John van Spijker

Hi Chris,<br /> <br /> I did listen here in Holland also to this D-07 and I did not like the sound either. It's sounds good when you are talking about $1000,- dac's but it's not Highend.<br /> <br /> As a graduated electronic engineer I always "flip" the case open to see if my hearing experience can reflect to the components inside.<br /> <br /> And I must say, that this D-07 is very poor "armed". It's a low-budget Esoteric with a totally wrong high price tag.<br /> <br /> See this link for a 'inside' picture : <br /> http://www.teac-europe.eu/fileadmin/project_data/esoteric/products/converters/d-07/GALLERY/d-07-02_GALLERY.jpg<br /> <br /> It has the same components and single transformator as a $1000,- dac, like "Hegel".<br /> It's all about cheap computer components and IMHO I would never pay $4800 for something that is made of this cheap components.<br /> Oké, the DSP's are the same as every High end DAC, but the very simple layout is a farce for every Electronic/ Computer engineer regarding the price.<br /> <br /> Esoteric has made a big mistake .....<br /> I love Esoteric, because there topline is so good , but this line is too expensive....<br /> Trying to win 'the common USB-world' with a heavy pricetag is a complete marketing mistake !!<br /> ..oke, yes the aluminum case is 85% of the complete pricetag !!<br /> <br /> Greetings,<br /> John<br />

Hello, I'm not a surround fan, good stereo can substitute present surround, but it takes some effort :-) see this link : http://www.tnt-audio.com/topics/realstereo_e.html

Weerstandje, Please try to compare the DAC202 with the Weiss PRO version DAC1 ! It is simular priced, but the Weiss PRO DAC1 has a huge advantage above the DAC202; it has the discrete MEDEA output stage. Jitter handling etc. is the same as for the 202, but the sound is so much better with the discrete no feedback output stage. The cheap simple 202 Opamps output stage do sound more "bright", more harshness and less "fluent". In Dutch "higend" land the Weiss PRO DAC1 is for the real "insiders" :-) See the review : http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/weiss6/dac1.html Kind regards, John.

Hi Barrows, In Holland we have a different perspective about Highend then for example Germany, Japan or the USA due to different technological approaches regarding electronic implementations and "live" reproduction. IMHO Germany likes a more "bright" sound; see f.e. the "Burmester" line or the more Bipolar sound of the T+A Tube amps. Japan likes high resolution with great attack in the upper frequency. USA likes the "warm" sound ( see AR or CJ ). We like the "in between solution". This is my experience due to visiting a lot of Highend shows in different countries. As a Computer Science/electronic engineer I have some insight in "highend" approaches. My experience is that Opamps and Discrete output stages are very different regarding sound experience. The so called "bright" sound is due to the very specific heavy ( 40 db or more ) feedback of opamps. Due to the feedback output impedance is very low , but the maximum current is still limited. The heavy feedback is giving transiant distortions (TIM) and although there are very fast opamps with large slewrate they always have a "bright", sometimes artificial soundstamp when compared to discrete no feedback output stages. For example 'Burmester' is using a special opamp stage compensating for the heavy feedback, but it's only introducing extra compensating electronics which does not give the "fluency" of the sound I like. I will try to translate a "white paper" from one of the best Dutch Highend designers regarding DAC design ("Pink Faun"; Matthijs de Vries) to give more information about this very important output design where I/V tube amp ( no feedback/class A) is necessary together with a JFET buffer stage (no feedback / class A) buffer stage. It's all about Voltage handling ( read tube ) and current drive (read JFET). This is what makes the "sound". and of course a special Jitter handling ( where a pro temperature controlled crystal ( steady 70 celsius) contribute to the sound of a discrete output. And most important regarding highend dacs you need a R/2R ladder chip ( no sigma delta). One of the last R/2R dacs and the best DAC ever made for 96 khz is the BB PCM 1704 (http://focus.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/pcm1704.pdf) Weiss 202 is good, but it lacks for the price a good analog Medea output stage. It could be so much better with a medea output stage, which in electronic cost would not be more then 100 euro. As I said already I will translate the 'white paper' from Matthijs. Kind regards, John.

Hello, All what is described here regarding "harshness" has to do with the rather cheap OPAMPS used in the output stage without a discrete buffer. DAC202 is using simple OPAMPS and no discrete Class A stage without feedback as used in the MEDEA. That's why the "medea" is more expensive and better sounding. Opamps is a bad choice and given the price of the DAC202 , Weiss should use the same output stage as the Medea. Other "high end" dac's are using for I/V convert a tube amp stage and for the real better ones they use after this tube amp stage a discrete no feedback class A JFET stagebuffer for driving virtually all amps. This way you have a very good highend driver immune for impedance variations. Kind regards, John.