New from Weiss - the DAC 204 IN STOCK A TTVJAudio.com

[559938]

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.

Available at Sound Gallery Melbourne.

 

[Highfive99]

Here's a written follow up by Steve Huff on his Youtube vid about the 204. He certainly sings its praises. He makes it tempting to jump on one of these if it suits your needs as far as a DAC goes.
https://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2023...is-here-why-this-is-the-best-dac-buy-of-2023/

 

[dijimet]

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."

thank you very much

 

[Madra]

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

I believe the 204/205 use a single ESS 9018S chip, with a total of 8 channels, 4 in parallel for the left and right channels respectively.

 

[Highfive99]

I believe the 204/205 use a single ESS 9018S chip, with a total of 8 channels, 4 in parallel for the left and right channels respectively.

I wonder why Weiss decided to go with the 9018S? It can be bought in quantities of 100+ for less than $35usd and it's not ESS's best DAC chip. The ES9038Pro can be had for just under $63usd for 100+ and has slightly better specs which ESS labels their flagship. You'd think Weiss would use the best chip available and that they would for a DAC in the $3k range. Makes me wonder if the 204 would sound even better if they had gone with the ES9038Pro.

 

[matthia]

I believe the 204/205 use a single ESS 9018S chip, with a total of 8 channels, 4 in parallel for the left and right channels respectively.

Yes, the DAC204 seems to use two products from the Weiss OEM products, the USB204 and the DAC301:

https://weiss.ch/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/OEM_Brochure_extended_digital.pdf

Matt

 

[SHAM CHUN YUEN]

I’m also seriously considering to get the Dac 204 which sells in my area for around $2k rather than $3k as said. Using numerous psu before for plugging up different unit. I finally settled much gear on IFI power elite. I am using hypos ferrum before and found little or inaudible differences in comparing with the IFI. It costs much less honestly. Unfortunately it doesn’t offered 9V output for the 204.

 

[SHAM CHUN YUEN]

However I love the simply look of 204/205 which doesn’t occupied much space though. Not sure about its sound, but some members mentioned about the Holo May. I have compared side by side with my existing gold note Dac1000 and gold note surpasses it every way, without adding its own psu or tube component.
Currently I’d like to add another smaller but simpler size Dac for connecting with my other set. So that comes with the consideration of the 204.

 

[Highfive99]

Here's another recent review of the 204: https://twitteringmachines.com/review-weiss-dac204/

 

[Highfive99]

Looks like the 204 is going to have some direct competition from PS Audio. New DAC using the ES9038Pro(Paul mentions ESS Pro which is the 9038) and 4 dacs per channel in parallel architecture soon to be announced. Seems they like Weiss's way of using the ESS chip. Price point it comes out at and hopefully some comparison reviews to the 204 should be very interesting.

 

[LoveKnight]

Looks like the 204 is going to have some direct competition from PS Audio. New DAC using the ES9038Pro(Paul mentions ESS Pro which is the 9038) and 4 dacs per channel in parallel architecture soon to be announced. Seems they like Weiss's way of using the ESS chip. Price point it comes out at and hopefully some comparison reviews to the 204 should be very interesting.

It won't be affordable price or comparable price to Weiss 204 i think. 4 chips for per channel then 8 chips totally.

 

[matthia]

It won't be affordable price or comparable price to Weiss 204 i think. 4 chips for per channel then 8 chips totally.

The mentioned ESS DAC chip has 8 DACs on one chip, that is 4 per channel. Also the Weiss has 4 DACs per channel.

Matt

 

[LoveKnight]

The mentioned ESS DAC chip has 8 DACs on one chip, that is 4 per channel. Also the Weiss has 4 DACs per channel.

Matt

I am sorry my mistake. However I do not understand I think one DAC has at least one chip or many chips as possible but 8DACs on one chip? Do you mean 8 DACs use the same chip?

 

[Highfive99]

It won't be affordable price or comparable price to Weiss 204 i think. 4 chips for per channel then 8 chips totally.

Considering PS Audio's current DAC offerings and price points and the DAC it is replacing in their lineup, I think it'll be priced right around where the 204 is.

 

[Highfive99]

I am sorry my mistake. However I do not understand I think one DAC has at least one chip or many chips as possible but 8DACs on one chip? Do you mean 8 DACs use the same chip?

The chip has circuitry that enables it to have 8 digital to analog converter channels. They are designing DAC's to use 4 converters in parallel per channel. Apparently this lowers noise considerably. For more chip info, here are the data sheets for the 9038Pro being used in the PS Audio and the 9018S used in the Weiss.
https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/1082/ES9038PRO_Datasheet_v3_7-3074335.pdf

https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/1082/ES9018S_Datasheet_v2_3-3074312.pdf