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Weiss 5 Series DAC501-DAC502-MK2

DAC501-MK2-4ch & DAC502-MK2-4ch are Weiss 5 Series 2nd generation D/A converter and network renderer with unique DSP technologies. The different between DAC501 & DAC502 are 1) the width of the chassis 2) DAC502 has 4pin XLR balanced headphone amplifier output. They have identical sound quality and features. The DAC501 / DAC502 (or DAC50x in short) are extremely versatile and pleasantly sounding D/A Converters. They are available for close to 6 years now and still going strong. In our ongoing journey to achieve a live-like music reproduction we now introduce the Mark II versions, called the DAC501-4ch and DAC502-4ch. Our residential audio engineer, Joschka Weiss, says in comparison to the former DAC section the -4ch version “achieves another level of sonic performance”. Read more about the MK2-4ch below. >> What is the purpose of the MK2-4ch versions? The MK2-4ch versions use one of the latest DAC chips with stellar technical specifications. So the MK2-4ch versions make for an enhanced 2 channel DAC, with the same features as the DAC501 / DAC502 units sport. The sonic characteristics of the MK2-4ch versions are on a higher level with incredible transparency and openness. Both line output stages and headphone output stages are built with discrete electronics developed from the standard DAC50x. All standard DAC50x units can be upgraded with the MK2-4ch version. It is a new analog section module to be installed in the unit plus a new software needs to be loaded. It is our goal to keep our equipment upgradeable for long-term securing of your investment. The standard DAC501 / DAC502 units we continue to manufacture. In addition the MK2-4ch versions will be capable to play 4 channels simultaneously once we introduce the necessary software. This also [...]

Weiss 5 Series DAC501-DAC502-MK22022-02-07T00:56:21+00:00

Weiss Series 5 – v2.4 Schwede Loudness EQ

The Schwede Loudness EQ  The loudness EQ is based on the Equalizer patent of Bernhard Schwede. The idea behind this equalization is based on psychoacoustic grounds. Mainly the psychoacoustic quantity loudness is eponymous and essential for the EQ design by Schwede. In acoustics this loudness describes the subjective perception of sound pressure. Schwedes EQ design then considers this subjective perception to create a more pleasant playback regarding the sound intensity. The specific design of Schwedes patent is implemented in the presented plugin. Summing up this EQ offers you the possibility to influence playback volume in such a way that the resulting loudness impression becomes more authentic throughout the audible frequency spectrum. Choose your desired loudness Level via the drop-down menu. These ten different level settings in dB are illustrated with comparisons benefiting an intuitive use of this plugin. Starting at the lowest level at 60 dB you can increase the loudness up to 105 dB. This plugin is based on the patent: ”Equalizer, audio system with such an equalizer and method for equalizing a sound mix” by Bernhard Schwede. His design describes an audio equalizer with a special concept. In general Schwede’s algorithm aims the purpose of an aurally linearized equalization of a sound mix.The idea is based on the psychoacoustic characteristics of the human hearing and and its anatomy.  Our auditory sensitivity is frequency dependent, which also effects the perception of loudness.  This sensitivity regarding the loudness can cause an unauthentic sound experience when listening at home to audio recordings for example of a concert hall. So Schwede’s concept tries to overcome these non linearities of the human sense of hearing with a equalizer design which creates an optimized compensation curve based on the psychoacoustic [...]

Weiss Series 5 – v2.4 Schwede Loudness EQ2021-05-27T07:58:23+00:00

Stereophile Reviews Weiss DAC502

Stereophile Reviews Weiss DAC502 Two of the highest-resolution D/A processors I have measured have been from Swiss pro-audio company Weiss Engineering: the Medea and the DAC202. Both offered superb resolution - almost 20 bit performance - and both paired that resolution with sound quality to die for. Kal Rubinson wrote ‘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 background.’ Looking inside the DAC502 left an impression of a component constructed to a high standard. The immediate impression was of extraordinary clarity. This wasn’t as if the edges of the objects within the soundstage had been enhanced, as can be done to images in PhotoShop, but as if the pixel count of the image had been increased. It didn’t manage this by emphasizing treble detail, but the DAC502 cleaned the window into the recorded soundstage to an impressive extent. This soundstage clarity was a consistent feature of my time with the Weiss processor. I’ve never heard this so clearly delineated as with the DAC502. The layering of soundstage on this album, with various different instruments accompanied by different amounts of reverb, was also very audible. The DAC502s’s low frequencies combined clarity with an excellent sense of what the late Art Dudley used to call ‘force’… there was an excellent sense of forward momentum with the bass guitar and kick drum. Similarly, the double basses were superbly well-defined but with good weight. On both these albums, I was again struck by the well-differentiated layering of the [...]

Stereophile Reviews Weiss DAC5022021-05-15T05:16:11+00:00

DAC50x DLNA DSD

This is a short article regarding Weiss latest generation d/a converter DAC50x (DAC501 and DAC502) DSD playback via UPnP (ethernet connection). However this applies to most UPnP/DLNA renderers. DSD has never been an official format. Most of the DSD files in the market are either ripped by PlayStation 3 3.55 firmware or Bluray ripping method. Recent years there are few DSD128/256/512 sources from specific records companies. DSD ISO is the whole SACD disc image and not a file format. It may includes both stereo and multichannel audio tracks of the SACD disc. DSDIFF (diff/dff) is one DSD file type that has no metadata. In short if you are an audiophile you would like to convert DSDIFF to DSF, otherwise your music server will be very complex without metadata. DSF is the most popular DSD file type that allows embedded metadata and artwork inside the file. Convert all your DSD ISO DFF to DSF is recommended. If you would like to know more about these formats and conversion tools, please read my previous article here "DSD file format" Weiss DAC50x comes with well executed Windows 10/8/7 driver includes WASAPI & ASIO 2.2. Apple USB Class 2.0 core audio driver requires no driver installation. Both drivers support bit transparent connection for PCM 352.8kHz* and DSD64/DSD128 thru USB DoP (DSD over PCM). *Note that current DAC50x V1.2.0 r1455 (2017-06-29) does not support 384kHz sampling rate at the moment. This of course will be change. User should not worry about supporting sampling rates. Weiss DAC50x input is based on a DSP platform (Weiss DAC50x DSP stays at 40bit floating point @ 195.3kHz). This DSP input platform can adopt any future format. IF you are using [...]

