T+A DAC 200 or WEISS 501

@lordmelton there is no way to demo one in india 

I have to buy blind and my setup is pilium Leonidas integrated amp with lumin U2 mini and currently Canary DAC which I think is the bottleneck

The DAC 200 can be set as a pure DAC as its volume control can be set to a line level output. I have demoed both and prefer the DAC 200, but take that as you will as I am a T+A dealer. 

The DAC 200 has a wider bandwidth resulting in a wider, deeper soundstage. It is also a bit more organic and revealing in character. The 501 becomes more worth it if you take advantage of its room correction capabilities, but sometimes it as a bit more of a sterile sonic signature, obviously sucking some of the color that your room adds to the final result. I have typically shied away from DSP room correction because of this. 

@blisshifi What DAC chip does the T+A 200 use

with no exaggeration, i have tried (in my own system) some50 dacs since early 2020 (ranging from a few hundred $ to many thousand $)

the weiss 501 is one (of a handful) i have kept, i value its very rich feature set, its small footprint, and its spacious, precise, energetic ’straight wire with gain’ nature of sound... yes, poor recordings will sound poor, there is little in the way of ’masking’ -- i do have other dacs that nicely color the sound, one way or another, but the weiss for me is truly a ’reference’ unit - i recently upgraded to the latest version ’4 ch’ with updated processor chip

i have not tried the t&a

take away from this input what you will

@jjss49 what exactly did you liked so much about the 501 can you please highlight to understand if your preference meets mine