Prior owner originally bought it with DAC2 modules. He upgraded it to DAC3. I've heard the Onyx both ways. Although I couldn't do a direct before/after comparison, I'm really impressed with how it sounds with DAC3. In particular, the treble seems "sweeter," without any noticeable falloff at the top end.
That's the issue for me, and holds me back. £2K for the upgrade must result in a significant improvement, or why bother? I haven't read any owner feedback suggesting more than a marginal gain. And of course DAC2 is already very good.
the Adagio already is amongst the best DACs out there
Well when they come back into stock I might buy them and try. Of course we never know when this will be because Metrum tell us nothing.
One of my issues too. What to do if you don't like them? I can't return in 14 days for refund? If it was risk free then I'd be more confident to try.
Here, no risk involved, just read and listen for yourself:
I definitely recommend listening to these comparison files. Ironically, however, the differences you may hear between them can be affected by the characteristics of the DAC that you're listening to them through.
Yes of course, that has to be a very neutral DAC
Are you still running the default OS on the Ambre? I have been thinking about updating it to the most recent version of Ropieee. I'm curious as to whether there's an SQ gains to be eeked out...
Only benefit will be ability to use UPnP, NAA, Spotify Connect as compared to default OS which I guess is customized for Roon RAAT.
Nope. Using gentooplayer on both server & rpi4/singxer su6 & ambre.
A worthwhile pursuit from a SQ perspective?
That's a shame. If it won't sound better then there's no point.
