[Thenewguy007]

On Thursday I left Club Yggdrasil for Club Pavane. No regrets at all so far. What a great sounding DAC. Not completely at its best after only 2 days of running 24/7, but already I am getting a sense of engagement with the music that I really struggled for with the Yggdrasil - technically excellent, but too cold and neutral for my tastes. The Pavane injects some warmth and musicality, but doesn't seem to give up any technical ground to the Yggdrasil in doing it.

My DAC journey has been long and expensive: Vega -> Hegel HD30 -> Bricasti M1 ->Yggy -> Pavane. I think the Pavane might the end of the road for me.

Were you able to A/B the two DACs or have the opportunity to hear them at the same time?

 

[Energy]

On Thursday I left Club Yggdrasil for Club Pavane. No regrets at all so far. What a great sounding DAC. Not completely at its best after only 2 days of running 24/7, but already I am getting a sense of engagement with the music that I really struggled for with the Yggdrasil - technically excellent, but too cold and neutral for my tastes. The Pavane injects some warmth and musicality, but doesn't seem to give up any technical ground to the Yggdrasil in doing it.

My DAC journey has been long and expensive: Vega -> Hegel HD30 -> Bricasti M1 ->Yggy -> Pavane. I think the Pavane might the end of the road for me.

Congrats! I too left the Yggdrasil and Spring and went to the Pavane. Now happy with my level 3 and I2S modification.

It just sounds more warm and realsitic, like vinyl.

 

[TonyNewman]

Were you able to A/B the two DACs or have the opportunity to hear them at the same time?

No, swapped them out. Have had the Yggy for some months and am pretty familiar with its sound signature.

 

[PaSaul]

Tony newman really likes to make BOLD statements:
HEK are MUCH better then Utopia
or
Pavane is better over Yggdrassil

Synergy between components are everything in high end audio

The Pavane DAC being NOS is Softer and Warmer
The master 9 amp is clinical.
the yggdrassil is more forward and intense.

Tony, dont you think that the softer nature of the pavane will suit better your clinical Master 9 amp? the master 9 is known for a more clinical sound and in combination with the forward nature of Yggdrassil, its not the best recipe to combine Yggy + Master 9 + Utopia. simple as that

get a smoother amp and maybe youd be back preferring Utopia and yggdrassil over Pavane and HEK

 

[TonyNewman]

Tony newman really likes to make BOLD statements:
HEK are MUCH better then Utopia
or
Pavane is better over Yggdrassil
...

It's exactly this sort of response that makes me stop posting on HeadFi and go back to lurking.

HeadFi is overrun with this sort of egotistical masturbation. Enough. I'm out.

 

[Thenewguy007]

It's exactly this sort of response that makes me stop posting on HeadFi and go back to lurking.

HeadFi is overrun with this sort of egotistical masturbation. Enough. I'm out.

I wouldn't leave over a guy who only has 2 posts in his entire history & may not own any of the equipment he mentioned.

 

[PaSaul]

It's exactly this sort of response that makes me stop posting on HeadFi and go back to lurking.

HeadFi is overrun with this sort of egotistical masturbation. Enough. I'm out.

ok, sorry if I sounded arrogant.


its how you phrase things that seem to always suggect that objectively, if anyone would have the utopia and HEK, that everyone would go for the HEK. and now im sure it will be the same thing with pavane.
I just suggested that it may be a synergy issue.
btw I own utopia and the yggdrasil

 

[winders]

It's exactly this sort of response that makes me stop posting on HeadFi and go back to lurking.

HeadFi is overrun with this sort of egotistical masturbation. Enough. I'm out.

You can't be that thinned skin and survive on the Internet......

 

[Matez]

I can only say that I own a pair of HEK and I've heard Utopias in Munich recently with several different setups as Focal's flagship was literally everywhere. Long story's short, I wouldn't sell my HEK, but I'd like to have Utopias too. These two are very different cans, that's what I'm subjectively sayin'. And as far as Pavane goes, sound wise it's up there according to its asking. Still, for that coin I'd pick something else. Just my two cents

 

[grizzlybeast]

METRUM PAVANE LEVEL 1 vs SCHIIT YGGDRASIL

earphiles.org/2017/06/schiit-yggdrasil-vs-metrum-pavane-level-1/

 

[William166]

Hi, well I have just got a Pavane and it's magic. I am feeding it from a Raspberry Pi/Hifiberry Digi+ Pro via optical. I tried coax but get crackle & pop. Has anybody done an A/B comparison of the inputs (I can't find this information except in one review where it is suggested that AES is best)?

