Weiss Engineering DAC502 D/A PROCESSOR

Hi-fi system resolution has long been the cause of heated arguments. But when it comes to converting digital data to an analog signal, there can be no argument.

- JOHN ATKINSON

Data go in at one end of a DAC and an analog signal comes out of the other end, with a noise floor directly rated to the combination of the converter’s digital and analog resolution. Ever since I started measuring digital products for Stereophile, I have been expressing a D/A processor’s effective resolution in terms of the equivalent number of bits. With a typical FFT-derived analysis of 16-bit data, the levels of the individual FFT bins lie around 130dB below full scale. When the noise floor drops by 6dB, that’s equivalent to another bit of resolution.

Two of the highest-resolution D/A processors I have measured have been from Swiss pro-audio company Weiss Engineering: the Medea, which Kalman Rubinson reviewed in February 2003,1 and the Weiss DAC202, which Erick Lichte reviewed in January 2012.2 Both offered superb resolution— almost 20-bit performance with the Medea and 21-bit with the DAC202—and both paired that resolution with sound quality to die for. “The Medea . . . remains in my mind as one of the only digital systems I’ve heard that could compete with the very best that vinyl has to offer while still doing what digital does best. In other words, there were warmth and musicality, staggering dynamics, and real silent backgrounds,” wrote Kal. Erick concluded that the DAC202 was “easy to recommend for those who want a digital system that doesn’t sound ‘digital.’ The Weiss . . . offers a sound that will be very pleasing to many audiophiles tired of fatiguing hi-fi sound.”

Now comes the subject of this review, the DAC502, which costs $9850, and while it doesn’t have the DAC202’s FireWire input, it offers USB and Ethernet connectivity and adds a balanced headphone output.3