According to the manufacturer, their new Weiss HELIOS DAC delivers exactly the same sound as in the studio. Perfect for the more extreme purists!
The Weiss HELIOS is a pro-level D/A converter that – so we read in the announcement – should deliver the same sound quality as that found in professional mastering studios. That under the motto “nothing gets between the listener and the music. It is the long-awaited successor to the MEDUS, should you be familiar with the brand’s DACs. The HELIOS features both balanced and unbalanced analog outputs, plus digital inputs in a variety of formats. All standard sample rate up to 384 kHz are supported; DSD x64 and x128 are included too.
Proprietary developed discrete op-amp
The Weiss HELIOS is not “just” a DAC, but also a preamplifier, headphone amplifier and streamer that is Roon Ready and supports UPnP. Internally, a 32-bit DAC chip is used, with four parallel conversion channels per audio channel. All analog signal processing is controlled by Weiss’s in-house developed discrete opamps. These are known by the name OP2-BP. Incidentally, the HELIOS and the manufacturer’s DAC501 and DAC502 are based on the same digital audio platform, but the HELIOS uses a different DAC and analog output section. Either way, something for the purists among you.