Another Weiss 202 vs nDAC comparison
Posted by: Briz Vegas on 28 July 2010
I had a Weiss 202 and a Naim DAC in my house recently on my non Naim system. How did they compare A B? You are going to hate this bit.
Well as luck would have it the Naim link plug was missing so I only heard the 202 on the day before making my decision. I had to use my less than perfect memory to recall the sound of the Naim from a few weeks ago when I had it running via firewire from my Mac at home.
So half of you will have tuned out because I did not do an A B test. For those of you still reading I guess you are wondering what my conclusions were. Well first off any comparison has to be considered in the context of my system and my room. ie, you need to do your own comparison as my opinion is based on what I heard in my room.
You can read my thoughts on a direct A B of the Naim and the DAC 2 in an earlier thread. I concluded in that comparison that the Naim was a clear winner, or words to that effect.
For the 202 comparison I compared like with like from a cost and interface perspective. The Weiss 202 and the Naim DAC cost about the same because I was using the Weiss firewire interface (in the guise of a DAC2 for the earlier Naim home demo) and Nordost digital cables. The same firewire cable was used for both DACs.
The Weiss 202 DAC sounded great. Both are great DACs but they did not sound similar to my ears. Each had their own character and I think you are likely to prefer one sound over the other. I found one was significantly more satisfying than the other, despite the time gap between auditions.
Which did I prefer? I now own a Naim DAC and have the Weiss firewire interface on order. Funny thing is that Weiss win either way as both setups relied on Weiss hardware.
The Naim DAC via firewire is definitely special in my opinion. It still sounds great using another transports but I am looking forward to the arrival of the Weiss interface, thats for sure.
Partnering equipment - Nordost Odin and Brahma power cords, Jas power trip, 6mm dedicated power circuit for the system, Conrad Johnson ca200 amp, Nordost Tyr interconnect and Frey speaker cable, Aluminium cone feet and constrained layer platform, extensive Fonics acoustic room treatments. B&W 804s speakers. Lots of music -(alternative, pop, rock, jazz, classical, folk, world, blues).
Well as luck would have it the Naim link plug was missing so I only heard the 202 on the day before making my decision. I had to use my less than perfect memory to recall the sound of the Naim from a few weeks ago when I had it running via firewire from my Mac at home.
So half of you will have tuned out because I did not do an A B test. For those of you still reading I guess you are wondering what my conclusions were. Well first off any comparison has to be considered in the context of my system and my room. ie, you need to do your own comparison as my opinion is based on what I heard in my room.
You can read my thoughts on a direct A B of the Naim and the DAC 2 in an earlier thread. I concluded in that comparison that the Naim was a clear winner, or words to that effect.
For the 202 comparison I compared like with like from a cost and interface perspective. The Weiss 202 and the Naim DAC cost about the same because I was using the Weiss firewire interface (in the guise of a DAC2 for the earlier Naim home demo) and Nordost digital cables. The same firewire cable was used for both DACs.
The Weiss 202 DAC sounded great. Both are great DACs but they did not sound similar to my ears. Each had their own character and I think you are likely to prefer one sound over the other. I found one was significantly more satisfying than the other, despite the time gap between auditions.
Which did I prefer? I now own a Naim DAC and have the Weiss firewire interface on order. Funny thing is that Weiss win either way as both setups relied on Weiss hardware.
The Naim DAC via firewire is definitely special in my opinion. It still sounds great using another transports but I am looking forward to the arrival of the Weiss interface, thats for sure.
Partnering equipment - Nordost Odin and Brahma power cords, Jas power trip, 6mm dedicated power circuit for the system, Conrad Johnson ca200 amp, Nordost Tyr interconnect and Frey speaker cable, Aluminium cone feet and constrained layer platform, extensive Fonics acoustic room treatments. B&W 804s speakers. Lots of music -(alternative, pop, rock, jazz, classical, folk, world, blues).
We are in to the what is the best question again .... any views on
I doubt any are easy to audition in the UK.
I doubt any are easy to audition in the UK.
True: by design it is optimised to do one thing well - seemed to make a lot of sense when I read it; if you are planning to play hi-def stuff then it is not suitable. ART say they are not interested in hi-def, bit like me: a few SACDs exceptedquote:FWIW, the ART Legato is limited to 44.1
They all look great from the spec sheet, but wonder if anybody had heard any of these. I'm most likely to go for ART or Wavelength or forget it all and just get the UnitiServe.
quote:Originally posted by ROTF:True: by design it is optimised to do one thing well - seemed to make a lot of sense when I read it; if you are planning to play hi-def stuff then it is not suitable. ART say they are not interested in hi-def, bit like me: a few SACDs exceptedquote:FWIW, the ART Legato is limited to 44.1
Better to be the Master of one thing than jack of all trades. Could always use the Legato for CDRB and have something like the HiFace for other sample rates!
Eloise