Editor,

I enjoy your reviews and have sought out many items you've liked. I'm Interested in your opinion. I currently use a Weiss Minerva DAC fed by an Apple Mac Mini with Amarra.

I'm looking to upgrade my DAC and was thinking of using the Weiss as a pass-through to the Accustic Arts Reference Tube-DAC II SE. This would cover my Red Book library (99% of my library, CDs ripped as WAV files) and I would use the Weiss for the few hi-rez downloads I have.

I would appreciate your thoughts. Is the AA for Red Book a significant step up from the Minerva or should I be looking at something else (Weiss DAC202, Playback Designs PD5)? Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,
Dan

As much as I enjoyed the AA DAC, I also think very highly of the Minerva. Therefore, if it were my system, I'd look to upgrade to a DAC that has the very latest DAC chips and could handle both Red Book and hi-rez better than what you have now. Personally, I would listen to the Playback Designs and Weiss DAC202 as you mention, but my favorite DAC currently is the dCS Debussy, which is stellar with Red Book and can also handle hi-rez up to 24/192 through its asynchronous USB input. . . . Jeff Fritz