chris peacock
Active Member
Morning all, looking for comments on these DACs. They seem to be packed with features including dsp but are not talked about that much.
Weiss dac 501/502
- Thread starter chris peacock
- Start date
manicatel
pfm Member
A mate of mine, ( now only occasionally posts here) has one.
I think it’s excellent. Bloody expensive mind you.
Sonically it doesn’t to my ears have any weaknesses. He uses the DSP features & has set up 3 presets which he toggles between to suit his mood & the music. The “vinyl emulator” or whatever it’s called is a bit of a rubbish Gimmick, but other than that, it’s superb if you’re in the market at that price.
I think it’s excellent. Bloody expensive mind you.
Sonically it doesn’t to my ears have any weaknesses. He uses the DSP features & has set up 3 presets which he toggles between to suit his mood & the music. The “vinyl emulator” or whatever it’s called is a bit of a rubbish Gimmick, but other than that, it’s superb if you’re in the market at that price.
chris peacock
Active Member
Thanks Manicatel. Is he using it with a preamp or direct to power amp?
Purité Audio
Trade: Purite Audio
Tried one here nothing wrong with it, Weiss equipment measures superbly, as has been stated just expensive when ( nearly) all of its features are available in much more economically priced equipment.
Keith
Keith
chris peacock
Active Member
Has anyone tried it with and without preamp?
SteveS1
I heard that, pardon?
I use a 202 (which IIRC I got from Keith at Purite see above) with an integrated amp but have tried the pre-amp function (my amp has no remote) and hear no issues. The quality of the unit is superb, I've also seen and heard the 501 referred to above. I would agree that they are expensive these days - mine was nowhere near what they cost now and if in the market now I might not go that far. Having said that, I've heard a few DACs at home Chord among others and they were not cheap, nothing has made me want to move it on.
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
Like SteveS1 I have a DAC202 for 10 years now and it was a lot cheaper than the 50x is today.
I really have no need to move on except to try USB instead of Firewire but the cost difference just isn't justifiable.
I have tried both the Weiss and my phono stage through good pre-amps and much to my surprise the result is much better without! That was very unexpected. Both of these devices have their own volume controls so they now plug directly into the power amps via a simple switch unit.
Only thing I want to try now is a good class A amp preferably monos because of the weight of a large double.
Cheers,
DV
Purité Audio
Trade: Purite Audio
Daniel will add a USB input if required.
Keith
Keith
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
The last time I checked 6 years ago the full price was £1200 so maybe closer to £2k now. Thats a lot of moola just to add a USB input! O.K. it also then adds DSD as well if it was needed. I believe the cost is so high as its a board replacement rather than simply adding USB support.
Thanks anyway. Now if someone could persuade me that this would actually improve the performance thats another matter............
DV
SteveS1
I heard that, pardon?
I use a Stello USB/XLR converter with clock set to that to feed the 202 it works really well, preferred it to Firewire, no driver updates needed and anyone bringing a lappy to play some music can just plug in.
Billsie
pfm Member
Purité Audio
Trade: Purite Audio
Which features do you require?
Keith
Keith
Purité Audio
Trade: Purite Audio
PEQ is built in to Roon and JRiver playback software so you don’t need a dac, but if you fancy a change the RME ADI ‘Pro’ does everything.
Keith
Keith