[gvl2016]

My understanding this should be a direct replacement, there appears to be a single screw holding the USB module down, take it out, make sure there are no other screws and gently pull the USB board up, you may need to rock it a bit if the socket is tight. Compare the connectors on both boards, they should hopefully be completely same. Insert the I2S board and secure with the screw. Naturally the unit should be unplugged from the wall when you're doing this. Touch something grounded first like a computer case that's plugged in into the wall to discharge static buildup before you touch any electronics inside the DAC.

 

[llamaluv]

Having just gone thru this just a few weeks ago, I can confirm this is to be a good description of the procedure.

Note that after the swap, you'll probably find there's some extra room around the RJ45 socket and the cutout in the backplate that originally accommodated the USB socket, which is kind of unfortunate but I guess not really unexpected.

Also, if the screws in the back are hex and not Phillips, it'll probably require a 2mm hex key tool. This caused me an hour or so of grief...

 

[sahmen]

My understanding this should be a direct replacement, there appears to be a single screw holding the USB module down, take it out, make sure there are no other screws and gently pull the USB board up, you may need to rock it a bit if the socket is tight. Compare the connectors on both boards, they should hopefully be completely same. Insert the I2S board and secure with the screw. Naturally the unit should be unplugged from the wall when you're doing this. Touch something grounded first like a computer case that's plugged in into the wall to discharge static buildup before you touch any electronics inside the DAC.

Thanks for making this job seem so much less intimidating...

Having just gone thru this just a few weeks ago, I can confirm this is to be a good description of the procedure.

Note that after the swap, you'll probably find there's some extra room around the RJ45 socket and the cutout in the backplate that originally accommodated the USB socket, which is kind of unfortunate but I guess not really unexpected.

Also, if the screws in the back are hex and not Phillips, it'll probably require a 2mm hex key tool. This caused me an hour or so of grief...

Thanks for the confirmation, and the extra input... Fortunately, I think I have one or two of those hex key tools you have mentioned somewhere in one of my toolboxes.

 

[oldcheese]

I am about to replace the USB module in my Onyx with the i2s module, but I have no instructions to follow for doing that... Is there somewhere I can find such instructions on the net? Th i2s module itself does not seem to have a user manual, like the MQA module does.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

I replaced the usb module with the i2s in my pavane. It was simple to do, just be careful pulling the usb module out of its small set of sockets and when alining the pins/sockets of the i2s module. The alpha audio? review of the ambre shows a few photos of the module replacement (in a pavane I think). If you are still not sure I would contact Metrum. they are usualy helpfull . ATB

 

[sahmen]

The USB replacement turned out to be relatively straightforward and uncomplicated. The most delicate and trying parts were the prying out of the USB module, and the aligning of pins and holes when I was installing the I2S module, but its done and I am actually listening to the Ambre/Onyx combo right now with the He-1000 through my Liquid Carbon. Although the previous AES connection was really nice, I can immediately understand why Metrum have been raving about the i2S connectivity... The difference the I2S makes is immediately noticeable, and in a good way. Life is good!

Thanks again to @gvl2016 , @llamaluv , and @oldcheese for your very helpful inputs and encouragement.

 

[sahmen]

Short and sweet : Ambre/Roon ==>> i2s ==>> Onyx ==>> Cavalli Liquid Carbon v1 ==>> Norne Audio Silvergarde S Clear ==>> Hifiman he-1000 : This chain sounds so sublimely awesome -- so very clean, detailed, so well-extended at both ends, so spacious and airy, so exquisitely resolved, so relaxing and non-fatiguing, that it is positively scary to even suspect that there might be any weak links in the chain, and that this whole chain could sound any better than it does now, with further tweaks

Yet I'm just wondering how this might sound, were I to replace the onyx with an Adagio or Pavane III, or the Liquid Carbon with the Liquid Gold, the HE-1000 with a Susvara or Abyss AB-1266 Phi ? I am sure such changes might well produce interesting and worthwhile changes. At the same time, I feel like a total moron, for not stopping the needless second guessing, and not simply enjoying the absolutely succulent and liquid musical nirvana in which my head is swimming at present (listening to Mathias Eick's Ravensburg . Album on the ECM label in Tidal MQA format)... It is almost like arriving at Audio Nirvana, and asking the first Angel one meets whether there's an even more awesome place to be...

Is it just me, or are we humans all just wired like this? Must we always find some way to introduce mental static and dissonance into every nirvana we find, even where none exists?

Somehow, I suspect that even if I had the Adagio, the Liquid Gold, and the Phi in the chain, I might still find some way to second-guess the chain, and if that is indeed the case, then it is just too bad...

