Should I buy a weiss dac 2

[liorms]

Hi,

 

Can anyone tell if there's any difference (beside the looks) between the DAC2 and the Minerva?

I got the impression that there is a minor difference - can you confirm / prove me wrong?

 

Thanks,

 

Lior./

 

 

[smolteni]

Yes they use the same electric components. Some minor difference.

 

[thequietman]

The weiss dac 2 is a real improvement over the ps audio III but the Ps audio cullen modded does holds its head high.

I had an intermittent problem with the dac 2 on the optical input syncing with the mac mini. My weiss dac 2 is being replaced.

 

The sound over firewire is magnificent, sate of the art. Higher rate files especially are everything that audiophiles talk about, transparency etc. For my part, I find the music more like music, It relaxes you or animates you depending on the genre. The instruments have better focus, voices more contained.

I agree with some other members who asked for a better manual. I think a" weiss dac 2 for dummies" is needed. The screen shots on this and other forums of the weiss software for example is now out of date. There are options available that I would love to understand.

 

I am looking forward to the new sonic studios amarra software that will enable automatic rate changes in itunes .

 

 

 

[liorms]

Hi,

 

Could you specify what is that minor difference between the two?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Lior./

 

 

[smolteni]

The differences between the DAC2 and Minerva are in the chassis, some treatments inside (not specified) box and manual. The electronic circuit is the same.

If you search in this frum Daniel Weiss wrote about differences between the two dac's.

 

[KimKman]

Just finished first night listening to my new Weiss DAC 2. Amazing!

DAC2 > Decware CSP2 pre > HD600 headphones

 

Got this for my office setup and cannot wait until it is complete. Judging from what I heard tonight I am in for a treat. Office setup will be NAS > Toshiba > DAC2 > Decware Mini Torii SE > Decware HDT

 

I never knew how good even my redbook cd's could sound. Really impressed. Better than my older Theta Pro Gen Va.

 

 

[Abstraction]

Chris--you seem to be very taken with high-rez listening and to favor DACs, like the Berkeley and the Weiss, that, as you say, "allow you to play all the current sample rates in their native resolution from 16/44.1 to 24/192." I do not doubt that the hi-rez material sounds great. But I don't foresee high-rez taking off the way CDs did in the 80s.

 

Do you really think that there are market forces to drive high-rez music? Frankly, I am not going to listen much to Kent Poons even if he moves a Bosendorfer literally into my listening room.

 

Do you think that all music will be released in hi-rez formats in the foreseeable future?

 

Most of the music I buy these days is from very small jazz labels--outfits so small that the owners of the companies themselves were sitting at tables, peddling their wares, at Vision Jazz Festival in New York last month. I mentioned hi-rez recordings to a couple of them, and they knew what I was talking about, but it clearly did figure in their business plans, and they had no sense that it should.

 

[barrows]

Abstraction, I would suggest that you take a look at recordings available from Chesky Records, and Chesky's download site as well: hdtracks.com. They offer some jazz, in both 24/192 (wav files, distributed on DVD) and 24/96.

IMO opinion it will take awhile for large quantities of material to be available in high resolutions, but I do believe it can happen. The distribution of music is eventually going to shift to mostly downloading, and it will be easy enough for companies to offer music in various file formats and price levels: mp3, 16/44.1, 24/88.2, 24/96. The fact that recordings are made in high resolution in the first place, and that transfers from analog are also done in high resolution, allows for relatively easy distribution of high resolution music via download, this will take awhile to catch on, as most of the record companies are slow learners.

In any case, I already have a fair amount of music I like in higher resolution, so I have to have a system that can convert high res files, and I am hopeful that more high res music will be available in the future.

I think you should consider encouraging the small jazz labels to offer their music in higher resolution, if they are not interested in setting up their own download sites, perhaps HDtracks might be interested in distributing the music via their site; HDtracks does distribute music from a number of different record companies.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi abstraction - I can say that the biggest record companies in the world are archiving their collections at 24/96 or higher. This is a good sign for the expansion of high resolution audio. Also small companies are putting out high resolution as one can view at HDtracks.com.

 

The future is bright for great sound!

 

[Abstraction]

I have a couple of Chesky lps, which sound good, but there is a lot of music on my to-buy list before I'd get to anything among Chesky's offerings. I like Lee Konitz a lot and have probably 20 recordings on vinyl or disk by him, but there are several CDs from the period when he was doing more important work that I would rather hear than the Chesky recording.

 

My present DAC is limited to 16/44, and although it is old (Timbre tt-1 w/ Off-Ramp), I have had enough other DACs in my system to convince myself that I'd have to go to something like the Berkeley or the Wavelength Crimson to make a significant improvement, and that would be a stretch for the budget, especially until there a significant amount of music out there that I want to hear in high-rez.

 

Chris, it would be interesting to know when the recording companies started archiving hi-rez recordings.