[vonBaron]

So Cees bring Metrum DAC to Sonnet level or Morpheus get upgrade too?

 

[Thenewguy007]

I just got the confirmation by Metrum that also Menuet and Pavane can receive the upgrade with upcoming DAC3 chipsets!

Did they say what kind of upgrade? Firmware or physical upgrade?

 

[marcelnl]

new DAC 3 modules, physical stuff!

 

[gvl2016]

What's good about these modules?

 

[marcelnl]

dunno, newer is better?

Likely a better DAC implementation, higher resolution, more parallel processing...we simply don't know until Cees will release the info....

 

[gvl2016]

I wish Cees shows a set of measurements for a change to back his performance claims. But he won't.

 

[marcelnl]

His claims were backed by the measurements on ASR, is there any reason to doubt his claims?

 

[Sonnet Fan]

Lab measurements for hi-fi are a bit like specifications of a painting. Sure it must have some x and y dimension, but 1 inch of canvas of the Mona Lisa is vastly different from the same inch on any other painting. Ultimately the only measurements we care about come from our eyes.

Sure spaghettis must have some desirable range of salt, but 1 gram of salt of top notch spaghetti is vastly different from the same gram of the spaghetti I made. Ultimately the only measurement we care about come from our taste buds.

Sure pianists must be able to play all 88 keys of the keyboard. But the same 88 keys played by Glenn Gould is vast different from that played by any other musician. Ultimately the only measurements we care about come from our ears.

Cees is a bit like a painter, or chef, or musician. He takes the same resisters and wires available to any designer and makes a product that pleases many people's palettes.

 

[LevPush]

His claims were backed by the measurements on ASR, is there any reason to doubt his claims?

Can you point me to that post? I tried to find measurement for Metrum dacs for a while but couldn’t find any.

 

[gvl2016]

Can you point me to that post? I tried to find measurement for Metrum dacs for a while but couldn’t find any.

Not on ASR, but you can find some for the Amethyst and the Morpheus elsewhere. Not too terrible but unspectacular for such expensive products.

 

[marcelnl]

I can show you measurements with 'horrible' figures yet great sound and vice versa...let's not get into yet another 'digital is always the same' or a 'measurements rule sound perception' pls.

did anyone hear more detail about the DAC 3 modules?

 

[marcelnl]

no one? I'll see if I can entice the folks behind Metrum to lift a tip of the veil..my curiosity is peaked...

 

[marcelnl]

question is out.

Does anyone know if the I2S board jumpers need to be tweaked and if so based on what? They are for impendance matching (on the old Jade/Onyx I2S board) and I suspect there is an optimal value based on output impendance from the I2S card in my computer OR the jumpers would not be there...big question is...how to determine what is right?

 

[thecrow]

A slightly different kind of question.
I happily have my metrum hex dac. I am looking at trying a non NOS dac as something different in my setup (and keeping the hex).
I guess looking for a dac that is less “analogue sounding” and more “analytical” (maybe) to use with my niimbus us4, that already has some warm notes/texture to it.

Has anyone heard any of the matrix audio element units, particularly the element x (purely as a dac)?

Though i expect and hope the character will be somewhat different to the hex I don’t want to diminish the quality of sound (at least not too much)

any experiences that you would like to share would be much appreciated

cheers
peter

 

[gvl2016]

No need to splurge for the Matrix to get an idea how a clean DAC should sound. SMSL SU-9, Sabaj D5, Topping Dx7 Pro are built around the same ESS chip and will sound about the same at a fraction of the cost. In fact even the Topping D10S will be enough if all you need is a USB input.