Meanwhile, make no mistake : the chain I am currently listening to sounds abso-f...ingly fantastic! Thanks to Metrum for making this much enjoyment possible... I really don't care, at the moment, if it can get better.

 

[gvl2016]

That's a good summary, I can't honestly say Metrum DACs produce reference grade sound, but relaxing and non-fatiguing it is, while being well extended on both ends and sufficiently detailed. I detract to more conventional sound time after time but the fatigue eventually sets in, but never with Metrum.

 

[sahmen]

If you mean that it is in the areas of emotional involvement and nuancing that the Metrum products excel, rather than in those of technical perfection, then I would tend to agree. Although, if I am being honest, I am not sure I would completely recognize reference level technical perfection in musical performance if someone were to present it to me, nor am I entirely certain how much I would like it emotionally

 

[gvl2016]

Yup, technical perfection doesn't necessarily mean enjoyment. I think it is okay to trade one for the other as long as a concious decision is made

 

[Don Quichotte]

Short and sweet : Ambre/Roon ==>> i2s ==>> Onyx ==>> Cavalli Liquid Carbon v1 ==>> Norne Audio Silvergarde S Clear ==>> Hifiman he-1000 : This chain sounds so sublimely awesome -- so very clean, detailed, so well-extended at both ends, so spacious and airy, so exquisitely resolved, so relaxing and non-fatiguing [...].

That's a good summary, I can't honestly say Metrum DACs produce reference grade sound, but relaxing and non-fatiguing it is, while being well extended on both ends and sufficiently detailed.

I don't understand... Wasn't Onyx described as having a HF roll off? I'm pretty sure I've read this recently, and it was even in more than one place...

 

[wazzupi]

I don't understand... Wasn't Onyx described as having a HF roll off? I'm pretty sure I've read this recently, and it was even in more than one place...

Wrong... There isn't any roll off...

 

[gvl2016]

I don't understand... Wasn't Onyx described as having a HF roll off? I'm pretty sure I've read this recently, and it was even in more than one place...

There must be roll-off in NOS mode on 44.1kHz material, no way around it. Upsampling externally or playing hi-res takes care of the roll-off, I referred to the latter. That said even on 44.1kHz Metrum DACs don't sound too dull.

 

[sahmen]

I don't understand... Wasn't Onyx described as having a HF roll off? I'm pretty sure I've read this recently, and it was even in more than one place...

There must be roll-off in NOS mode on 44.1kHz material, no way around it. Upsampling externally or playing hi-res takes care of the roll-off, I referred to the latter. That said even on 44.1kHz Metrum DACs don't sound too dull.

I am indeed familiar with the expression "NOS Roll-off," at least in theory... In practice though, I do not quite or always know how that is meant to translate into the listening experience. As compared to listening to a non-NOS DAC, such as the A2 Yggy, I feel that I hear as much high Frequency detail on the Onyx (and prior to that on my Metrum Hex, which is now gone) as I do on the Yggy, although they have ways of presenting those details that make the Yggy sound a little more aggressive and "in your face,": and the Onyx/Hex, a little more smooth and laid-back... The irony is that there are finer HF/LF details of certain songs that I am first made aware of by the Onyx, in spite of having heard the same songs played on my Yggy several times before. No, it is not that the Yggy is missing those details, because I always find them when I go back to listening on the Yggy after the Onyx experience, and I know what I am listening for... The reverse is also true... The Yggy can highlight certain fine details in the music to the ear, details that might escape the listener if they're listening to that same song for the first time on the Onyx, even though they'll be right there on the Onyx too, if one is consciously looking out for them, after hearing the song on the Yggy...

In . short, in both A2 Yggy and the Onyx, i find two divergent flavors that I enjoy immensely, each for its own characteristics and idiosyncrasies, even though one is supposed to be a Non-NOS, and the other a NOS DAC... There may be a "NOS-Rolloff" operative somewhere, but either I do not know how to interpret its effects on my listening pleasure on either of those DACs, or it simply does not affect my listening in any adverse ways that I know of...

I am also aware of folks who prefer and always opt for NOS Dacs... I am not necessarily in that camp, but their preference tells me that the alleged "NOS Rolloff" does not bother them either, which makes me even less concerned about it.

 

[gvl2016]

It is actually quite simple. When you listen to a DAC with a non-flat frequency response in the audible band you are not hearing the same information that sound engineer heard when the music was recorded/mastered. It is fine if you understand this and accept as a trade-off in favor of a more comfortable sound.

 

[llamaluv]

On this current topic of conversation, it seems to me that a trusted set of measurements comparing Metrum and some OS DACs would do well right about now...