Metrum NOS Hex Flagship DAC

[Blackmore]

How this chair of yours sounds like?
 
Dont become that teasing person, its not your style Tony

 
 
Quote:

SR-Lamb on a lamb-skin chair 

 

[antonyfirst]

Well, the impressions with the Omega 2, right now, are like follows: my "bettered" KGSS is still not enough, to my taste, to wake up the Omega 2.
Where the Hex gives Lambda's some brutal power and intense tonality, the Omega 2 are still a "sleeping giant". They let you hint the potential, they show big authority, a very dark, romantic tonality, but unlike the Lambda, they never fly. They are clearly underamped.
Based on having had similar impressions in the past with a SRM-717, and now with the KGSS with current source upgrade, I think a KGSSHV has to be the minimum admission fee for the SR-007 Mk1.
 
You can ask me more questions, but given the power is being bottleneck with the O2, I cannot really say much more, other than the midrange is right for the most part, the overall tone is beautiful, but also too dark and almost without any bolt of reaction. There are also hints of some hardness in the mids, which I think are also amplification dependant. They make my amp strive.
 
They work well with dark music like Lycia - The Burning Circle and then Dust, since they can express that sense of depression and sufference perfectly. But they are otherwise like a big black pig that keeps sleeping.

 

[Clemmaster]

This kinda remains me of my HE-6 next to the 5LEs...
Power hungry cans be damned! 

 until I find a proper amp for them!

 

[Vitor Teixeira]

This kinda remains me of my HE-6 next to the 5LEs...
Power hungry cans be damned! 

 
until I find a proper amp for them!

Hi Clem, you need an Auralic Taurus
Trust me.

 

[Failed Engineer]

Thank you for your impressions Antony.  I think your feeling regarding the pairing of the SR-007 MK1 and KGSS variants are fairly common in the hobby.  I do wonder if the SR-007 just does better with brighter, more excitable sources.  I would not describe the SR-007 MK1 as played through the Anedio D2->KGSS to be underamped.  It's plenty romantic to me.  I wonder if I'm going to come to the same conclusion as you after I replace the Anedio with the Hex.  I wouldn't be surprised.  Again, thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Clemmaster]

Quote:

Hi Clem, you need an Auralic Taurus

Trust me.

 
A Taurus? Hum... interesting!
I thought no headphone amp - short of the EF-6 and the Audio-GD offering - could drive them competently.
 
How does it pair with the DP1?
I really like it with the HE-6 because of its forward presentation (the HE-6 mids are less forward than the 5LEs). But I need a warm amp (SA-31 on "warm 2" setting) because bright + bright is too bright for me 

 
Actually, I had another listen yesterday, it's not that bad in terms of dynamic with the SA-31 on its most neutral setup (+ NFB-27's DAC).
The HE-6 sounds (much) bigger than the 5LEs and 500s, that's impressive! 

 

[preproman]

Quote:

 
A Taurus? Hum... interesting!
I thought no headphone amp - short of the EF-6 and the Audio-GD offering - could drive them competently.
 
How does it pair with the DP1?
I really like it with the HE-6 because of its forward presentation (the HE-6 mids are less forward than the 5LEs). But I need a warm amp (SA-31 on "warm 2" setting) because bright + bright is too bright for me 

 
Actually, I had another listen yesterday, it's not that bad in terms of dynamic with the SA-31 on its most neutral setup (+ NFB-27's DAC).
The HE-6 sounds (much) bigger than the 5LEs and 500s, that's impressive! 

 
The mids on the HE-6 "can" change depending on the amp being use.  The HE-5LE on a pretty decent amp is pretty much what you hear is what you get - meaning won't change as much.

 

[antonyfirst]

Just a quick update to say that the Omega 2 sound is growing on me, and I reach for it more often than the Lambda.
 
I also have a broken finger so writing is a bit harder, but I am collecting quite a few impressions, which I hope to write down soon

 

[preproman]

At CAF this weekend in Washington DC.
 
Got a chance to listen to the HEX and the Octave mkII.  Both are go getters.  I really like the sound of both.  The HEX seemed to extend more at both ends.  Bass was tight with good decay.  The treble had no effects of roll off at all.  I was expecting to get some, but the highs extended all the way out.  The HEX is a very good DAC.  I'm so glad I got to listen to it for a good while.  
 
Funny thing.  I listened to the Octave mkII on the EF-6 with my HE-6

  The HEX was paired with the Mal Val... 

  pretty good amp.  Not my cup of tea - but I can see where some folks would like it.
 
The HEX has my stamp.
 
Now the thing for me is.  The JK Ciunas better sound better than the Octave mkII - Or I will be selling it fast to get the Octave mkII as well for the bedroom.  It's a nice looking little DAC..

 

[Turn&cough]

Quote:

Now the thing for me is.  The JK Ciunas better sound better than the Octave mkII - Or I will be selling it fast to get the Octave mkII as well for the bedroom.  It's a nice looking little DAC..

 
Looking forward to your impressions. I haven't read any comparisons of the Ciunas vs some of the top end FOTM DACs. HEX, Vega, etc
 
I really like the Ciunas but that's compared to DACs in more or less the same price range that appeared 2-3 years ago. If its sound offers a no frills(USB only) alternative to 2-3x more expensive feature rich models then I'll know for sure my source can't be improved on without spending crazy amounts of money.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

 
Looking forward to your impressions. I haven't read any comparisons of the Ciunas vs some of the top end FOTM DACs. HEX, Vega, etc
 
I really like the Ciunas but that's compared to DACs in more or less the same price range that appeared 2-3 years ago. If its sound offers a no frills(USB only) alternative to 2-3x more expensive feature rich models then I'll know for sure my source can't be improved on without spending crazy amounts of money.

 
 
Of course.  But the Metrum Octave mkII is not 2-3x the price.  It's a 1K Dac at the most.  I think anyway..

 

[Clemmaster]

Quote:

At CAF this weekend in Washington DC.
 
Got a chance to listen to the HEX and the Octave mkII.  Both are go getters.  I really like the sound of both.  The HEX seemed to extend more at both ends.  Bass was tight with good decay.  The treble had no effects of roll off at all.  I was expecting to get some, but the highs extended all the way out.  The HEX is a very good DAC.  I'm so glad I got to listen to it for a good while.  
 
Funny thing.  I listened to the Octave mkII on the EF-6 with my HE-6

  The HEX was paired with the Mal Val... 

  pretty good amp.  Not my cup of tea - but I can see where some folks would like it.
 
The HEX has my stamp.
 
Now the thing for me is.  The JK Ciunas better sound better than the Octave mkII - Or I will be selling it fast to get the Octave mkII as well for the bedroom.  It's a nice looking little DAC..

 
Nice! Nice! Nice!
Didn't get a chance to listen to the Eximus?

 

[antonyfirst]

I owned both at different times. The Eximus is also very good, but a bit more standard, less vinyl sounding, it's a good sounding digital with a pleasant tonality, big imaging and very detailed. The Hex has a more realistic and powerful tone.

 

[Turn&cough]

Quote:

 
 
Of course.  But the Metrum Octave mkII is not 2-3x the price.  It's a 1K Dac at the most.  I think anyway..

[size=x-small]Maybe you can get it for less but the price I saw is: No USB $1230, including USB $1395[/size]. The HEX is about double that amount.
 
The Ciunas should be better than the Octave and if it's even close to the HEX I'll be very happy.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

 
Nice! Nice! Nice!
Didn't get a chance to listen to the Eximus?

 
nope - it was not there.  Or I didn't see it.