dCS Bartok APEX DAC Streamer w/ Headphone Amplifier
dCS has been building digital-to-analog converters since 1987, first for professional mastering studios, then for the people who wanted what the mastering engineers were using at home. The Bartók APEX is what that lineage looks like in a single chassis: a Ring DAC, dCS's proprietary conversion architecture that has defined the company's house sound for decades, updated with the APEX hardware revision that reduced noise and increased linearity by over 12dB. Five components in one box — DAC, streamer, upsampler, preamplifier, and Class A headphone amplifier. PCM to 24-bit/384kHz, DSD to DSD128 native. Roon Ready, TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify, Deezer, AirPlay, USB, AES, S/PDIF. The headphone amplifier is not an afterthought — dCS designed it as a proper Class A output stage, and the Bartók APEX is regularly reviewed as a reference-level headphone source alongside its role as a two-channel front end. The Ring DAC does something that chip-based converters approximate but don't replicate: a conversion architecture with no feedback and no oversampling artifacts, where the relationship between the input word and the analog output is as direct as digital conversion allows. This is a dealer-approved unit carrying a one-year warranty. At this level, provenance matters. Buy it knowing exactly what you're getting.
MSRP Pricing is listed below. Please contact us for pricing.
Return Policy
Return Policy
We offer a 3-day return window on all purchases. Returns made to a credit or debit card will incur a 5 percent processing fee. Shipping costs, both to and from, are the responsibility of the customer if applicable.
After the 3-day window and up to 3 weeks from the date of purchase, items may still be returned, subject to a 20 percent restocking fee.
For shipped orders, customers must notify us within 3 days of receiving the item to initiate a return. Once the item is received back in the same condition it was sent, we will issue a refund minus all shipping charges and a 5 percent credit card processing fee.
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dCS has been building digital-to-analog converters since 1987, first for professional mastering studios, then for the people who wanted what the mastering engineers were using at home. The Bartók APEX is what that lineage looks like in a single chassis: a Ring DAC, dCS's proprietary conversion architecture that has defined the company's house sound for decades, updated with the APEX hardware revision that reduced noise and increased linearity by over 12dB. Five components in one box — DAC, streamer, upsampler, preamplifier, and Class A headphone amplifier. PCM to 24-bit/384kHz, DSD to DSD128 native. Roon Ready, TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify, Deezer, AirPlay, USB, AES, S/PDIF. The headphone amplifier is not an afterthought — dCS designed it as a proper Class A output stage, and the Bartók APEX is regularly reviewed as a reference-level headphone source alongside its role as a two-channel front end. The Ring DAC does something that chip-based converters approximate but don't replicate: a conversion architecture with no feedback and no oversampling artifacts, where the relationship between the input word and the analog output is as direct as digital conversion allows. This is a dealer-approved unit carrying a one-year warranty. At this level, provenance matters. Buy it knowing exactly what you're getting.
MSRP Pricing is listed below. Please contact us for pricing.
7.5/10 - Good Condition. Some scratch on top of unit and front. See photos. Manual included.