The main reason for buying pegasus was that the young ambitious team with experience knocked out their first DAC.
It was logical for the business to be exceptional at an unbeatable price (their survival depends on success), plus reading various reviews that praised it. These are engineers who worked in denafrips, where the logic is to place their first product at a 40% higher price than the popular product of another brand(to whom they worked). At the same time, people who have never heard him, belittle him and state that all the reviewers who rated him positively are mercenaries, and the only reviewer who speaks against him is honest !?
And finally, what I can say with 99% certainty, the sound processing performed by the pegasus is impossible found in the DAC below 1.5 K. Good sound requires financial investment, and if you need sure success, you will set up a product that has the best price-quality ratio.
I connected quality inputs and outputs with pegasus and that gives me an exceptional listening experience, I know I invested my money the best.
Only the audiophile community will be harmed by their killing
First, the Pegasus is a fine dac that stands out among many competitors. If you own it you will most probably be satisfied with its performance.
That said, there are some technical issues why I would not recommend it or consider it based on my own experience modifying dac's over the past 10 years (est). Mainly because information about the output stage is deliberately opaque. All I have read is a boast of certain transistors (supposedly continuing to emphasize it's discrete build as opposed to opamps?).
The output stage is a very determining factor of the DAC's final soundquality. So from from that transistor statement I can assume it has an active, amplified, output. This is congruent with the character as 'dynamic', 'strong', etc in diverse reviews. However, and this part is NOT told, this always comes at a cost. Any amplification goes at the cost of information. It introduces distortion, is less well defined, a bit veiled, timing is a bit smeared. All the things that define a discrete R2R are compromised by that active output stage. And the only reviewer who heard this is Jay from NBT studio? Or is he the only one who has the integrity to speak out?
Anyway. Now here comes the kicker:
it does not need that active output stage at all (depending on your amplifiers input impedance which could interfere with dynamics, FI if you turn down the volume on a huge amp). I know sajunkie and I differ in opinion on this, but I strongly prefer clarity and definition (ie keeping max information) and I don't have any lack of base ever (triodes or other low power amps plus Genesis bass amp). On any decent high quality amplifier it shouldn't matter. An R2R dac is best left without amplification, it can provide enough voltage by itself. This keeps the signal path incredibly short and simple. That is a big bonus on the part of R2R so why does the Pegasus throw that away?
The other technical issue is the power cap array. The Pegasus uses the ubiquitous standard solution of throwing in a few big relatively cheap elco's and markets it as something special. The reviewers seem to attribute the 'balsy' sound to these big elco's. I say it's probably the output stage (simple logic: Ockhams razor).
Now the other severe issue I have with the whole 'Musician' brand is ethical and it's obvious lack of morals. The design is obviously 'borrowed' (and never returned?) from the Denafrips Ares. All marketing, and this includes unwitting (or corrupted) reviewers, is pointed to a new young team of experienced audiophile designers. All the while the fact that its a blatant copy is treated like a big hairy wooly mammoth providing damping in the listening room. It is not so much that they copied the design and made it worse with some inside and cosmetic outside changes, ok call it different tastes. It's the fact that they are trying to pass it off as their own with all means no matter if its lawful, legal, ethical or moral. That is what I find abject.
Denafrips has a whole range of products. The Ares has been around for some time. It has the same technology as the more expensive products. The Terminator has been very highly praised everywhere. The Ares is built with that same vision on design and how it should sound. Even measurements of the Ares and Terminator are almost identical. So it is safe to say that the Ares IS the original. It costs a lot less and it sounds better.
So where the Pegasus is fine, the Ares overshadows it as even better, cheaper and with great service and open communication. So actually the Pegasus is more a cheap trick than an improvement.
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