Weiss 501 DAC

Looking forward to your impressions!   I’m looking at the Weiss also.  Wondering if it is more like a $5k DAC with premium price being Swiss and with a lot of DSP functions I may or may not use - I don’t intend to be negative, just that at $10k it’s pricey.  The reviews are very favorable, unfortunately nowhere to listen.  But I like the characterization of the DAC being neutral and letting the music come through (“breathe”) with a certain naturalness  - that seems to be a common thread in the reviews, and is what I am looking for now in a digital front end.  Since they have been raising prices at nearly $10k now you get into other promising and newer contenders like the Esoteric N05xd and Lumin P1.  Currently I’m trying out a Mytek Manhattan, which is nice.  

@jimmy2615 i have tested the Weiss vs some of the more popular ~$5k and ~$10k DACs; Bricasti, Chord, Rockna, PS Audio, Audiobyte and I can say this it is far less compromised than those ~$5k units. It is definitely competitive with the Bricasti M1 SE, Chord Dave, MSB Discrete, etc…. It has its own sound signature which may or may not be preferred vs. the others but it is quite at home with those more premium DACs.

@verdantaudio great info, thanks.  That’s a very relevant/appropo concept - “compromised”, which better fits what I was trying to get at with things like “neutral” or “natural.”  Many DACs sound mostly fine, but it seems many at a certain price point do something wrong - Grit or grain, timbre, tonality issues, etc.  

Update with perhaps 50 hours break-in and listening.  I've never owned a piece so instrumental in organizing everything.  It will seem odd to some, but it's as if a top notch business manager hired from outside the company has arrived and forced order onto the entire operation.

Great recordings sound even better and less than optimal are at least made listenable.  The Swiss have truly struck onto something special.