[MarkR7]

I haven’t had the Onyx for a year or so (changed to a tubed DAC), but from memory, it was akin to changing to a better power cord, so the change was a positive one to my ears. Slightly better clarity, better space, more separation were the benefits I remember compared to the stock fuse, but certainly not a mind-blowing massive change. I have sent back fuses in the past that didn’t make a difference, but on the Onyx, it was a relatively cheap sonic upgrade that was worth it for me!

 

[Roasty]

Thank you for all the advice rendered to me so far..

Last few questions before I pull the trigger..

Would a metrum onyx suffice?
If the Pavane was say for eg 100points, how good would the Onyx be?

If I just wanted a taste of the r2r sound but didn't want to lay out so much initially, would a second hand Flint, or even the Airist r2r be a good representation?

Soekris and Denafrips are also on the radar. The Terminator is roughly on the same price range as the Pavane, and have comparable priced other models too, and I have a local distributor here in Singapore.

 

[gvl2016]

Just to make sure you understand. Do you want to get a taste of R2R or NOS? Metrum DACs are NOS (non-oversampling) R2R. Soekris and Denafrips are OS (oversampling) R2R. Big difference. You can load a custom filter on Soekris to run it as NOS. Latest Denafrips let you select NOS mode I believe. The only way to run Metum DACs in OS mode is through external oversampling, for example using HQ Player or SoX in Foobar. Then some Delta-Sigma DACs let you disable the digital filter to effectively get NOS opeation, so you don't need to get R2R to get a taste of NOS.

 

[Roasty]

Just to make sure you understand. Do you want to get a taste of R2R or NOS? Metrum DACs are NOS (non-oversampling) R2R. Soekris and Denafrips are OS (oversampling) R2R. Big difference. You can load a custom filter on Soekris to run it as NOS. Latest Denafrips let you select NOS mode I believe.

Ah yes apologies. I meant NOS.
If I'm not wrong the denafrips dacs can switch nos and os on the fly so that's some appeal there.

 

[gvl2016]

I think just to play with NOS you can just stay at the entry level, the Amethyst or the Flint will suffice. Higher Metrums have a similar character but are a bit more precise. The Amethyst can take higher sampling rates on its USB input than the Flint that's a consideration if you want to play with external oversampling using HQ Player or the like. Ares II looks interesting too.

 

[kumar402]

Are you looking for headphone or Stereo setup?

 

[Roasty]

Are you looking for headphone or Stereo setup?

For headphones. Will likely use with the woo audio 22 amp and the meze/abyss.

 

[kumar402]

For headphones. Will likely use with the woo audio 22 amp and the meze/abyss.

Do note that NOS DACs have thick tonality. The vocals will sound little forward in the stage with dense tone. If you go higher in the chain of NOS, you will get better layering and bigger soundstage..however soundstage of DAC doesn't matter a lot with headphones. Onyx will give a very good idea of NOS DAC. Soekris and Drop are not NOS. Cees has launched Morpheus recently. Check it out as well. It's called Sonnet Morpheus. I haven't heard it yet but it is from same guy who has designed Onyx and Pavane

 

[Roasty]

Do note that NOS DACs have thick tonality. The vocals will sound little forward in the stage with dense tone. If you go higher in the chain of NOS, you will get better layering and bigger soundstage..however soundstage of DAC doesn't matter a lot with headphones. Onyx will give a very good idea of NOS DAC. Soekris and Drop are not NOS. Cees has launched Morpheus recently. Check it out as well. It's called Sonnet Morpheus. I haven't heard it yet but it is from same guy who has designed Onyx and Pavane

Have checked out the Morpheus. Looks good. Price is euro2893.

I guess probably an Onyx usb should be ok if I just wanna try out the NOS sound. At that price point it should be easier to sell as well (?).

I have an option to use it with the Wa22 and headphones, or rotate it with a Benchmark ahb2 to Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2ex bookshelves + rel t7i sub.

Have gotten in touch with Anjo to see if I can get things moving.

