dCS's production area is fairly large, well-lit, and spacious. Things like casework and board stuffing are the work of external vendors (all located in the UK), but every product dCS makes is assembled here, with most of the assembly done by hand.
dCS has a small team of highly skilled technicians, some having worked for the company for almost ten years, painstakingly working on each product. As a result of this low turnover rate that the company enjoys, the staff knows the products extremely well.
dCS is not a high-volume manufacturer, but all products are usually made in batches of four for improved efficiency. Each batch of products ready for assembly has all of its parts in a bin such as the one above. Different series have different-colored bins. Scarlatti happens to have grey bins. The label on the front identifies the exact product and quantity. "SDC S" stands for Scarlatti DAC in silver. The "4" means there are enough for four products in the bin. If there are mixed finishes in the bin, that box would be checked off so that the assembler knows.
dCS makes extremely accurate master clocks in the Puccini, Paganini, and Scarlatti series. To ensure that these clocks are as accurate as dCS says and that they stay accurate anywhere they might be used in the world, the clock crystals are placed into an "oven" and subjected to an extremely wide range of temperatures over a two-day period and then calibrated. So whether you're in Canada, Japan, Brazil, or wherever else in the world, the master clock is spot-on accurate.
Phil Menzies, who has been with dCS for about five years, begins the assembly of a Puccini U-Clock. Take note of the thick, sculpted faceplate and the gorgeous casework.
While circuit boards are populated by a UK-based supplier using machines, they are inserted into the dCS products by hand. The circuit board and faceplate shown above is for a Puccini CD/SACD player.
dCS's shipping area is adjacent to the production area. Stuart Day, the shipping manager, readies Scarlatti and Puccini products for delivery. dCS now sells to 33 countries. Their three largest markets are currently Japan, Hong Kong/China, and the United States.
