Recommendation for firewire-S/PDIF converter

The Weiss INT202 is super ,it has an optional remote so you can use it as a preamp, but it I more than £300.

It's USB, not firewire, but a Halide Bridge would work well. Right in the price range, too. Why do you want firewire, specifically?

@DHT: Thanks, but the Weiss INT202 is too expensive.

@winkyincanada: I heard that firewire delivers better SQ. Don't you share this opinion?

There are other cheaper FireWire converters around, fire face,tc. konnect etc, if you include USB then you should listen to the m2Tech Evo, smack in the right price bracket too.

If you include USB to SP/DIF convertors, I'm currently using a Taralabs device which I guess is a chinese copy of the EVO but at £80 is considerably cheaper & comes with a well made separate power supply.

It's very good indeed!

I use the Int202 but that was because I demoed it and loved it. It aim"t cheap but the same is typically said of Naim also.

Ps.  Mr Weiss recommends that whatever you use for your hard drive (I'd USB in my case) you should use another connection (ie FireWire) for your DAC.  I guess the less a component does the better it does it.

FireWire is only a good idea if you intend to connect to (and can afford) a lovely Weiss Dac directly without the need for a convertor.   Otherwise a decent asynchronous USB S/SPDIF makes far more sense and won't break the bank. The Halide Bridge is excellent.



Tog

That is a matter of opinion and I suspect it isn't an informed opinion, although I am happy to hear otherwise. I did a home demo of the Weiss 202 DAC and the Naim with Weiss interface before making my purchase.  With a quality interconnect the price was about the same. Only the Naim gOt me reaching for my wallet.

I did the exact same comparison, bought the Weiss 202, there was no comparison in my system, the INT 202 was the best sounding combination wit hthe Naim DAC though.

They're talking about the 202 which hasn't been around that long and as I recall, Briz quite liked the Weiss, just not as much as the Naim DAC. If he likes the int202 better than a halide with the Naim DAC (it is imo), than why shouldn't he use it again? Because you said so? Pot, Kettle.

Hang on - I like it - he doesn't ... I like Chablis he might not - I don't mind - chill .... that is the whole point of this - sharing views and explaining why. I think sometimes people can be a little overprotective of the nDac which is superb but hasn't actually ever won the Nobel prize or been elected Pope.

You are quite right about the 202 - but Weiss like Wavelength and Ayre are veterans in the world of computer audio and I've liked the sound of Weiss for a while but if I were looking for a new dac I'd demo the Wavelength Cosecant against the nDac. If, that is, I could either afford one or find a dealer in the UK that can supply Wavelength kit.

We all like different stuff - be pretty boring if it was illegal to have anything other than an nDac.

Tog

It's a matter of perspective. Naim was working against jitter in Cd playback, and the first to really address it with their original 'dinosaur' almost 10 years before these other companies existed. They're not newbies here either. There's a reverse twist for every one given. Basically, it doesn't matter who does what and for how long. Just the result. The rest, I absolutely agree with. Point was that he did like the Weiss and you had issue with him putting it down when he has never done so while calling him on what you just did. We all have a bit of rabbit ear at times, myself included.

Tog

Hi Tog. As I said in my post I am happy to hear that you have compared the two yourself ( which in my opinion would make your preferences informed). There are lots of folks that decide what they like or want by reading a spec sheet or review or by hearing only one component and assuming the other will not be as good.



I do however have a different opinion to yours regarding FireWire " only" making sense into the  Weiss 202  DAC.   For me the difference became apparent with the use of a Nordost Silver Shadow digital interconnect. My experiences are in a non-naim system also.



The 202 DAC is a nice piece of kit and I prefer it over the DAC 2, but for me the Naim combo brought out the character of instruments and emotion in vocals while the 202 gave me the hifi experince but seemed like you were standing back so things were not as intimate and were not in the room with you.



With that being my listening preference the Naim combo makes sense for me. I don" t think it is the only FireWire solution. I agree that it is good that others prefer the Weiss, I enjoy hearing different systems when I visit friends houses, that's partly why I joined the local audio club. I hope that puts my post in a clearer context.

PS ...and the DAC 2 is good also, it is very like the 202 in many ways.



This is probably hi jacking the OPs thread so I will stop rabbiting on.

Hi Tonym,
what exactly is the name / ID of the Taralabs device you are using? I didn't find it on the Taralabs web site.
Thanks, mipi

I think the ultimate FW to SPDIF/AES convertor is the Sonic Studio 303. I had a chance to hear the 304 and 305 as an FW to SPDIF/AES convertor with the Naim DAC/XPS and it was much better in every sense than any other FW device in the same role from any other manufacturer I have tried in the last 4 years. 

These are pro, mulit-channel devices, their setup and operation requires some skill, but they are as good as it gets. They are priced accordingly. Expect to spend at least the same amount or more than for the Naim DAC.

Ferenc, aren't these really similar to a Metric Halo ULN-2 and have you compared to the int202.

When you consider what these things actually do it seems a little nuts that they can make such a difference. It's just passing through a digital signal after all, although my dealer had to take one apart for service and assured me that the Weiss was far from am empty box.







In the near future I plan to run my system using the INT202 as a digital preamp. I am running an amp with a passive pre anyway so in theory this should simplify the signal path by removing the ladder resistor in my amp. I did try this with the DAC202 and felt there was a marginal improvement ( although I was hearing so many different options at the time so anything marginal could be down to expectation) so it will be interesting to see how the Weiss digital volume control sounds. I will be using the second processor in input on my amp (like theatre bypass)

I think the Sonic 303 is more likely an 304 (MH LIO-8) but the A/D and D/A converters stripped down. It can do 192kHz/24 bit, the ULN-2 is 96 kHz only. As I remember. 

I am not sure if the 303 has its brother in the Metric Halo hierarchy, but I do not know MH products well.

Sonic (and MH) is one of the very few vendors not using TC Electronic's Dice chipsets, they have their own developed solution, which works very well and the clock handling is really asynchronous. The driver software and the control panel setting up kind of complex, without a professional background or a help it can be tricky to try to set it up and maximize the sound quality and the possibilities.

I could compare it to the DAC2 (using Naim DAC and other digital devices too), and it has a stability ( I mean a bass foundation and body, texture of the instruments, not a software stability) like no other FW-SPDIF/AES device I have tried yet.  Even using those tricky DB25 connectors instead of something better known.

Thanks for the valuable feedback. Seems there is bigger choice among USB to S/PDIF converters compared their firewire brothers. I think I will go for the M2Tech Evo - Halide Bridge would be another option but I do not know how to get it here in Germany.

Regarding the Evo, what is the recommendation in order to connect it to the Naim DAC: RCA or BNC?

Thanks, mipi

BNC

Seems that everything (DIN, BNC etc.) is better than RCA.