbfounded and reaching for my coat to warm me up from the chills that were making their way up my arms. The song opens with a motor whizzing, followed by a radio dial being tinkered with. Waters' vocals enter with such force, such emotion. You can hear every single thing happening inside his mouth, from his teeth hitting his lips to the enunciation of consonants like "d" and "t." Those are the things that really bring music to life and make you feel like you have a front-row seat to a personal performance.

One thing that strikes me about the Bartok is that individual elements of compositions — the pluck of a guitar string, a piano note, an intake of breath — seem to have bodies and lives all their own. It's like they are at once contributing to a larger whole while also being their own separate entities worthy of examination and enjoyment. The fact that I am noticing this points to the fact that the Bartok has a more analytical sound, one where a focus on details and nuance is inherent. Listening to the Bartok with the Focal Utopia, which is a highly detailed and analytical headphone, would very much appeal to people who enjoy critical listening. Objectively, this combination sounded amazing. However I preferred the Bartok paired with the HiFiMan SUSVARA, which is also a detailed headphone but has a more musical sound than the Utopia.

The Verdict

What are we hoping for — what are we really hoping for — when we listen to music? For a good number of us, I think we are hoping to have our senses and our emotions aroused. And we know that our favorite music will only sound as good as the components that we use to listen to it. For owners of high-end headphones who enjoy streaming music, the dCS Bartok offers a one-box playback solution that combines elegance, functionality, and amazing depth of sound. The Bartok will make your music sound astonishingly clear and lifelike, with spine-tingling layers of resolution and an "I'm there" in the concert hall or studio feeling. While I enjoyed the Bartok with every type of music, I found vocals and complex instrumentals to be particularly strong points. Chock full of features and firmware upgradeable, the Bartok could well be your ticket to audio nirvana, now and for years to come.

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