DAC50x DLNA DSD2017-09-14T18:09:00+00:00

INT204 Win10 Installation Guide

Important note: --------------- For USB/DSD interfaces shipped after November 19, 2015 the driver version 2.26.0 has to be installed. This also refers to INT204 interfaces with serial numbers 1181 and higher. Download INT204 2.26.0 Windows driver /  Download INT204 1.56 Windows driver  The older devices still need the version 1.56 driver, the new driver does not work with those devices. The notes below are important for the old driver, i.e. the version 1.56 driver. The new version 2.26.0 driver should pose no problems to install. Installing the version 1.56 driver on Windows 10 ------------------------------------------------ At first do not plug in the USB device to the USB port of the computer. 1) right click on the setup.exe file of the driver 2) select "properties" 3) select the "compatibility" tab 4) check the compatibility mode checkbox and select windows 7 from the list 5) click on OK 6) double click the setup.exe file 7) allow the execution of the setup.exe program 8) plug in the USB device 9) click NEXT and continue to install 10) allow the installation despite the warning(s) which may show Installing the version 1.56 driver on Windows 8 or 8.1 ------------------------------------------------------- To be able to install the version 1.56 driver on Windows 8 or 8.1 one has to disable the windows driver signing check. This can be done via a special windows booting option as follows: 1) If logged in as a user, log out. The log in screen appears. In the lower right corner the power on/off icon appears. Click on that icon, hold the Shift key and click on the "restart" selection. 2) Now a blue screen with some options appears, select trouble shooting at the bottom then select advanced options [...]

INT204 Win10 Installation Guide2019-10-12T08:34:51+00:00

Streaming from Internet with MAN301

STREAMING FROM THE INTERNET WITH THE MAN301 Oc­ca­sion­ally, we get in­quiries from MAN301 users about how to play those stream­ing web­sites (like Tidal, Spo­tify, QoBuz etc.) via the MAN301.This can be eas­ily done via the Air­play fea­ture of the MAN301. With the icon in the lower right cor­ner on the iPad the menu for se­lect­ing the Air­play mode is shown. Af­ter se­lect­ing the Air­play mode, tell the iPad to play au­dio to the MAN301. This is done by swip­ing from the lower edge of the iPad up­wards, which opens a menu where the MAN301 de­vice can be se­lected for Airplay. Now open the ap­pli­ca­tion of the stream­ing ser­vice you like to play and start play­ing tracks. The tracks now play via the MAN301. The vol­ume can be con­trolled via the but­tons at the iPad. The Air­play streams in 44.1 kHz /16 Bit for­mat, which is per­fect for the stream­ing sites. The user in­ter­faces of the var­i­ous stream­ing sites are main­tained with this scheme, which is a very nice fea­ture, con­sid­ered that the stream­ing sites keep up­dat­ing their user in­ter­faces. In ad­di­tion all stream­ing sites are sup­ported automatically. In that man­ner all au­dio played on the iPad can be redi­rected to the MAN301. E.g. you can also play from Youtube or from your lo­cal mu­sic col­lec­tion on the iPad. Of course all Air­play ca­pa­ble de­vices can use the MAN301 for play­back in that manner.

Streaming from Internet with MAN3012017-04-22T17:41:08+00:00

Audio over Ethernet

The tech­ni­cal de­tails of the Eth­er­net interface: - UPnP AV 2.0 / DLNA - plays and de­codes com­mon au­dio for­mats from HTTP streams - res­o­lu­tion up to 32-bit, sam­pling rate up to 192kHz (DSD64 is also supported) - sup­port for gap­less playback - bit-per­fect data transmission - 2-chan­nel asyn­chro­nous end­point with ex­ter­nal clock­ing for jit­ter-free playback - Sup­ports these for­mats: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, MP3, AAC The Eth­er­net in­ter­face can be built into the Weiss D/A Con­vert­ers, namely: DAC202, Medea, Medus, DAC1, DAC2, Minerva. For DAC202, DAC2, Minerva, the internal space is not large enough to fit in both DSD/USB + LAN option. Customer owns the above models can only choose either DSD/USB or LAN option. We are happy to an­nounce an­other in­ter­face for up­grad­ing our D/A Con­verter mod­els: An au­dio over Eth­er­net card which sup­ports all stan­dard rates up to 192kHz and all the pop­u­lar au­dio file formats. This in­ter­face makes your D/A Con­verter an UPnP / DLNA Ren­derer unit, which is con­nected to your LAN via an Eth­er­net ca­ble. A typ­i­cal use case looks like this: - To your net­work you have con­nected a NAS (Net­work At­tached Stor­age) or a com­puter with au­dio files shared on the network. - On the same net­work there is the D/A Con­verter with the Eth­er­net interface. - An ap­pli­ca­tion on your phone or tablet con­trols the play­back of files to the D/A Converter. The nice thing of such a setup is that it can be con­trolled from any de­vice and the au­dio files can re­side on any other (or the same) device. It is also pos­si­ble to stream the files on the phone or tablet di­rectly to the D/A Con­verter. This makes it [...]

Audio over Ethernet2022-02-07T00:50:20+00:00
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