Weiss Dac2/Minerva?

"A better buy than the Minerva or the Alpha?"
Berkeley Alpha - $5000.00
Weiss Minerva - $5000.00
Weiss Dac2 - $3000.00
So if the Weiss Minerva and the Weiss Dac 2 have the same internal electronics and the same sound, it is not hard to determine which is the better buy. Weiss vs Berkeley is another matter that would have to be determined on sound & build quality rather than price alone. Also, as you mentioned, the Weiss has firewire I/O, that may be a determining factor for some. It would certainly easily interface with a mac mini or Macbook pro music server.
I have not heard either one, but my feeling in reading the reviews on the Berkeley & Weiss dacs is that the Berkeley may be the better sounding dac, but is it worth the extra $2000.00 over the Weiss Dac2?
You may find these interesting:
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Berkeley-Alpha-dac-and-Weiss-Minerva
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/Berkeley-Audio-Design-Alpha-DAC-Review

But what does "better" means?

I owned the EMM LABS CDSA and now the Weiss Medea. They sound so different to each other that it is a matter of personal preference. I am not saying the one is better than the other, they just sound completely different.

And they are both at reconding studios...Food for thought! ;)

I was referring to a better buy price-wise between the two Weiss units. I do envy you your experience with the EMM labs CDSA and Weiss Medea, but now you are in the 10K range new.
If I had that kind of budget (I don't), I would also look into the Playback Designs MPD-5...

I have both, BADA Alpha DAC and Weiss Minerva.
I compared them both using AES/EBU out of Silent music server (that could be found on endpcnoise) using Lynx AES 16 into Spectral DMC30SS/DMA 250 with proprietary MIT350/770ULII cables. IC's between DAC'S and preamp are K-S Elation, all power cords are K-S Emotions. Speakers ar
e Marten Design Miles III.

I've found that Alpha DAC is much better using everything thorough 16/44,1 to 24/176 HDCD where Alpha excells. With HRX I think that there is little competititon to Alpha at near 3 times the price (using same transport).

I imagine Heymikey has made a decision, but it seems to me that a critical factor in the Berkeley vs. Weiss decision is interface. Since he's using a Mac Mini, the Weiss allows him to go Firewire out. With the Berkeley, he'd need some intermediary conversion device to get him to S/PDIF or AES/EBU. He could use his Freeway, but is that as good as going Firewire direct?