Verdi / Purcell / Elgar - Stereophile

The headline on the cover pretty much says it all, "IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!"   The review  was written by Michael Fremer (Mr. Analog, who rarely likes anything digital).  His conclusion:

As far as what sets the dCS systems apart sonically, I guess it starts with the proprietary Ring DAC, continues with the math encoded on the DSP chips, and ends with the structural rigidity and quality of the parts. Whatever dCS has done here, their computational, electronic, and mechanical brilliance add up to what must be the state of the art of getting the most from digitally encoded music. But, as good as the system's SACD playback was - and it was the finest, most immediate, most musically pure, that I've ever heard - it was the dCS gear's ability to extract the maximum musicality and dimensionality from CDs that most impressed me. Yes, badly recorded and/or mastered and/or manufactured CDs will still sound unbearable. But, the good ones can now hold the attention of even those listeners most committed to analog.

John Atkinson tosses in his comments in the measurements section:

Driven by the Verdi transport, dCS's Elgar Pus offers state-of-the-art playback, not only of SACDs but also of CDs. In addition, all three dCS products are effectively future-proof. It is hard to see how digital technology can get any better than this.

Download the full Stereophile review - PDF

Verdi / Purcell / Elgar - The Absolute Sound

The April/May 2003 issue of The Absolute Sound features this report from the 2003 International Consumer Electronics Show

dCS showed its complete, three-part SACD/CD playback system consisting of the new Verdi SACD/CD transport, the Elgar 24/192 DSD DAC, and the Purcell 24/192 DSD Digital Upsampler. This system produced what I felt was hands-down the best sound I heard at CES—sound that frankly redefined my notion of what is possible with digital music formats. The system is crazy expensive, with a retail price around $34,000, but it sounds so good you find yourself  haunted by mad thoughts of cashing in IRAs or hocking the family car, or…you get the picture.

Purcell / Delius - Hi-Fi News

The August 2000 issue of Hi-Fi New features this article on Upsampling vs. Oversampling

For me, the biggest difference between the Wadia and the dCS sound was in the upper frequency extension. While the 860x played CDs with beautiful aplomb, they still sounded like CDs — CD played with consummate excellence, but nevertheless still a CD — where high playback volumes could become less relaxing in long spells. With Purcell and Delius on form, the effect was less like listening to a CD playing at all. Harmonics seemed to extend beyond the upper threshold with ease, in way I only remembered before from native 24/96, SACD, and analogue sources. Subtle-yet-insidious high-frequency distortion was reduced enough to improve extended, relaxed, listening. Interestingly, I found the ‘sense’ of music better unravelled, as if a recording had better phase-alignment throughout its bandwidth.

Download the full Up and Over Article

Purcell - Stereophile

From the January 2001 issue:

In the end, for me, the Purcell/Elgar Plus is an upsampling digital reference of the first order.

View the entire review on the Stereophile website