Weiss dac501 or Bartok for Vitus RI-101 mkII

[Ricco275]

Recently bought a Vitus RI-101 mkII and after a couple of weeks of fine tuning with cables I’m enjoying it with my Avalon Idea.

I have a Holo Spring 3 KTE and looking to replacing with a better DAC.

key features required:
- natural sound, not analytical nor
- dynamic
- wide soundstage (providing a DAC can really impact on such a thing)

budget 10k new or used.

I have shortlisted the Weiss dac501 and the Bartok. Any Vitus users using them?
I’m also open to other DACs recommendations.



many thanks.

 

[MasonGui]

I think the MSB discreet or Lamp’s Atlantic fit most of your requirements.

 

[eskamobob1]

Recently bought a Vitus RI-101 mkII and after a couple of weeks of fine tuning with cables I’m enjoying it with my Avalon Idea.

I have a Holo Spring 3 KTE and looking to replacing with a better DAC.

key features required:
- natural sound, not analytical nor
- dynamic
- wide soundstage (providing a DAC can really impact on such a thing)

I have shortlisted the Weiss dac501 and the Bartok. Any Vitus users using them?
I’m also open to other DACs recommendations.

many thanks.

I cant comment on bartok (though I havent exactly heard great things about the non-apex tbh), but the wise has a bit of a smaller (hyper accurate) stage and does lean a little more analytical IMO. honestly, there are a lot of dacs that could fit the bill here depending on what exactly you are after. Dave, Totaldac (Unity if new, maybe 6 or 7 if used), and Rockna WD Sig would all be on my personal list for a not analytical, highly dyanmic sound with big stage but each has their own tradeoffs. SW1X may be up your alley as well from what I have read, but I havent heard any of their dacs yet myself.

 

[Ricco275]

I think the MSB discreet or Lamp’s Atlantic fit most of your requirements.

MBS discrete should be good on paper. Need to audition it. Yesterday I have been very disappointed by the Meitner MA1. Those reviews pump up products in a way that is so easy to get unrealistic expectations.

 

[MasonGui]

MBS discrete should be good on paper. Need to audition it. Yesterday I have been very disappointed by the Meitner MA1. Those reviews pump up products in a way that is so easy to get unrealistic expectations.

Yep give it a try?I had discrete about 1yr really like it. I would say discrete with second power supply will have about 80-90% performance of the MSB ref. When I upgraded to ref i did a little comparison on my syste.

 

[eskamobob1]

MBS discrete should be good on paper. Need to audition it. Yesterday I have been very disappointed by the Meitner MA1. Those reviews pump up products in a way that is so easy to get unrealistic expectations.

I honestly found the ma3 and dac2xV2 (both significantly cheaper used than the other stuff you are looking at) a pretty substantial step above the ma1 v1 Fwiw. Ma3 is one that slipped my mind but could also fit your preference depending on what exactly you didn't like about the.ma1

 

[eskamobob1]

Also, I just realized you don't mention your digital front end at all. What are you using/do you need one? It will play a fairly large role in this range.

 

[Ricco275]

I honestly found the ma3 and dac2xV2 (both significantly cheaper used than the other stuff you are looking at) a pretty substantial step above the ma1 v1 Fwiw. Ma3 is one that slipped my mind but could also fit your preference depending on what exactly you didn't like about the.ma1

The MA1 was not engaging and not open enough for my taste. I’ll try to audition the MA3.

 

[eskamobob1]

The MA1 was not engaging and not open enough for my taste. I’ll try to audition the MA3.

Depeding on what you mean by engagement the ma3 may not do it for you either. It's a bit laid back with simply some of the best liquidity I've ever heard. Stage is on the larger size but not necessarily hyper accurate or seperated like the spring 3. If you realy want just raw incision and big stage, Dave isn't a bad call (though not worth new pricing)

 

[Ricco275]

Depeding on what you mean by engagement the ma3 may not do it for you either. It's a bit laid back with simply some of the best liquidity I've ever heard. Stage is on the larger size but not necessarily hyper accurate or seperated like the spring 3. If you realy want just raw incision and big stage, Dave isn't a bad call (though not worth new pricing)

Perhaps MSB discrete.