Just to add on a side note, I also ordered the EtherRegen just for kicks. If I don't like it I'll probably return it..

 

[gr8soundz]

Thank you for all the advice rendered to me so far..

Last few questions before I pull the trigger..

Would a metrum onyx suffice?
If the Pavane was say for eg 100points, how good would the Onyx be?

If I just wanted a taste of the r2r sound but didn't want to lay out so much initially, would a second hand Flint, or even the Airist r2r be a good representation?

Soekris and Denafrips are also on the radar. The Terminator is roughly on the same price range as the Pavane, and have comparable priced other models too, and I have a local distributor here in Singapore.

Have checked out the Morpheus. Looks good. Price is euro2893.

I guess probably an Onyx usb should be ok if I just wanna try out the NOS sound. At that price point it should be easier to sell as well (?).

I have an option to use it with the Wa22 and headphones, or rotate it with a Benchmark ahb2 to Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2ex bookshelves + rel t7i sub.

Have gotten in touch with Anjo to see if I can get things moving.

Just to add on a side note, I also ordered the EtherRegen just for kicks. If I don't like it I'll probably return it..

I got a Metrum Flint last month as an upgrade to my Soekris dac1101. The Soekris was my first R2R DAC and, refusing to return to delta-sigma, knew I wanted to try NOS.

After emailing Anjo, I ordered mine with DAC TWO (24-bit) modules. The Flint comes stock with 16-bit DAC ONE modules which, by my ears, were already a more than subtle improvement over the Soekris. Only 'downside' is the Flint lacks USB so I'm using coax out from a dedicated sound card I'd installed in my PC a few years ago.

For a while I also considered the Holo Audio Spring R2R DAC. Haven't heard it but it's switchable between NOS and oversampling.

 

[gvl2016]

Yup, I haven't heard it but everything indicates the HA Spring is a very nice unit, and given the feature set and independently confirmed performance I'd likely go for it instead of the Onyx.

 

[ThomasDK]

Sorry to disturb here on the forum, but it seems like Metrum Acoustics have a problem refunding ! Agreed with Wouter on buying a Pavane dac with full return within 30 days. It is also stated on their homepage. They received the Pavane back on the 21.nov 2019 (have signed copy from courier). It's now 7 weeks ago, and I still haven't received my money. Something simular happened to a user here, if you take a look around April 2019 in this thread. Any advice on what to do ?

 

[kumar402]

Sorry to disturb here on the forum, but it seems like Metrum Acoustics have a problem refunding ! Agreed with Wouter on buying a Pavane dac with full return within 30 days. It is also stated on their homepage. They received the Pavane back on the 21.nov 2019 (have signed copy from courier). It's now 7 weeks ago, and I still haven't received my money. Something simular happened to a user here, if you take a look around April 2019 in this thread. Any advice on what to do ?

I guess that user opened a Paypal dispute and subsequently got his money back. Please drop them an email or call them. I hope Metrum starts taking care of the buyer.
You can reach out to Paypal if you used it to make payment or your Credit card bank to see if they can help. But I hope Metrum responds to your email. Do write to them or call them everyday

 

[ThomasDK]

I have been writing several email directly to Wouter and via their homepage, and they do not respond. Called them twice on the phone this week, but no serious response yet. Requested money back through PayPal weeks ago. Started a PayPal file and claim today..

 

[lithiumnk]

Have checked out the Morpheus. Looks good. Price is euro2893.

I guess probably an Onyx usb should be ok if I just wanna try out the NOS sound. At that price point it should be easier to sell as well (?).

I have an option to use it with the Wa22 and headphones, or rotate it with a Benchmark ahb2 to Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2ex bookshelves + rel t7i sub.

Have gotten in touch with Anjo to see if I can get things moving.

Just to add on a side note, I also ordered the EtherRegen just for kicks. If I don't like it I'll probably return it..

Try AES if possible. Get a good DDC like gustard u16/ singxer su1. Avoid directly connecting PC/MAC to onyx via USB.
Btw how are you planning to use Ether Regen ? Do you have roon nucleus/NUC/Metrum Ambre ?