Weiss DAC202 – UltraAudio TWBAS

Weiss DAC202 won the Ultra Audio – Jeff Fritz TWBAS award, which stands for “The World’s Best Audio System“.

“The Weiss DAC202 sounded cleaner than any other DAC I’ve heard, letting me hear deeper into good recordings than I had previously thought possible……..The Weiss DAC202 was tonally dead neutral, as you might expect from a modern high-end electronic component. What differentiated it from other tonally neutral products, however, was how richly developed its tonal palette was. Remember, tonally neutral doesn’t always mean tonally perfect. For instance, tracks with multiple, diverse-sounding singers illustrated the DAC202’s ability to differentiate among them in the mix, allowing me to easily locate them precisely on the soundstage. The tiny nuances of inflection that made each singer distinct were clearly rendered — again, tonally rich sound…..

“…..The DAC202’s reproduction of transients was also razor-sharp. The Weiss was the antithesis of syrupy and colored; fast and neutral, it never descended into etched or bright sound. I found it very easy to listen to — partly, I feel, because it let so much information pass through. While really raucous material could bombard me with sound, I could just as easily get lost in softer mixes that let me forget all about digital or analog sound: the experience simply made me want to listen longer……

All things considered, the Weiss DAC202 is the best-sounding DAC I’ve had in my system. It’s a match for the best I’ve heard with “Red Book” CD files, and eclipses anything else I’ve used when listening to music at greater-than-CD resolution. I’ve never heard better sound through my audio system than when listening to hi-rez recordings through the DAC202.

This means that the DAC202, and perhaps a few other DACs, embodies the current state of the art of digital audio. Its features, such as its bit-transparency check and selectable digital filters, along with a host of input options, also make it one of the most flexible DACs on the market today. Its sound with CD is equal to that of the best DACs I’ve heard, some of which cost much more, and its performance with high-resolution audio up to 24/192 is the best I’ve ever heard. If you can cough up US$6670 for a DAC, and if you want to explore the outer reaches of sound quality with a hi-rez computer-based source, then the Weiss DAC202 should be at the top of your must-audition list.”

He describes exactly the feeling of mine in just so much better words and phrases.