Berkeley Alpha vs Weiss 202 vs Ayre QB9 vs ?


I'm looking to upgrade my DAC and am trying to decide between the various high end (well, not crazy high end like DCS) products.

If anyone has any experience with these and can chime in with their thoughts, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.
madfloyd

Showing 3 responses by soix

Just got the new 'pile in the mail and there's a comparison between the Weiss 202, the Debussey, and the Bel Canto DAC3.5vb. I'm sure personal preference comes in huge here, but I found the comparison between the three interesting.
In case you haven't seen it, there was a review in Positive Feedback several months ago that compared the Ayre, Berkeley, and Bel Canto DAC3.5vb directly that I found pretty interesting. I had the BC DAC3vb in my system as a loaner and was highly impressed, so the 3.5vb (another one you might want to add to your list) and Weiss DAC202 are two at the top of my list. I'd be interested if anyone has compared those two directly in their own system.
Bill - haven't read the whole thing yet, but the DAC202 was praised as being very natural sounding and likely to appeal to those who love vinyl and have a hard time warming up to digital. I think he said dynamics were not a strong point, images were a little less sharply defined and separated in space, and that the upper treble air and transient snap is somewhat stunted.

By comparison he found the Debussey to sound very accurate and detailed but a little clinical sounding relative to the others. Surprisingly he liked the Bel Canto DAC3.5vb (least expensive of the bunch) most as it combined a lot of the musicality of the Weiss but had more detail in the upper treble range that gave it a little more snap and dynamic excitement.

To me, as with most things audiophile, it sounds like they're all excellent and would probably come down to personal tastes/system synergy, but I noticed he had some of the same reservations about the Weiss I think you had as well.

Again, I really just skipped to the end and skimmed through the rest, but I think those are the main takeaways as I remember them (always a dangerous proposition). Hope it helps.