 

[Energy]

Hi, well I have just got a Pavane and it's magic. I am feeding it from a Raspberry Pi/Hifiberry Digi+ Pro via optical. I tried coax but get crackle & pop. Has anybody done an A/B comparison of the inputs (I can't find this information except in one review where it is suggested that AES is best)?

When using short cables I found AES, BNC, and RCA to sound the same, but once it gets longer AES seem to prevail.

I have modified my USB with a I2S board from Audio-GD and it sounds significantly better than AES. Highly recommended however is pretty difficult.

 

[Icesky]

Anyone running the pavane with active monitor. I was thinking about getting the pavane to output to focal solo 6 be or the solo twin directly.
What setup or additional items recommended apart from the usual interconnecting cable? Do I need a preamp? Would I be able to use spl phonitor 2 for both headphone and active speaker duty?

 

[Energy]

Anyone running the pavane with active monitor. I was thinking about getting the pavane to output to focal solo 6 be or the solo twin directly.
What setup or additional items recommended apart from the usual interconnecting cable? Do I need a preamp? Would I be able to use spl phonitor 2 for both headphone and active speaker duty?

I am running the Metrum Acoutics Pavane to active monitors both Adam A7X (at home) and Focal Trio6 BE (in studio).

All you will need is two balanced interconnects (XLR). Just make sure the negative return and ground is not connected on the cable for the best performance.
I have seen some cable manufacturers connect the two (not naming names).

To get the highest level of sound quality one must eliminate the use of multiple gain stages (volume adjustments) because it increases the signal path through the creation of joint connections. These extra "interconnects" will negatively influence the sound quality. The idea of being able to control volume through a single knob great, but the same can be had if you control it through your source (laptop, c, player). Now the issue here is that the Focal's do not come with a volume control so you will need a pre-amplifier that has a volume control.

If you are using the SPL Phonitor 2 as an amplifier for your headphones then based on the look of it, it could also be used as a preamplifier. It would probably serve your purpose better as you are able to use it for headphone listening as well as being able to control both the headphone and speaker signal from a single place.

At home my A7X's already has a volume control so a simple XLR cable goes directly from the Pavane to the monitors. If I were to use my headphone amplifier as a pre-amp for my speakers, it would take the projected signal from the DAC and run it through the headphone amplifier's circuitry which in turn adds additional noise into the signal and lengthens the path that it needs to travel. This isn't desirable as it degrades the sound quality. All of this needs to be done just to control volume from one place which is why I personally feel that it is better to do so from the computer source UNLESS as mentioned prior, if only your speaker does not have a control of it's own then a preamplifier is highly recommended. This is why the Metrum Acoustics Adagio is so highly regarded. It works as a DAC as well as a pre-amp. It's pre-amp adjusts the R2R Ladder in a way where it doesn't degrade sound quality so it would be a perfect item for monitors or loudspeakers that do not have volume control.

Either way, the issue here with volume knob based studio monitors or even ones without it is that you will still need to do SPL test to make sure the volume level on each speaker is the same. The same test (or similar) is also needed for equalization to keep the frequencies flat for accurate production.

Hope this answers your question.

 

[Energy]

I²S input board
Here is a I²S input board from Audio-GD that I modified to replace the existing USB input board on the Pavane so that it can accept I²S.
Since I²S transmission removes the need for a receiver chip and reconversion, I found it to sound significantly better than all other inputs such as USB, S/PDIF, or even AES/EBU. To me, the Metrum Acoustics Pavane sounds better than the Holo Audio Spring that I once upgraded from. The inconvenience here is that the Spring had this input whereas the Pavane didn't. For a long time I wondered how much better the Pavane would sound if it could utilize this type of input. Now the question has been answered. It sounds much better in a way where digital characteristics of sound is removed and this unit now sounds more lifelike than it ever has before.



The Technicals
An ultra-low noise VISHAY/DALE 165Ω resistor (CMF55/RN55) was added to the Audio-GD board to drop the incoming voltage (5.47V) that was once used to power USB input board to a working 3.3V for the I²S input board. Audio-GD's stock "Nover" electrolytic capacitors were replaced with better performing solid polymer Nichicon R7 for faster discharging (lower ESR) in case time variable becomes an important factor with I²S signals. The upgraded capacitors was too large for the space available hence one of them was mounted to the opposite side of the board. The bottom wires (Ground, +3.3V, SCLK, WCLK, and DATA) are soldered each to a female dupont connector and bent to a right angle so that they can fit without hitting the board when connected to the existing header pins (used for the previous USB Input board). I roughly measured the wires, soldered it, and adjusted it to where it would need to make proper contact with the pins all-while minimizing the length to prevent additional induced jitter (caused by longer wire runs).

Board Installation