Weiss Minerva Dac

I've heard the Minerva against the Berkeley, both being fed AES/EBU from a very high-quality server. However, the Berkeley was run directly into the amps while the Minerva was run through a preamp. I expect to hear the two compared again in a few days, in a completely different system.

In that first setting, I preferred the Berkeley in every way. But it might be different in a different system.

Hi,
I recently acquired the Weiss Minerva. I also own the PD MPS5, Esoteric P03-D03-rubidium clock, as well as some other reference grade digital gear. Using a Macbook Pro and setting the output to 24/96 while streaming FLAC files, I was very impressed. The sound was inviting, musical and instilled a sense of rhythm and timing, reminding me of the Naim digital gear I used to own. The output on the Minerva is very high, 6V RCA or XLR (about +17.7 dBu). Not all preamps may like this high an input voltage.

I have not had enough time to evaluate it critically but I am very impressed with the Weiss. However, I just installed it in a different system in a different location and can no longer run a side by side comparison. My impression of the Minerva is such that I would consider auditioning a Medea. Incidentally, I will soon have the Wadia 9 series on hand - it will be interesting to compare all of these units.

Thanks for the replies guys, has anyone tried to upsample to 192Khz via foobar or any other playback software? does it accept the 192Khz signal?

Regards,

Satyam Bachani.

Update: I heard the Weiss Minerva and Berkeley Alpha DAC again tonight, different system. This time, the Weiss was the hands-down better sounding unit. Fabulous.

Interesting I'm looking forward to getting my Minerva by sometime in Jan (Waiting for it to be shipped) I'm hoping it betters my Audio Aero Prestige!, I'm looking for a DAC only solution that can connect to my server without a sound card. Hopefully this does the trick!

Regards,

Satyam Bachani.