Choice between Weiss Minerva & Berkley Alpha DAC

you have probably seen it but computer audiophile has a review that compares the two. there is a link on berkeley's site.

i cannot tell you much about the other dacs but i use the alpha dac and do not wish for anything else. it is the finest digital reproduction i have heard. the ability to connect directly to an amplifier (recommended by berkeley) is an advantage too.

enjoy your quest...

Bryston

Memac, I certainly think the Berkeley and Weiss dacs are ahead of the other two. I personally think the Minerva is clearly the best of these two. But I would only use the Firewire connection to my Mac and the Berkeley has no Firewire port. The review mentioned above as comparing the two, says that the Minerva has a more focused (ie. narrower) soundstage. I entirely disagree finding it the most encompassing dac I have ever heard, but this is using Firewire, which could not be used by the reviewer.

As always, it is a matter of tastes, but I am convinced that were you to use Firewire and the Minerva you would be amazed at the sound.

tbg, did actually do a side by side comparison between berkley and minerva?

Dracule1, no I did not. It would be difficult to do except to disadvantage the Minerva by using S/P DIF. What I heard was in two systems but with the same recordings used, both from Mac server.