Bidat vs Perfect Wave vs Weiss and others


This is thread I started a while ago and promised in February i would start doing some real world comparative testing using the Bidat (Plus Mod) as the ref. The units under test are to include in no specific order the MSB Platinum Dac, the Weiss Minervera and the Playback Design player. I posted this under the follow-up of the original thread and it is there is you do a search under Digital for "ps audio perfect". I can't understand why it did not 'promote' to the top of the digital section as it did in the past whenever there was a new contribution, so I have started a new related thread with the first entry of my fun (and I hope edifying comparative experiences).
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Ok, I just got a broken in Weiss Minerva (several hundred hours at least). It has been in my system burning in for about 18 hours (18 hours since arriving in my home, time to come to thermal equilibrium). I have done some comparative listening to the Museatex Dcc-1 (a rarely known digital preamp 19 bit dual differential type) using glass Tos on both and then glass on the DCC1 vs a very expensive (can't name it yet as the manufacturer has not released it...sorry :( ) Firewire on the Weiss. I have a Mac Mini (2007 model) 2.0 ghz Core2Duo with 4Gig of ram running Leopard (although this model can only see 3.01 gig of that (I used 4gig as the memory transfer is optimized when the mem modules are the same). I also have a 1TB NAS (all over wifi). I am of course going to reserve final judement until a bit later.

I will be comparing the Museatex Bidat with the Plus Mod later this weekend. As a teaser, I will go on record and say that honestly at this point I don't agree with the stellar reviews concerning the Weiss Minerva.

It is resolute, almost technicolor but just to give you a short glimpse of what I am hearing, I could imagine a well healed vinyl person listening to Holly Cole on vinyl and then listening to the Weiss (playing the same in CD format) and saying "this is why I will never leave vinyl". Now that may sound harsh, but this is a hobby and I don't have a dog in the race, I am just reporting my ears findings.

I listened to a few high resolution files 176.4/24 and 96/24 but what I heard was a really clear highly resolved soul-less rendition of the music. It never ever made me smile or relax into the music the way the DCC-1/Bidat or even my former (when I actually spun cd's...wow time flies) stellar Dynavox Dynastation 2 (the finest CD player I have ever heard).

In a nutshell (at this point) it just sounds like digital and that aint good in my camp because I am not forgetting about the gear and just listening to the music. I don't like syrupy or dark, I have heard plenty of players try to use that trick to sound musical. No, I look for something that is more elusive and few their be that find that magical combination when forging through the nether regions of the digital domain. I will continue listening to see if the Weiss surprises me :)

More to come...
audiofun
Also, I have found out that M2Tech will be releasing a higher end product sometime in the future (I don't have a time-line as yet) which will also have a AES/EBU connection. I am completely sold on the HiFace which IS Asynchronous. Guys before you drop major coinage on some of these other USB to SPDIF converter, try the BNC $180.00 24/192khz capable HiFace, I think you may find it as great as I did.
Wanted to clear something up, in speaking with John Wright at Museatex he made me aware that I had been incorrectly refering to his "Factory Upgrades" as mods. He does not do modifications to the Bidat they are factory updates, which makes sense as Museatex is the company which produced the units :)

If you have a Bidat, then you already know it is better that the vast majority of what is being offered, even dacs with very high price tags... but you owe it to yourself to have the latest factory upgrades performed on the unit.
I wanted to also back away from something I stated earlier concerning iTunes down-sampling. It is not nearly as bad as I mentioned when the Bidat first arrived. I can only hypothesize that the pre-broken in Bidat and the down-sampled files didn't have simpatico :) Now that the Bidat is broken in my down-sampled files sound stunning with the Bidat via iTunes... so many variables :)
The Bidat is old stuff upgraded to the 90's old stuff. Get some good cables and you will get rid of the Bidat.
Glory,

You clearly know your audio. What are these incredible cables that you've found? I'm sure they'll impress everyone on this forum because, obviously, no one who's posted here, me included, would have ever tried any esoteric cables. We're just a bunch of shiftless old farts, happy to play around with digital relics until someone with your insight comes along and sets us all straight. Or maybe it's that my and everyone else's cables are all too expensive. I'm sure you'll know.