Weiss DAC204 - £3,050

Martin Virgo

Introduction

There are certain products that you get through your hands where you quickly know they are something special, such devices include the Falcons LS3/5a and IcOn 4 passive preamplifier. I will be adding the Weiss DAC 204 to the list.

I first became aware of this Weiss DSC204 due to the stellar review by Steve Huff, HERE. This is not the first highly enthusiastic review that Steve has given, so I tend to imbibe a pinch of salt at the same time.

I contacted the importer where I had an extended dialogue with Alester as they attempted to get some of the product into the UK; just before Christmas Alester and I met and I had a Weiss DAC204 in my mitts.

Within fifteen minutes of installing the DAC in my system, I dropped Alester a text thanking him for arranging the review sample, and saying what a positive impression it was already making. In the same way that the quality of the Tron 7 G.T. phono stage’s bass drew me into the music likewise with the Weiss DAC204.

Switzerland based Weiss Engineering is almost the epitome of a bijou manufacturer. Set up by Daniel Weiss in 1985, having worked for Studer, the company has worked on professional audio equipment, entering the high-end audio market in the year 2000. The volumes of equipment made are not enormous.

The Weiss DAC204 is a form factor I love, being a small box approximately twice the size of a Chord Qutest. This does NOT include an internal power supply unit (PSU), the DAC being supplied with a small external switch mode power supply (SMPS), the unit needs between six to nine volts DC; there is an upgraded power supply on the slip-way, watch this space.

The box comes with a number of toggle switches, again a choice that I applaud; it gives me confidence that the Weiss DAC204 will live through the tests of time, and be easily repaired. One such toggle switch allows the input to be selected: USB; toslink (SPDIF); or, Coax (SPDIF).

The other front-facing toggle switches are on/off and DSD conversion; DSD is converted to PCM.

Rear toggle switches control analogue attenuation, which I found to be suitably specified, allowing me to match my normal volume control settings.

The design is one that I love, it is functional and to the point, what one might expect from an engineering company.

I appreciated that the unit has both balanced and single-ended outputs. I have read that the balanced outputs give a slightly better performance. I was unable to test this as my pre-amp is single-ended only.

Weiss has chosen to make the Weiss DAC204 into a Digital Data Converter (DDC). Personally, I would have preferred to have had a balanced (AES) input. I find the use cases for this functionality rather limited in a home environment.

A Word from the Owner & Designer, Daniel Weiss

What is your design process?

We try to achieve very good measuring results as a first attempt to design a good product. So we rely on our 40 year long design experience for pro audio and highend HiFi applications.

How much does listening constitute a part of this process?

We found that if the device measures well it will also sound well, basically. We listen to our products in a critical way and it can happen that we try to tune the circuit to get a different / better sonic performance which usually also results in better measurement results.

Do you have a system you use, and if so what is it? Both for design and at home.

We have various speaker based systems at work, home and at a studio allowing for testing with very different sonic footprints. We also use headphones.

What is your view of DSD?

In 2014 I wrote a white paper on DSD: https://weiss.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/white-paper-on-DSD.pdf

It is a bit dated, but still correct, except that DSD is not getting more and more popular anymore.

Your DAC converts DSD to PCM, is this in part due to the DSP you use in your higher-end DACs?

This is because in our higher-end DACs we offer various signal processing algorithms which need PCM signals to work.

What is your view on upsampling?

This can make sense if the DAC at hand sound better with an up sampled input signal. This can be the case e.g. if the up sampler built into the DAC (very common these days) is compromised.

Technical Detail

The technical specs for the Weiss DAC204 can be found HERE.

This is an oversampling PCM sigma-delta DAC. Four digital to analogue converters are used per channel, these are operated in parallel for a claimed enhanced signal to noise performance.

The unit handles an input to a maximum of 24bit, 192kHz. It will accept higher frequencies up to 384kHz via USB; but, 352.8 or 384 kHz are down sampled to half of their value, 176.4 or 192kHz.

DSD is handled, at DSD64 and DSD128. These are converted to PCM.

Test Tracks: The Good, The Bad and the Bright

The tracks were selected to allow:

Comparison of local and Qobuz sourced versions of the same tracks;

Comparison of standard and remastered versions of the same track;

Comparison of older and modern tracks, with their different mastering priorities;

How problem tracks were presented.

Qobuz Playlist: https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/18868550

Problem Files: https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/12623970

Main System Updates

As you can see above there have been a couple of changes. The Chord 2go/2yu is now powered by a LPSU outputting 8v and 6A. This is fed through two banks of three LT3045, wired in parallel, supplying three amps of power. This is a very clean power feed that has its usual effect.

For Christmas I bought myself a pair of Cardas Reference RCA cables. These made a superb difference with the Chord Qutest, adding midfield tone. Their effect on the Weiss DAC204 was inconsequential.

Setup

The DAC was primarily being fed from Qobuz via my Audiostore Prestige server. At this point I rang the changes determining what level of up sampling to use. Usually for a none Chord DAC this will involve 2x base rate in Roon for 44.1 and 48kHz with the Chord M-Scaler boosting to 192kHz.

NOT with the Weiss DAC204. Yes, there were certain tracks where there were some advantages to adding upscaling, but overall I preferred it as Weiss designed it, sans up sampling.

I tested both the USB and SPDIF (coax) inputs. I found the USB to give the better sound quality in my system, and so this was used throughout.

Listening Impressions

Having connected up the Weiss DAC204 I had Duane Betts track Evergreen from ‘On Wild & Precious Life’ was on the playlist. I was immediately struck not only by the quality of the bass, but the detail of what was happening lower down that had been less evident with my other DACs.