 

[eskamobob1]

Perhaps MSB discrete.

Honestly, Msb has kinda passed me by so I can't comment on their sound. Will be currious to see your impressions if you can track one down

 

[Ricco275]

Also, I just realized you don't mention your digital front end at all. What are you using/do you need one? It will play a fairly large role in this range.

Just Nucleus as a Roon core and MacBook as remote. No dedicated streamer.

 

[eskamobob1]

Just Nucleus as a Roon core and MacBook as remote. No dedicated streamer.

I would personally try and move to a network connection to your chain and not a USB one if possible. Honestly, it's simply been the better option Sq wise every time I've tried it. With a lot of these options they have a built in streamer or an option for one so you should be good there. For the ones that don't, even a simple holo red is actualy realy good performance and worth a shot (since it will be easy to sell for minimal loss if you decide to stick with running off the rock)

 

[Ricco275]

I would personally try and move to a network connection to your chain and not a USB one if possible. Honestly, it's simply been the better option Sq wise every time I've tried it. With a lot of these options they have a built in streamer or an option for one so you should be good there. For the ones that don't, even a simple holo red is actualy realy good performance and worth a shot (since it will be easy to sell for minimal loss if you decide to stick with running off the rock)

In fact I have bought a red with farad super3 PSU and used as DDC with Rock nuc i7 and I wasn’t impressed. I have sold it after one week. Which streamer would you recommend without going to up the ladder with the Grimm? And exactly which type of connection? The Rock nuc i7 is connected via Ethernet cable to the network and to the dac via usb.

 

[eskamobob1]

Something to keep in mind is that the spring 3 KTE and all of the versions of may are basicaly the most source imune dacs made. On them, basicaly nothing I did with upstream gear made any difference tbh. With basicaly everything else it has mattered though.

Above red you have several options such as an ultra rederu stack, antipodes s stack (obviously you don't need the server part), auralic G2.1, or the Totaldac d1-streamer-mk2. I'm sure there are a great deal more options than that as well (all should be well sub 5k used). Honestly though, it seems like most the dacs you are looking at have built in streamers so I would just use those if you go that direction.

 

[Ricco275]

Something to keep in mind is that the spring 3 KTE and all of the versions of may are basicaly the most source imune dacs made. On them, basicaly nothing I did with upstream gear made any difference tbh. With basicaly everything else it has mattered though.

Above red you have several options such as an ultra rederu stack, antipodes s stack (obviously you don't need the server part), auralic G2.1, or the Totaldac d1-streamer-mk2. I'm sure there are a great deal more options than that as well (all should be well sub 5k used). Honestly though, it seems like most the dacs you are looking at have built in streamers so I would just use those if you go that direction.

Perhaps msb discrete with the renderer module to stream could do. Otherwise I was considering Lumin (dac and streamer) or Innuos as streamer only. I have understood Weiss is not for me as too cold and narrow staged.

 

[sajihassan]

The MSB discreet I tried with my Aries Cerat Genus amplifier was very smooth and natural sounding but it lacked the 3d effect I was getting with the Aries Cerat Helene dac. But Helene is bright when compared to MSB discreet. I also have the Holo spring KTE which is having a flat soundstage compared with helene but smooth not as MSB.

 

[charles1dad]

The Aries Cerat Helena sounds bright? I've read numerous descriptions of the Helena and other various Aries Cerat components. This is the first-time bright has been used. I am not questioning this observation. You have to report what you personally hear in your own audio system.
Charles

 

[sajihassan]

When compared to msb discrete the aries cerat helene is bright. For further clarification you can contact Stavros. He is aware about this.

 

[Aries Cerat]

When compared to msb discrete the aries cerat helene is bright. For further clarification you can contact Stavros. He is aware about this.

Hi
Helene is far from bright by any means.
You mentioned that you used xlr output with pseudobalanced input of Genus.Helene xlr being floating output is incompatible with pseudobalanced(Genus xlr input is pseudobalanced) as this creates high pass filter which you will get tilting freq responce which is audible from first seconds.Strange that you were hearing with this connection for days(floating xlr into pseudobalanced ....
Rca connection only when no true xlr input is present.This is what i adviced,not that Helene is bright