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RE: Blue Circle 501 OB/515 Vs DCS Elgar+ and purcell upsampler

Posted by PAR on September 5, 2019 at 04:29:17

In Reply to: Blue Circle 501 OB/515 Vs DCS Elgar+ and purcell upsampler posted by Tidycat1 on September 4, 2019 at 22:10:11:

" comparisons between the above and 2nd generation DCS Elgar+ and Purcell Upsampler."

There is only one generation of the Elgar+ and Purcell. They are the same as the Elgar/Purcell but with the addition of an IEEE 1394 interface for SACD or PCM upsampled to DSD. The second generation dCS units are the Scarlatti/Paganini range. NB: to play SACD discs though any dCS equipment requires a dCS transport as the DAC will only accept dCS encrypted DSD from SACD due to restrictions placed by the SACD patent owners.

As for the intrinsic performance, well the dCS is built like a tank and has the wonderful dCS Ring DAC. However it does need a lot of cables and is also rather fussy (subject to your taste) as to which ones. I would add that the pair is very complex to use , for example the Purcell even allows you to select the waveform shape of the dither used. They were basically studio units put into domestically acceptable boxes. You will need the manuals or an experienced dCS dealer. However, and this may be a deal breaker, the Elgar+/Purcell has no USB input. You also need to know the firmware identity when buying a used dCS product as they have all been updated since their initial introduction. Updating CD-ROMs are not available other than for the current ranges.

I have not heard the blue Circle device but have owned dCS components since at least 1998/9.

You are also seeking to compare a $1K DAC with one that originally cost over $10K.

Basically DAC implementation has come on a long way since these two units were introduced. If we had an idea of what you want to spend there might be an alternative current DAC that may compare favourably.

For support you may also want to consider that Blue Circle is no longer trading. dCS are still there, of course, and questions can be put to them via their community webpage.

• https://dcs.community/   (Open in New Window)

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