The Weiss DAC204 controls the bass whilst giving it the room it needs to breathe. Bass notes expand and decay, but without blooming and masking what is happening in the midband. This was evident with so many tracks that bass notes seemed to have gained an octave in descent, but without dominating proceeding in the least.

Babette Dorn’s performance of J.N. Hummel’s transcription of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ is a frequent flyer in my system; so it is a piece I know very well. The Weiss DAC204 added to the magic. It has a tad more mid-range tonal colour that adds to any performance’s verisimilitude. In this case the piano was wonderfully rendered. But above this the ability to follow both hands was fractionally (or, a fraction) better than I am used to.

A wonderful facet of the Weiss DAC204 is its ability to render excellent tone whilst also presenting detail, it resolves very well but without the music being picked apart. There is no musical autopsy here.

Sympathy For the Devil is an old recording with an ‘interesting’ mix, being very left and right. Two things struck me whilst listening via the Weiss: The recording was not as wide as that generated via the Chord M-Scaler, but it is deeper; and, the top end detail whilst present and correct is somewhat less highlighted.

At this point, my listening just became an ongoing pleasure. I lined up track after track for my musical pleasure; even my problem tracks were well handled, not solved but generally presented in a way that allowed me to get the best from them.

Chris Botti’s version of ‘When I Fall in Love’, from ‘Live in Boston’, is a barn-storming ensemble piece. The Weiss DAC204 allowed the individual performers to be heard in their own space whilst allowing you to admire what a tight unit they were. From the bass through to the cymbal work the musical tension was kept you fully engaged.

A few days later I played a playlist I had of Telarc soundtrack recordings, mainly featuring the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under Kunzel. The quality and dynamics of the orchestra, and in particular the bass drum had a grin on my face.

My experience with the Weiss DAC204 was that it presented a wide range of music in a compelling and musically detailed way. Three more examples would include:

The Trinity Sessions:

This is a great album, on vinyl. Digitally I find that Margo Timmins vocals can tip into sharpness, a touch etched. This effect is even present on a digital recording I have of the album …….until the Weiss DAC204. I can hear what is triggering the effect via other DACs in my main system, but it remains just shy of a problem.

With the problem files, in the playlist above, the Weiss does a better job of extracting the positive whilst downplaying the negative. However, this is not due to some form a sound shaping. Some albums are just too flawed to be ameliorated, ‘War of the Worlds’ is an example.

Body and Soul by Joe Jackson:

This is a superb album. However, I have found streaming my rip of the originally released CD to be less than I would wish in my current main system. I had a friend over who had never heard of JJ and so I played the album, he is not an audiophile but he is a musician. His comment, ‘What a superb recording’. My reply, ‘Well it is, via this DAC’.

Barenboim Beethoven Cycle:

Another series of recording that I have found a tad disappointing over the years were the Barenboim Beethoven cycle. These were released on DVD-Audio, which I bought when released and subsequently ripped. Playing these via the Weiss DAC204 has finally allowed me to hear what was locked in the bits.

One final observation. A number of years ago I started to archive many of my LPs, in the main these used my LP12, Aro, Armageddon, Dynavector DV20 via an EAR-Yoshino 868PL. A friend who heard then stated, ‘That sounds like an LP12’. Now that I have bought the ideal speakers for a 1980s LP12, that is Naim SBLs, I have been enjoying these recording more than ever. The Weiss DAC204 has taken this enjoyment up several notches.

Conclusion

Sometimes, to truly appreciate what a bit of HiFi kit brings to the party takes time and careful listening. This wasn’t one of those times. It reminded me of listening to the Tron 7 G.T. phono stage, I knew I was listening to something I thoroughly enjoyed within a few minutes; with both of these devices it was the quality of the bass that immediately drew me in.

The Naim SBLs shine when there is a certain mid-range lift, which I suspect the Weiss DAC204 subtly provides; but when played through other speakers I found its quality was in no way diminished.

When I arranged to borrow the Weiss I was aware of the company’s pedigree as a professional audio supplier. In the back of my mind I was expecting something that leaned into detail and clarity. What I was not expecting was a device that delivered that detail, but with a wonderful tonal palate.

I think it is fair to say that this little box provided the best digital music I have heard in my system under eight thousand pounds to date. Despite its price it is hard for me to think of this as anything other than a bargain.

I have put my money where my mouth is and bought this excellent little DAC. I am now waiting hopefully to hear what the Weiss linear power supply provides.

Addendum

As I have bought this DAC I have done some extended testing. As a result of a comment by a fellow 'Maverick' I changed my Chord 2go/2yu for my dCS Network Bridge.

These two streamers have vied for top dog over the past year, depending upon the context in which I used them.

The COAX output of the Chord can be a tad sharper than that of the dCS COAX SPDIF. Its USB output proved to be a winner for me by being better at handling certain sibilants and more broad fricatives.

I found that the quality of the already excellent bass took another step up with the dCS. More generally the upper frequencies were slightly more prominent, this may have been responsible for a startling improvement in the sound-staging.

Via the Chord (USB) the sound-staging had a nice depth but a reduced width on what I am used to. With the dCS the sound-stage expanded.

An example would be with Roger Waters' 'Perfect Sense, Part 1'. The track was produced holographically within my listening room, a full 3D soundstage. Something I had not experienced before.

Were there downsides?

One, there are always those 'problem' tracks and albums. These are generally due to recording & mastering. The Weiss DAC204 kept these just to this side of enjoyability most of the time, but it was a tad less successful at this than the Chord 2go/2yu (USB).