Weiss Minerva Dac

this is all a bit confusing...

aren't AES/EBU, SPDIF Coax, & Toslink cables limited to 24bit 96kHz bandwidth, & USB 2.0 cables limited to 24bit 48kHz bandwidth?

how does one feed raw 24bit 176kHz (&/or 196kHz) data into these DACs with just a single cable?

also, isn't it redundant to talk abt 48kHz, 96kHz, or 192kHz sample rates when these are typically associated with digital audio tapes (as opposed to audio CDs which typically utilize 44kHz, 88kHz,or 176kHz sample rates)??

Hi Alexsee,

Yes (single) spdif coax and optical are limited to 96/24 whereas (Dual) AES/EBU maybe spdif too are capable of MAX 176K! Whereas the Minerva is capable on firewire @ 192KHz!!.

Other USB dac's that I've seen are mostly capable of 44.1K and a few for eg. Bel Canto DAC3... make 96/24 possible, principally they are capable of 211/32 please correct me if I'm wrong.

Best Regards,

Satyam Bachani.

exactly. except for the Weiss Minerva, most of these so called "true 24/176 or 192 DACs" don't utilize digital connectors that are even capable of this high native sample rate (& none of these DACs mentioned hv dual AES/EBU, SPDIF, Toslink inputs), so how in the world are they "true 24/176 or 192 DACs"??

you might also wish to look into yr music s/ware's audio resolution. as far as i'm aware, not all s/ware will do 24 bit (e.g. iTunes, etc. will only do 16 bit max). this is not related to what bit rate you actually "lock" yr computer:DAC at... if yr music s/ware's unable to feed 24 bit data to yr computer, then yr computer will not be feeding 24 bit data to yr DAC.

anyway, with regards to the Weiss Minerva, i hv previously compared this DAC at 24/176 against Weiss Medea doing 24/88. downstream components consisted of Gryphon's top-of-the-line components & Gryphon Atlantis speakers. to me, Medea still sounded much better despite Minerva having a higher native sample rate. guess specs may not always tell the whole picture?!

01-14-09: Alexsee
this is all a bit confusing...

aren't AES/EBU, SPDIF Coax, & Toslink cables limited to 24bit 96kHz bandwidth, & USB 2.0 cables limited to 24bit 48kHz bandwidth?

how does one feed raw 24bit 176kHz (&/or 196kHz) data into these DACs with just a single cable?

Hello Sir [Alexsee] !

You are correct;
SPDIF & AES/EBU cannot carry more than 24/96.
Hence, top end Transport & DAC's [Esoteric & dCS] use 'dual' connections. Left & Right from Transport to DAC. Even Chord has 2 cables & that too can only transmit 176 Khz.

Basically, to send 24/192 from a transport to a DAC either a 'firewire' has to be used or a 'proprietory' cable like what is used by Accuphase.

However, all those DAC's [Teac / dCS / Accuphase] cannot accept digital inputs from a computer, since no computer sound card gives you 2 digital outs [192 KHz sampling].

USB too cannot support sampling frequencies of 192 Khz.

Basically, one needs to get 3 things sorted out.
A - Digital out from a 'source' [computer or CD Transport] @ 192 Khz.
B - DAC that can accept 192 KHz & 'lock' @ that rate.
C - Word Clock [master / slave]

Yes, the HRX recordings from RR are from a 'different planet' Just too good. No CD / SACD can come close to it ! All must hear them. Keith Johnson has done a great job !! Bravo !!