Graph 1 shows the Weiss DAC 502’s distortion and noise contributions when replaying a 1kHz test signal at 0dB. It’s remarkably good for many reasons. The first is that there’s almost no mains-related low-frequency noise visible and such noise as there is is close to 120dB down, evidenced by the single spike at the extreme left of the graph that’s almost obscured by the graph line itself.
Then there’s the complete lack of noise. Or rather, such noise as there is is sitting down at –140dB right across the audio band. This makes the DAC 502 quieter than any music signal you might play through it, and quieter than all but a handful of the world’s quietest power amplifiers. As you can see, there are some distortion components, but the two most prominent are a second harmonic at –112dB (0.00025% THD), and a third at –101dB (0.00089% THD) —
