[brillo]

Have you compared 204 vs other dacs in the same or higher price range?

Yes.

I'm lucky to have a Holo May KTE as well.

When I got the 204, I had both DACs in my main system for a few weeks. Then I moved the 204 over to my headphone system. I probably chose the 204 as the one to move only because moving it is much easier than moving the May.

Both are great DACs. I would be more than happy to live with either one of them for a very long time.

If I had to sum up the differences...

In my system, the 204 seemed to be a little bit livelier, a little bit more revealing, and a little bit more dynamic. Never too bright or lean, though. But a little bit more lean than the May.

The May is still very revealing, I think, but it has a little bit more of an "analog" sound, if you know what I mean. A little bit more meat on the bone, when compared to the 204.

 

[LoveKnight]

Yes I think so too. Holo May is a R2R dac so it has smoother rounder more analog sound than Weis 204. It is impressive that the Weis 204 can compare to Holo May despite the big price gap between these two. In Australia Holo May KTE cost about $10k however the Weiss 204 is not available in Australia but I estimate the price could be about $4k the same in Canada. I have Schiit Gungnir multibit so I know how the sound of R2R dacs might be. I decide to upgrade to Weiss Dac 204 when it is available in Australia.

 

[lithiumnk]

Yes.

I'm lucky to have a Holo May KTE as well.

When I got the 204, I had both DACs in my main system for a few weeks. Then I moved the 204 over to my headphone system. I probably chose the 204 as the one to move only because moving it is much easier than moving the May.

Both are great DACs. I would be more than happy to live with either one of them for a very long time.

If I had to sum up the differences...

In my system, the 204 seemed to be a little bit livelier, a little bit more revealing, and a little bit more dynamic. Never too bright or lean, though. But a little bit more lean than the May.

The May is still very revealing, I think, but it has a little bit more of an "analog" sound, if you know what I mean. A little bit more meat on the bone, when compared to the 204.

Thanks!
Are your comparisons Hqp/ Non HQP MAY vs 204 ?

 

[Highfive99]

Yes.

I'm lucky to have a Holo May KTE as well.

When I got the 204, I had both DACs in my main system for a few weeks. Then I moved the 204 over to my headphone system. I probably chose the 204 as the one to move only because moving it is much easier than moving the May.

Both are great DACs. I would be more than happy to live with either one of them for a very long time.

If I had to sum up the differences...

In my system, the 204 seemed to be a little bit livelier, a little bit more revealing, and a little bit more dynamic. Never too bright or lean, though. But a little bit more lean than the May.

The May is still very revealing, I think, but it has a little bit more of an "analog" sound, if you know what I mean. A little bit more meat on the bone, when compared to the 204.

Are you using the Weiss supplied power supply with the 204 or a linear ps?

 

[brillo]

Thanks!
Are your comparisons Hqp/ Non HQP MAY vs 204 ?

Mostly non-HQP with the May...

I love HQP and have been using it since 2014 with various DACs. When I got the May, I experimented with HQP and came to the conclusion that I prefer sending the May a native feed. To my ears (and in my system), using HQP to send higher rate PCM or SDM to the May may have helped with certain characteristics (depending on filter/dither/modulator settings), but in the end, I always thought that the spacial presentation (which is a really important characteristic to me) suffered a bit. Sometimes it only suffered a tiny bit, but it was enough for me to prefer native (with the May).

I know others feel differently about HQP and the May. I have definitely had DACs (in the past) where HQP was the only way to go.

 

[brillo]

Are you using the Weiss supplied power supply with the 204 or a linear ps?

Hi.

I tried the Weiss supplied power supply for a short while, and then hooked up a linear supply. To my ears, everything was much better with the linear supply...

 

[LoveKnight]

Another review from youtube from Reviews By WaveTheory
Hope you guys enjoy the review. Cheer.



So the USB connection is really converted to I2S inside the DAC itself. Impressive. Moreover if you already have a good DDC and do not listen to DSD then you can think about Dac 205. WaveTheory he did mention that using a linear power supply actually enhanced the sound quality but he just used a cheap linear power supply so if someone has a good linear power supply then result could be great.

 

[deuter]

Another review from youtube from Reviews By WaveTheory
Hope you guys enjoy the review. Cheer.



So the USB connection is really converted to I2S inside the DAC itself. Impressive. Moreover if you already have a good DDC and do not listen to DSD then you can think about Dac 205. WaveTheory he did mention that using a linear power supply actually enhanced the sound quality but he just used a cheap linear power supply so if someone has a good linear power supply then result could be great.

What is it compared against? How does it fair compared to DACs in the $1000 range.

 

[LoveKnight]

WaveTheory he said in his review he compared to Chord Hugo 2. These 204 and 205 models exceed $1000 range DACs miles away I think.

 

[LoveKnight]

Another reviewer from Singapore if anyone is interested. http://singaporehifi.blogspot.com/2023/05/weiss-dac204-dac.html

 

[agisthos]

My enthusiasm has been tempered by the report the SE outputs are an afterthought. Is the 500 series also like this?

 

[lithiumnk]

My enthusiasm has been tempered by the report the SE outputs are an afterthought. Is the 500 series also like this?

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/wei...dac501-and-dac502-review.965926/post-17627292

 

[dijimet]

is this dac FPGA or delta sigma like ess sabre ? What does in it?

 

[brillo]

The Hypsos Ferrum looks really good because it has adjustable voltage. You could play with the output to the Weiss, try either 6v or 9v and see which sounds best. But either way its going to sound a lot better than the stock SMPS.

Yep, thanks.

I have mine powering the Weiss at 7.9 volts.

I experimented a little (but not a lot). Once you set the voltage on the Ferrum, the device lets you make minor voltage adjustments without "rebooting." So when I tried 7.5 volts on the Ferrum (I think it was), I listened for a little while and then boosted voltage via a minor adjustment as high as it would let me go with the major setting I had picked (which was up to 7.9 volts). It sounded really good, so I left it there.

 

[brillo]

is this dac FPGA or delta sigma like ess sabre ? What does in it?

Sigma Delta.

On the product page it says: "It employs no less than four oversampling sigma-delta D/A converters per channel, operated in parallel for enhanced signal-to-noise performance."