about Weiss firewire interface

Hi eole5,

Obviously, Daniel Weiss would be the best person to answer your questions. But I bet he'd say that the two units sound the same!

In any event, I'd be inclined to go for the new INT202... especially if it's considerably cheaper than the AFI1. The INT202 has dual-wire AES capability, so you will be able to feed 176.2KHz and 192KHz material to your DAC1Mk2. As you say, you might also be able to do away with your preamp (although I have no view on this - you would have to try it).

The extra functionality that the AFI1 has over the INT202 is not really of interest to you - more channels and wordclock I/O.

On a final note, I suspect that how you power the INT202 will be very important. Some people with the AFI1 claim that improving the power supply leads to improvements in sound quality.

Mani.

Thanks a lot Mani for your comment, and I 've read the other post here about this subject. But if I want to connect headphones too, I need the aif1 I think? Isn't it? If I modify the connectors of my headphones I suppose?
It's really not easy to take a decision, but if the quality of the 2 units are the same, I tend to buy the int202 for it's easy use, remote and volume control and reselling my preamp in this case. The problem is :here I can't listen to the 2 units to compare them. I listen to the aif1 (a friend of me has a medea and 800 D b&w and I never heard such a music quality but the preamp was a classe omega of 18000 euros). It was, I admit not everybody's installation.
So I first decide to buy the aif1 but discover recently the existence of the int 202 and now I'm waiting to read the comments of somebody who has test and hear it.
What I 've listen by my friend was incredible , sensual, like silk, sweet as a woman, I can't describe it . You really feel the music like a poem . Technical words have no sense here, sorry.
I will contact tomorrow Daniel about this.
I will post later my impressions when I 've taken my decision, bought one of these units, and test all the material.

eole5,

Be careful here. Both the AFI1 and the INT202 are digital interfaces. They do not have analogue outputs, and therefore, nothing with which to drive your Grado headphones.

Your Grados are good headphones and perhaps deserve a dedicated headphone amp, no? One option would be to use the 'tape out' (or Processor pass-through - which ever is the most transparent) of your Audio Research preamp to drive a separate headphone amp for the Grados. The main output from the preamp would then drive your Pass Labs power amp.

Mani.

The AFI1 or INT202 are required to allow your DAC to interface with your computer. I suspect Daniel's advice regarding these two units will be that the latter has a higher distribution mark-up.

I own the AFI1 and can vouch that it's an excellent performer.

If you're good with a soldering iron, or have a friend who can help, the AFI1 is a good candidate for power supply upgrades. Its power supply is:

5V switcher ---> 3.3V regulator ---> ICs + 1.8V regulator

The switcher and regulators are cheapish, off-the-shelf varieties. I replaced the 5V switcher to good effect (better sound) with a Hynes shunt supply, and next will replace the 3.3V regulator with a high quality shunt unit, again from Paul Hynes. I'll experiment with replacing the 1.8V regs if I can find a good replacement. So far no luck.

By the way, I'm pretty sure your DAC will drive your headphones. Ask Daniel.

You might also consider Steve Nugent's upcoming product, an async version of his Pace Car. I have his Pace Car and consider the stock version about equal to the stock AFI1. I've upgraded the power supply and some regulators in the Pace Car and, holy cow, what a nice upgrade. *Very* good performance.

Volume could possibly be controlled digitally using, say, Amarra or Amarra Lite. Does anyone know if upsampling a 16/44.1 file to 24/whatever gets you more room to reduce volume digitally without losing resolution? If it does, you could upsample to, say, 96KHz or even 192KHz. Your DAC output will probably sound better also.

I think the Izotope is only $80 and seemingly works well. I personally use Saracon, but it's more expensive.

thanks all , exact mani, but there is a remote connector at the back of the dac1. Somebody has manufacture one cable with a fader (volume control I think) and modify the connectors of the headphones to control it through the digital volume control of the dac.
Thanks thomas,but I don't risk in a first time the power supply upgrade if I buy the afi1. Perhaps later if I find a good specialist .

I'm waiting now for my Dac 1. He's on the way. For the interface, I will ask Daniel for advice.

When all my equipment will be connected. I will try to edit a post here on the forum.
My first step is the choice of my interface. As Mani says, the aif1 have a lot of options I perhaps never use.

Eole,

Ran into your thread searching the CA forums on Weiss DAC1.
I read on the Weiss website that the DAC1 is updated to include a FireWire input section the likes of the INT 202..... :

"NEW: The DAC1-MK2 D/A Converter is now available in a Firewire version. Earlier units can be upgraded. The Firewire interface allows to connect the DAC1-MK2 to PC or MAC computers. The features of the Firewire interface are the same as those of the INT202 interface as shown here."

Page: http://www.weiss.ch/dac1/dac1.html

So that you know...
Reg,
Hans

PS. Nice upgrade path for DAC2 owners.. ? ;-)