Upgrading my Auralic Vega G1 streaming dac


I am looking to upgrade my Auralic Vega G1 streaming dac and am considering the following:

Auralic Vega G2.1

Bricasti M3 (with network card)

Exasound S82

Meitner MA3

Weiss Dac501

I would be using the ethernet input, not USB, and will be keeping my Zesto Leto 1.5 linestage so the new dac/streamer would not be serving as a preamp or volume control.  MQA and headphone amp are not important to me, but dsd performance is.  I can live without DSD256 or 512.

Has anyone had the opportunity to audition and compare any of the above?  I would like to narrow the list down to 2 or 3 before bringing them into my system for home audition.

In addition to the Zesto linestage, the rest of my system consists of a Sonictransporter i5 server, Aesthetix Atlas Eclipse amp, and MG 3.7i speakers

 

hlkaye

I have compared the Bricasti M3 and the Weiss. In fact, I have both here right now.

Both are great but very different. There is obviously a big difference in price. The Weiss is more competitive with the M1 than the M3. I have tested a bunch of DACs in another thread and what you are really looking at with DACs is a compromise between detail and soundstage. The M3 is soundstage king in its price class but not be all end all in terms of detail. Weiss is in a different price class.

the M3 is not the most detailed DAC but has a gigantic soundstage. Dead neutral in terms of tonal profile and very musical and engaging. The network card/renderer is far better than you would assume for $1000 upgrade. I have recently had a few folks test this vs some very high end player/server combos and it is competitive with some shockingly expensive gear.

The Weiss is incredibly detailed yet still has a wide and deep soundstage. Without filter/dsp, it is a hair forward of neutral. The player/renderer is every bit as good as the M5 if not better and had a silly amount of features that allow you to fine tune your sound. The Weiss is definitely the better of the two DACs but it is also ~$3k more. The M1 SE would be a much fairer comparison and there itbis a small trade between soundstage and detail.

i can’t speak about the others though I am in process of evaluating Meitner and will be listening to the MA3 soon.

based on your system, I would also look at the Chord TT2 and the Rockna Wavedream Edition as potentially brilliant matches.

 

 

I look forward to hearing of your evaluation of the Meitner.  Right now I'm planning on auditioning 1 or 2 dacs at the Bricasti M3 price point (with network card) and one from the higher price point (Weiss or Meitner) to see the increased cost is worth it to me.