Sonnet Digital Audio: New kid on the block, well.. not really!

[vonBaron]

Pathishea level of detali and resolution is incredible for a R2R DAC but still have maintain this R2R magic flavor.

 

[vonBaron]

Only R2R DAC who can beat Pasithea is Rockna Wavedream but it cost twice the price.

 

[kumar402]

What you still won’t get from Pasithea is hard hitting impact of Wavedream but if you feel need for detail then have a listen to Pasithea

 

[sahmen]

Morpheus have more meat sound, more bass (but Pasithea bass are better quality).

So as a match for my Niimbus Amp which of the two would be better?

Only reason I can see if you listen to compressed music a lot or if you listen to vocal focused music then no point jumping to Pasithea as Morpheus is almost there. What Pasithea will do is take you a notch above in details. Morpheus is forgiving but Pasithea is not. It’s faster for sure, has better detail. I feel some background instruments can be heard better out of Pasithea. I wish I had Morpheus handy with me.

And yes Morpheus is warmer.

I listen to a lot of acoustic music, in particularly jazz, classical, and other genres, so I like great detail retrieval, when it is presented in a refined, smooth, well layered, and non-fatiguing way, at least in theory. I do not, however, want to get that great detail retrieval at the expense heft and impact in the low end. So I want to ask how much "meat" (if any)the Pasithea takes off the bone of its mid and sub-bass response, in generating the high-level detail retrieval you speak about. You mention that the Morpheus is "warmer," and @vonBaron seems to be saying the Morpheus is "meatier," but what does it all mean in practice, for the totality of the musical presentation, when the rubber hits the road?

Will the Pasithea, as compared to the Morpheus, make mid and sub-bass response sound thin and lean like some mosquito on a water diet? Okay, ignoring the joke and talking more seriously, I want to get your assessment of how much bass meatiness and substance the Pasithea seems to sacrifice, if any, in the pursuit of all that glorious detail retrieval, as compared to mid and sub-bass response on the Morpheus?

Sometimes it sounds to me as if the Pasithea has gone for estat-like ethereal sounding detail retrieval, while sending mid and subbass response on a lean and spartan diet that might not be entirely satisfying to Morpheus enthusiasts, but I could be wrong. I would give everything to be able to audition a Pasithea in my system in order to hear for myself where all the chips fall in this comparison.

 

[sahmen]

What you still won’t get from Pasithea is hard hitting impact of Wavedream but if you feel need for detail then have a listen to Pasithea

So how will a Pasithea vs Holo May vs Wave Dream shoot out pan out in your own book of performance rankings, if you can tell?

 

[vonBaron]

So as a match for my Niimbus Amp which of the two would be better?


I listen to a lot of acoustic music, in particularly jazz, classical, and other genres, so I like great detail retrieval, when it is presented in a refined, smooth, well layered, and non-fatiguing way, at least in theory. I do not, however, want to get that great detail retrieval at the expense heft and impact in the low end. So I want to ask how much "meat" (if any)the Pasithea takes off the bone of its mid and sub-bass response, in generating the high-level detail retrieval you speak about. You mention that the Morpheus is "warmer," and @vonBaron seems to be saying the Morpheus is "meatier," but what does it all mean in practice, for the totality of the musical presentation, when the rubber hits the road?

Will the Pasithea, as compared to the Morpheus, make mid and sub-bass response sound thin and lean like some mosquito on a water diet? Okay, ignoring the joke and talking more seriously, I want to get your assessment of how much bass meatiness and substance the Pasithea seems to sacrifice, if any, in the pursuit of all that glorious detail retrieval, as compared to mid and sub-bass response on the Morpheus?

Sometimes it sounds to me as if the Pasithea has gone for estat-like ethereal sounding detail retrieval, while sending mid and subbass response on a lean and spartan diet that might not be entirely satisfying to Morpheus enthusiasts, but I could be wrong. I would give everything to be able to audition a Pasithea in my system in order to hear for myself where all the chips fall in this comparison.

