New WEISS HELIOS Reference DAC
Weiss presents the brand’s new flagship. The new Weiss Helios brings together the best of the famed Medus and the award-winning DAC502.
Nothing between you and the music
Professional-grade digital-to-analog converter
Originating from Weiss Engineering’s line of products for professional mastering studios, HELIOS is truly a DAC without compromise. For those looking for the same representation of their music that mastering engineers hear when adjusting audio in the studio, HELIOS is the ultimate unit.
professional level at home
Weiss Engineering’s professional clients work in the world’s best studios, fine-tuning the sound of the world’s biggest artists. It is not an option for them to use anything but the best monitoring systems out there. That’s why they use professional DACs from Weiss Engineering.
The HELIOS maintains the same level of quality, with design and features better suited to the high-end hi-fi market. With HELIOS, you are hearing what the professionals are hearing.
High connectivity
The HELIOS comes with digital inputs in numerous formats and has balanced and unbalanced analog outputs. All standard sample rates up to 384 kHz plus DSD x64 and x128 are supported.
In addition, the unit functions as a preamplifier, headphone amp, and streamer (UPnP/ROON).
Comparison with HELIOS
The HELIOS and its siblings DAC501 and DAC502 are based on the same digital audio platform, but the HELIOS has a different D/A converter and analog output section.
HELIOS’s XLR and RCA outputs can be used to drive the amplifier’s line inputs as well as headphones directly or through a dedicated headphone amplifier.
DSP processing can be switched to speakerphone or headphone mode as required.
The HELIOS casing is made of a double frame scheme with a stainless steel internal frame and a thick aluminum outer frame.
purist signal path
To achieve its exceptional performance specifications, HELIOS uses an eight-channel 32-bit D/A converter chip, with four channels of parallel conversion per audio channel. All analog processing is done by our own discrete op amp modules, the Weiss OP2-BP, possibly the best audio op amp available today.
It also uses a high precision/low jitter internal clock generator for ultra stable clocking of the D/A converter section.
professional processing
The built-in digital audio processing is based on the same pioneering algorithms used in Weiss Engineering’s professional audio tools.
So with HELIOS you can fine-tune audio using the same professional-grade algorithms that were used to mix and master the original recordings.
Easy to use
The HELIOS comes with an IR remote control that can be used to select active input and output, DSP audio processing presets, and power on and off.
Additionally, HELIOS can be controlled and configured via a web browser, adding detailed control of DSP processing and preset management.
