dCS’ Varèse Music System now includes a dedicated CD/SACD Transport, for listeners who wish to experience the best possible sound from their silver discs.
The Varèse Music System is the brand’s most ambitious creation to date. It is the culmination of six years of intensive development – a series of projects undertaken to explore how the manufacturer could further improve audio performance, whilst at the same time creating an even more immersive playback experience.
dCS asserts that it is its best performing system to date and the simplest yet to set up, use and install. The system launched with five components: Core, User Interface, dual Mono DACs, and Master Clock – plus the Varèse Remote and Mosaic ACTUS app.
The brand has also added a dedicated CD/SACD Transport, available from September 2025. Supporting CD playback, dCS has been making CD and SACD transports since 2000.
The brand’s first, the Verdi, launched at a time when CDs were ubiquitous and the preferred mode of listening for a large portion of music lovers. New technologies have of course emerged, and there are now a multitude of ways to access digital music, but there are many listeners worldwide who still enjoy playing CDs and Super Audio CDs in their native format. Also, many CD and SACD owners have amassed large collections of recordings that are not currently available in any other format.
The brand says it has taken extensive measures to reduce noise and vibration and ensure that listeners can hear the full range of musical information contained on their CDs and SACDs. This involves paying close attention to all aspects of mechanical and electronic design, selecting the most robust and stable mechanisms and ensuring that the electronics and mechanisms within our transports are fed with the cleanest possible voltages for optimal performance, among other factors.
As our technologies have evolved, dCS has continued to push disc transport design, making improvements to software, hardware and chassis constructions. New features and innovations The Varèse Transport continues this tradition. It is the quietest, lowest vibration dCS disc transport to date, benefitting from an all-new chassis design and the use of dCS’s bespoke ACTUS interface.
The Transport plays Redbook CDs in their native 44.1kS/s format and SACDs in their native DSD format. It connects to the Varèse Core via dCS ACTUS, with a single cable running from the Varèse Core to the Transport. This allows for bit-perfect transmission of audio signals, with asynchronous audio, control and timing signals all sent via the ACTUS interface. This configuration has enabled simpler setup and enhanced control.
The Varèse Transport automatically syncs to a master clock signal via ACTUS (provided by the Varèse Master Clock, if present, or the Varèse Core if no clock is connected), removing the need for listeners to manually configure sync mode settings. The Transport can be connected via the Varèse User Interface, Varèse Remote Control, or Mosaic ACTUS app – giving listeners more ways to control Transport playback.
In its mechanical design and styling, the Varèse Transport matches the rest of the Varèse range, drawing on insights gained from extensive research to explore how dCS could further improve chassis design. The top, sides and front of the chassis are machined from a single piece of billet aluminium – an approach also seen in the Varèse Clock, Core and Mono DACS – with constrained layer damping between the chassis base and dress plates. Mechanism mounts are also milled from a single piece of aluminium, with no joins or fixings.
The Transport utilises the same mechanism seen in the Vivaldi Transport II and Rossini Transport, but this has been mounted with a new method that further reduces noise and physical vibrations.
The dCS Varèse Transport is now available to order worldwide. The first units will be arriving at select Varèse retailers and owners’ homes from the end of September.
Available in silver or black, the Varèse Transport’s UK RRP is £35,000. When the Transport is partnered with a full-stack Varèse music system, the combined cost is £252,500.
The complete dCS Varèse Music System now comprises the following components:
- Varèse Core, User Interface and Remote: £95,000 (priced together)
- Varèse Mono DAC: £90,000 (pair)
- Varèse Master Clock: £32,500
- Varèse Transport: £35,000