[kumar402]

There is one from YFS
http://www.yourfinalsystem.com/dac-reviews/208-sonnet-morpheus-dac-review

 

[kumar402]

Surprisingly very few impressions and comparisons for $4000 dac. Only a single review on net. no measurements.

I guess it's close to $3000

 

[vonBaron]

But sound better...

Great, going by the measurements above, Morpheus measures poorer than pavane. Issue of volume control is also affecting the performance as well as the higher output range (above -10db) having more distortion.

 

[rkt31]

I guess it's close to $3000

I was referring the review and measurement.

 

[kumar402]

I was referring the review and measurement.

I guess you are talking about below

There is measured noise increase at around -50 db input signal, this has nothing to with with the volume control, which is not a digital control, Most of your music will not have much at -50db. While this is considered technically audible, whether you actually hear it is another question. The noise increase is speculated to be caused by summing the split bits that is done when the signal is first processed.

 

[rkt31]

I guess you are talking about below

Technically audible but still questioning human hearing ? Isn't it contradictory ? May be the reviewer is like most other reviewers who rate every audio gear between 8.7 to 9.2 out of 10.

 

[kumar402]

Technically audible but still questioning human hearing ? Isn't it contradictory ? May be the reviewer is like most other reviewers who rate every audio gear between 8.7 to 9.2 out of 10.

Best is to hear and judge for ourselves

 

[Sonnet Fan]

While the Pavane/Adagio is a beautiful-sounding machine, it's just that with digital technology the only place its designer Cees can go is better and/or cheaper. In Morpheus' case it is BOTH better and cheaper. Indeed I'm keeping the Morpheus and arranging for RMA on the Pavane atm (the RMA request turned into a whole other story). This is a current model Pavane, which only comes in 1 level equaling the L3 trim.

My maiden post on this forum waxes poetic a bit about how the Morpheus, for just an arm, is above and beyond the Pavane(max)/Adagio which cost both an arm and a leg. And smaller chassis, subjectively more attractive industrial design add points on Morpheus' side. But all is not without glitches for the Morpheus. While the Pavane's USB connection has been 100% completely solidly glitch-free since the moment it arrived and throughout its 400+ hours run time, Morpheus' USB connection is rather glitchy, even glitchier than the (now-defunct) April Music Stello U3 (XMOS), or the Yamaha A-S801 integrated's built-in USB (Steinberg driver). For my discussion I'm talking about Win10 drivers only. My system is on 24/7. It's the one system for every audio need, whether active listening or background music. With the Morpheus I have once been awoken in the middle of the night by terrible distorted sounds (it is a very bad way to wake up, ranking up there with the in-room fire alarm in a condo I once occupied which was so loud it could wake up the deaf and dead). More often, like 1-3 times a day, audio would infinitely loop the last second or so of whatever was playing before I pressed "stop", on ANY app that outputs audio. And at all times, over hours of use, audio out of the Morpheus becomes a fraction of a second delayed compared to video playing on screen, whether a video file or YouTube (this effect is not detectable with audio-only apps). Another type of glitch with the Morpheus is where the sync degrades slightly, the Morpheus carries on with an audible distortion, never able to restore proper sync but never completely loses connection.

In all cases the problems are fixed by disconnecting and reconnecting USB.

So here's one thing Pavane has on its side (likely applies to Adagio as well). If you need a bomb proof USB connection, the Morpheus is a nonstarter, while the Pavane will work brilliantly for that purpose. For Morphie's fabulous SQ/$, I'm willing to fiddle with the USB connector on the back of the PC as a regular exercise.

 

[bilboda]

I didn't have a USB problem when I was using it. I moved on to a i2s input. Maybe you could get a new USB board from Sonnet. It's an easy swap.

 

[Sonnet Fan]

While the Pavane/Adagio is a beautiful-sounding machine, it's just that with digital technology the only place its designer Cees can go is better and/or cheaper. In Morpheus' case it is BOTH better and cheaper. Indeed I'm keeping the Morpheus and arranging for RMA on the Pavane atm

 

[kumar402]

Morpheus is exactly same size as Onyx

 

[ken6217]

While the Pavane/Adagio is a beautiful-sounding machine, it's just that with digital technology the only place its designer Cees can go is better and/or cheaper. In Morpheus' case it is BOTH better and cheaper. Indeed I'm keeping the Morpheus and arranging for RMA on the Pavane atm (the RMA request turned into a whole other story). This is a current model Pavane, which only comes in 1 level equaling the L3 trim.

My maiden post on this forum waxes poetic a bit about how the Morpheus, for just an arm, is above and beyond the Pavane(max)/Adagio which cost both an arm and a leg. And smaller chassis, subjectively more attractive industrial design add points on Morpheus' side. But all is not without glitches for the Morpheus. While the Pavane's USB connection has been 100% completely solidly glitch-free since the moment it arrived and throughout its 400+ hours run time, Morpheus' USB connection is rather glitchy, even glitchier than the (now-defunct) April Music Stello U3 (XMOS), or the Yamaha A-S801 integrated's built-in USB (Steinberg driver). For my discussion I'm talking about Win10 drivers only. My system is on 24/7. It's the one system for every audio need, whether active listening or background music. With the Morpheus I have once been awoken in the middle of the night by terrible distorted sounds (it is a very bad way to wake up, ranking up there with the in-room fire alarm in a condo I once occupied which was so loud it could wake up the deaf and dead). More often, like 1-3 times a day, audio would infinitely loop the last second or so of whatever was playing before I pressed "stop", on ANY app that outputs audio. And at all times, over hours of use, audio out of the Morpheus becomes a fraction of a second delayed compared to video playing on screen, whether a video file or YouTube (this effect is not detectable with audio-only apps). Another type of glitch with the Morpheus is where the sync degrades slightly, the Morpheus carries on with an audible distortion, never able to restore proper sync but never completely loses connection.

In all cases the problems are fixed by disconnecting and reconnecting USB.

So here's one thing Pavane has on its side (likely applies to Adagio as well). If you need a bomb proof USB connection, the Morpheus is a nonstarter, while the Pavane will work brilliantly for that purpose. For Morphie's fabulous SQ/$, I'm willing to fiddle with the USB connector on the back of the PC as a regular exercise.

Not because of your issue, but Cees had said that AES/EBU is the best sounding connection compared to USB and SPDIF.

 

[Yaska729]

Not because of your issue, but Cees had said that AES/EBU is the best sounding connection compared to USB and SPDIF.

I thought Cees is all about the I2S connection and pairing the machine with the Hermes would actually work the best?

 

[kumar402]

I thought Cees is all about the I2S connection and pairing the machine with the Hermes would actually work the best?

I2S works well and so does AES. Both are better then USB for sure. Also no need to go to Hermes, I'm using Pi2AES, a pi based HAT, to connect metrum and Sonnet DAC using I2S. However if you want to run long cable for I2S then Hermes or Amber may be best bet but if you are ok with shorter cable then Pi2AES is good as well.

 

[ken6217]

I thought Cees is all about the I2S connection and pairing the machine with the Hermes would actually work the best?

I said between USB, AES/EBU, SPDIF. Did not mention I2S.