[davelarz]

What voltage do you set the Ferrum at?

 

[Naimmuso]

What voltage do you set the Ferrum at?

I set it at 8.5 ,it's really good there ,

 

[davelarz]

This confirms my general feeling that 9v is likely where you want to be with the 204. I think I may just get an Sbooster 9v.

 

[Highfive99]

This confirms my general feeling that 9v is likely where you want to be with the 204. I think I may just get an Sbooster 9v.

I was considering an Sbooster too. And it is not a bad PSU. But I reasoned that given the cost of the 204, it deserved a better quality unit than the Sbooster. I opted to wait until I could find a good deal on used higher quality PSU. Wound up finding a 6month old Keces P8 for less than 1/2 price of a new one. Here's a comparison of a bunch of PSU's that may be helpful. https://audiobacon.net/2021/08/06/the-worlds-best-audiophile-linear-power-supplies

Also FWIW I think read somewhere that Daniel at Weiss recommended a 9v PSU for the 204 when someone had contacted him about it.

 

[LoveKnight]

I am saving my budget to buy the Weiss 205 version because of having a Matrix X-spdif 3 so I might want to skip the Dac 204. Moreover I am not a fan of DSD. But Weiss 205 is 3k500 Australia dollars so I might cost me a month of salary. Time to upgrade to a new dac from my old Schiit Gunnir Multibit since 2018.

 

[brunodenis]

Anyone has been able to compare Weiss 204 to McIntosh DA2 integrated in some preamps ?

 

[Highfive99]

I would be interested in a comparison of the 204 with the new PS Audio StellarGold DAC which implements a 9038Pro chip in a similar manner that Weiss implements the ES9018 chip. It is priced at $4k which is makes it pretty much direct competition to the 204 with its current pricing.

All I have to say that after a few months with the 204 and a good LPS is that it is an absolutely outstanding DAC that doesn't cease to amaze me. So glad I jumped on one at the original price. Weiss knows W_T_F he is doing!

 

[lithiumnk]

Finally got 205. Playing very well. Very different from other ESS implementation that I’ve tried. Yet to try with farad. Shockingly good with stock smps.

 

[phoneslave86]

Having recently succumbed to the Weiss DAC 204 hype I opened it up right away and it had the old green board. I am the second owner it had been purchased new in mid-October. Naturally I was hoping it would be the new black board but the sound is so good I'm actually not bothered about it. Wasn't sure I'd like this DAC but within a minute toe tapping had commenced and I knew it was a keeper.

For reference currently I am using the 204 in a semi isolated system with grounding (204 grounded as well with iFi AC purifier/puritan routemaster) with IceAge RCA cables, WA6-SE and cheapo optical cable out of DDC/clock. The stock SMPS is plugged into a humdinger within the semi isolated system. Must say the DAC clearly has more potential to be unlocked.

Quite surprisingly using my tube amp and best headphones the DAC's signature precisely matches the hi-res YouTube videos of the DAC. I am able to hear a semi-precise taste of the same balance in the staging, imaging, tone, thickness, decay characteristics ect. matching the hi-res YouTube videos. You must be setup right to do this, keep that in mind (I tested with mid end level planar headphones and couldn't make out the signature anymore). I didn't put much stock into the video until after I got the DAC, and this could be quite a useful resource in the future for helping when buying audio equipment. This DAC stages/images/finesse in a noticeably unique way and also is quite unique in it's tonal balance and it is quite refined in a number of other ways as well. I am certainly a fan of the Weiss signature without a doubt through and through! It is so smooth it easily reminds me of analog. DACs really do become very effective at creating magic at a certain point. Much of the magic is completely different than my R2R stuff. I have been having much fun toggling the double RCA inputs on my Amp with my R2R DAC and the Weiss. So many trades in the sound!!



I've been using the attenuation switches on the back. So far sounds really good to me and I'm not concerned about it as I was. I don't have a preamp and am still curious if there truly are gains to be made there bypassing the analog attenuation. Having seen how good the digital analog EQ conversion is of the Chord Mojo 2 I am a believer in what some of this upper end digital stuff can do and this re-confirms that. The sound seems great at least for an unoptimized start using +20 Db attenuation and allows me to nail the sweet spot in SQ with my tube amp (which is in a certain range of volume) and it sounds best this way so far. The +20 Db attenuation comes out very close to the same volume level as the Pegasus with RCA.

 

[Highfive99]

Having recently succumbed to the Weiss DAC 204 hype I opened it up right away and it had the old green board. I am the second owner it had been purchased new in mid-October. Naturally I was hoping it would be the new black board but the sound is so good I'm actually not bothered about it. Wasn't sure I'd like this DAC but within a minute toe tapping had commenced and I knew it was a keeper.