If you have $$ go straight to Pasithea, it is amazing experience with Niimbus (i have Niimbus too).

 

[George Hincapie]

It would be awesome if Cees released versions of Morpheus and Pasithea without preamp functionality. Just standard DACs. Jike Onyx/Jade and Pavane/Adagio.

 

[kumar402]

So as a match for my Niimbus Amp which of the two would be better?


I listen to a lot of acoustic music, in particularly jazz, classical, and other genres, so I like great detail retrieval, when it is presented in a refined, smooth, well layered, and non-fatiguing way, at least in theory. I do not, however, want to get that great detail retrieval at the expense heft and impact in the low end. So I want to ask how much "meat" (if any)the Pasithea takes off the bone of its mid and sub-bass response, in generating the high-level detail retrieval you speak about. You mention that the Morpheus is "warmer," and @vonBaron seems to be saying the Morpheus is "meatier," but what does it all mean in practice, for the totality of the musical presentation, when the rubber hits the road?

Will the Pasithea, as compared to the Morpheus, make mid and sub-bass response sound thin and lean like some mosquito on a water diet? Okay, ignoring the joke and talking more seriously, I want to get your assessment of how much bass meatiness and substance the Pasithea seems to sacrifice, if any, in the pursuit of all that glorious detail retrieval, as compared to mid and sub-bass response on the Morpheus?

Sometimes it sounds to me as if the Pasithea has gone for estat-like ethereal sounding detail retrieval, while sending mid and subbass response on a lean and spartan diet that might not be entirely satisfying to Morpheus enthusiasts, but I could be wrong. I would give everything to be able to audition a Pasithea in my system in order to hear for myself where all the chips fall in this comparison.

Pasithea in silo is not thin sounding DAC. It still is warm and has the house sound. Just that in comparison to other Metrum or Sonnet it is lighter on feet but it still has that warm sound we enjoy. The vocals are as good as anything and in no way Mid bass or sub bass are lean. The “other” website has good comparison between May, Wavedream and Pasithea. I have never heard May but have heard Wavedream and Pasithea.

this album is such a treat

 

[sajunky]

The “other” website has good comparison between May, Wavedream and Pasithea. I have never heard May but have heard Wavedream and Pasithea.

Link, please?

 

[LocalMotion]

Just curious if anyone with a Morpheus has these “issues”
the i2s board doesn’t line up well with the hole.
there’s some wire jumper soldered on the board but looks messy.

 

[kumar402]

Just curious if anyone with a Morpheus has these “issues”
the i2s board doesn’t line up well with the hole.
there’s some wire jumper soldered on the board but looks messy.

This is what I have. I don’t have access to it now but I took it when I was changing the voltage and swapping the USB for I2S
Hope it helps
I don’t see any such wire but I bought it when it came out in 2019 so not sure about the new one.

 

[LocalMotion]

This is what I have. I don’t have access to it now but I took it when I was changing the voltage and swapping the USB for I2S
Hope it helps
I don’t see any such wire but I bought it when it came out in 2019 so not sure about the new one.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah your board looks quite different in that section. Probably part of MKI vs MKII as well.

 

[sajunky]

Just curious if anyone with a Morpheus has these “issues”
the i2s board doesn’t line up well with the hole.
there’s some wire jumper soldered on the board but looks messy.

Looks to me repair work, not a factory patch. Two short tracks seem burnt, covered now with excess of solder, the third one is fixed with a piece of wire.

 

[LocalMotion]

Looks to me repair work, not a factory patch. Two short tracks seem burnt, covered now with excess of solder, the third one is fixed with a piece of wire.

Yeah I agree. Doesn’t look right or professional for being a new unit. I’ll be asking for a replacement.

 

[Kridzu]

there’s some wire jumper soldered on the board but looks messy.

Have the same in Morpheus MKII.
Every Morpheus MKII mainboard looks like this. I asked Sonnet about it and got replay from Cees that is normal and it's MKII 'feature'.
"This is a noise improvement on Morpheus MK-II"