For reference currently I am using the 204 in a semi isolated system with grounding (204 grounded as well with iFi AC purifier/puritan routemaster) with IceAge RCA cables, WA6-SE and cheapo optical cable out of DDC/clock. The stock SMPS is plugged into a humdinger within the semi isolated system. Must say the DAC clearly has more potential to be unlocked.

Quite surprisingly using my tube amp and best headphones the DAC's signature precisely matches the hi-res YouTube videos of the DAC. I am able to hear a semi-precise taste of the same balance in the staging, imaging, tone, thickness, decay characteristics ect. matching the hi-res YouTube videos. You must be setup right to do this, keep that in mind (I tested with mid end level planar headphones and couldn't make out the signature anymore). I didn't put much stock into the video until after I got the DAC, and this could be quite a useful resource in the future for helping when buying audio equipment. This DAC stages/images/finesse in a noticeably unique way and also is quite unique in it's tonal balance and it is quite refined in a number of other ways as well. I am certainly a fan of the Weiss signature without a doubt through and through! It is so smooth it easily reminds me of analog. DACs really do become very effective at creating magic at a certain point. Much of the magic is completely different than my R2R stuff. I have been having much fun toggling the double RCA inputs on my Amp with my R2R DAC and the Weiss. So many trades in the sound!!



I've been using the attenuation switches on the back. So far sounds really good to me and I'm not concerned about it as I was. I don't have a preamp and am still curious if there truly are gains to be made there bypassing the analog attenuation. Having seen how good the digital analog EQ conversion is of the Chord Mojo 2 I am a believer in what some of this upper end digital stuff can do and this re-confirms that. The sound seems great at least for an unoptimized start using +20 Db attenuation and allows me to nail the sweet spot in SQ with my tube amp (which is in a certain range of volume) and it sounds best this way so far. The +20 Db attenuation comes out very close to the same volume level as the Pegasus with RCA.

Congrats on the 204!! Curious as to what the serial number of yours is with the original board? Mine was purchased new back in August and has the new board. s/n 132

 

[phoneslave86]

Congrats on the 204!! Curious as to what the serial number of yours is with the original board? Mine was purchased new back in August and has the new board. s/n 132

Thank you! I'm glad you asked me this. I opened it back up and actually did get the black board. I might not have realized this for some time haha. When I opened it up the first time I just saw that there was some green board and thought it was the old version. I didn't realize there is both a big green board AND small black board on top of that. There are two codes as well actually and I had seen the 1010 code upside down in a hurry and thought at a glance it said 2010. The chronology of the code with the newer board does looks to be intact. SNR 0222 on the back is close but not identical to the 200 on the upper board on the inside.

Just received the answer from Daniel Weiss:

"The initial plan for the DAC204 / DAC205 was to use the WPCB-02010 type DAC board. We did that for the first lot of units.
Later on we decided to go with the WPCB-02023 type DAC and stay with that."

Great customer service, btw.

OK, there are two versions on the market. I assume that Weiss use in the later higher priced DAC204s the 02023 board.

Matt

 

[Highfive99]

Thank you! I'm glad you asked me this. I opened it back up and actually did get the black board. I might not have realized this for some time haha. When I opened it up the first time I just saw that there was some green board and thought it was the old version. I didn't realize there is both a big green board AND small black board on top of that. There are two codes as well actually and I had seen the 1010 code upside down in a hurry and thought at a glance it said 2010. The chronology of the code with the newer board does looks to be intact. SNR 0222 on the back is close but not identical to the 200 on the upper board on the inside.

The 0200 on the DAC board is part of the board part number and has nothing to do with the s/n. Mine is exactly like yours. Hopefully yours has good hours on it already if not then you can expect it to open up with more use.

 

[LoveKnight]

New video review of Weiss 204 from TTVJAudio if anyone is interested.

 

[Highfive99]

Swiped these from the 501/502 thread. No idea of the source of this data though. Seems the 204/205 are quite good values given their cost in the Weiss offerings. Sure would love me a Helios.

 

[LoveKnight]

I just ordered a Weiss Dac 205 for cheaper price than 204. Beside I have already had a USB reclocker and Matrix X-Spidf 3 as a DDC and do not hear DSD so I do not want to spend more money on Weis Dac 204. After more than half of a year I jump on Weiss dac ship finally. Will write impressions after hearing and comparing to Schiit Gunnir Multibit dac. Hopefully this a magic box like Steve Huff's review.