So Sonnet Audio has a "son" DAC and a "dad" DAC. Does anyone know what Greek or Latin name they would give to a "Holy Spirit" DAC when it lands, assuming there is another Sonnet DAC in the works? Okay never mind.
I wouldn't hold your breath for a new DAC, the Morpheus and Pasithea are hard to beat. Improvements can always be made of course, but you are already so far into negative returns...
I've seen that comment about Sonnet DACs and I just don't understand it. There's no difference between the DACs other than the number of modules; they should sound identical in terms of warmth. The additional modules only decreasing the noise floor and increasing the resolution.
That wasn't my experience. I have just done that exact upgrade in my headphone system. I have owned Pontus II 12th Anniversary Edition around a month. No difference at all in warmth. Both musical. Small amount of additional resolution. Not a huge upgrade disappointingly.
That wasn't my experience. I have just done that exact upgrade in my headphone system. I have owned Pontus II 12th Anniversary Edition around a month. No difference at all in warmth. Both musical. Small amount of additional resolution. Not a huge upgrade disappointingly.
That's strange. Pontus2 sounded very different compared to Ares2 in my system. I didn't have the 12y edition tho. I kept the Pontus2 for a month before selling it as it never warmed up for me though it trounced the Ares2 in every manner except for long term listen-ability.
That's strange. Pontus2 sounded very different compared to Ares2 in my system. I didn't have the 12y edition tho. I kept the Pontus2 for a month before selling it as it never warmed up for me though it trounced the Ares2 in every manner except for long term listen-ability.
The Ares is ridiculously musical. It has to be one of the best components in this hobby for the cost. I compared it to my DAC2 Adagio and the gap was a lot smaller than it had any right to be, particularly given the Adagio costs five times more...
Pontus just gives slightly more than Ares. But none of this matters; it is just a stop gap DAC until I can stomach the cost of the end game DAC for that system.
I wouldn't hold your breath for a new DAC, the Morpheus and Pasithea are hard to beat. Improvements can always be made of course, but you are already so far into negative returns...
Well it was meant as a joke: I thought the idea of a "Holy Spirit DAC" would make that self-evident, at least to those who are familiar with the lore of catholicism,
On the other hand, I do not think that the Pasithea would be Sonnet's last shot at a SOTA DAC, given the ever evolving nature of DAC technology: Metrum had its Hex ==>> Menuet==>> Onyx ==Jade==> Pavane ==>> Adagio... among others (such as the Amethyst, and the different Levels of the Pavane0
I find it difficult to believe that Sonnet Audio is going to close its DAC boutique and retire its tools after only Morpheus ==>> Pasithea...
Well it was meant as a joke: I thought the idea of a "Holy Spirit DAC" would make that self-evident, at least to those who are familiar with the lore of catholicism,
On the other hand, I do not think that the Pasithea would be Sonnet's last shot at a SOTA DAC, given the ever evolving nature of DAC technology: Metrum had its Hex ==>> Menuet==>> Onyx ==Jade==> Pavane ==>> Adagio... among others (such as the Amethyst, and the different Levels of the Pavane0
I find it difficult to believe that Sonnet Audio is going to close its DAC boutique and retire its tools after only Morpheus ==>> Pasithea...
Have you heard the Morpheus yet in your system or are you judging by the youtube video? I don't think Pavane with new DAC chip is denser then Morpheus and believe me you don't want to go too dense.
Morpheus is relaxed, dense DAC AS-IS.
1st thought, You won't go wrong with any. All 3 will give I2S connectivity.
All 3 are limited to 192Khz but Mercury also gives you I2S-LVDS but not useful for Metrum or Sonnet DAC
I have Mercury V1 and it improves a lot when LPS like Sbooster is added. Ambre is inbuilt with LPS and out of box Ambre I2S is a bit better then V1 as it gives I2S and no need of LPS. Also the clock used in Ambre is of higher quality but Mercury is well engineered product and hence doesn't matter a lot. If you get all 3 for $800 then I would pick Ambre else go with Mercury V2 and add LPS as and when needed.
I haven't heard Hermes so can't comment on it
1st thought, You won't go wrong with any. All 3 will give I2S connectivity.
All 3 are limited to 192Khz but Mercury also gives you I2S-LVDS but not useful for Metrum or Sonnet DAC
I have Mercury V1 and it improves a lot when LPS like Sbooster is added. Ambre is inbuilt with LPS and out of box Ambre I2S is a bit better then V1 as it gives I2S and no need of LPS. Also the clock used in Ambre is of higher quality but Mercury is well engineered product and hence doesn't matter a lot. If you get all 3 for $800 then I would pick Ambre else go with Mercury V2 and add LPS as and when needed.
I haven't heard Hermes so can't comment on it
I have a spare LPS with pure silver DC cable that will work with Mercury V2. I did saw Ambre come with its own transformer which is good. From where I live… they both cost me the same amount of money.
A few observations. When I first hooked the dac up, I used various USB cables into the dac's USB input. It just didn't sound right. It was thin sounding. And, vocals sounded like the vocalist has a lisp.
Hours go by and I am reminded to NOT use the USB input.
I grabbed my trusty Matrix XSPDIF (not XSPDIF2) and used the DDC's XLR output into the dac's XLR input. Completely addictive sounding. It's still not warm or thick sounding like the Pavane/Adagio. In fact, I had the Amethyst and do not hear any family resemblance (from memory). It's just very fast sounding with lots of depth and, dare I say, electricity.
I then used the DDC's rca output into the dac's XLR then rca input (I don't hear diff between the two inputs), and here is where I come to a more familiar Metrum sound. More warm and dense.
ATM, I am addicted to the ddc/dac combo when using XLR connections.
Happy too soon. I just noticed this behavior. During and after I use the dac's volume control, the right channel is about 5db louder. Some time afterwards, both channels will sound even again if I leave the volume at -0db. But, once I use the volume control again, the right channel again is louder than the left.
I did swap the RCA left right cables at the dac's output and the loudness follows the "red" RCA.
I did briefly use both RCA and XLR output (one to the sub) dunno whether this is a no no (for this dac).
A few observations. When I first hooked the dac up, I used various USB cables into the dac's USB input. It just didn't sound right. It was thin sounding. And, vocals sounded like the vocalist has a lisp.
Hours go by and I am reminded to NOT use the USB input.
I grabbed my trusty Matrix XSPDIF (not XSPDIF2) and used the DDC's XLR output into the dac's XLR input. Completely addictive sounding. It's still not warm or thick sounding like the Pavane/Adagio. In fact, I had the Amethyst and do not hear any family resemblance (from memory). It's just very fast sounding with lots of depth and, dare I say, electricity.
I then used the DDC's rca output into the dac's XLR then rca input (I don't hear diff between the two inputs), and here is where I come to a more familiar Metrum sound. More warm and dense.
ATM, I am addicted to the ddc/dac combo when using XLR connections.
Happy too soon. I just noticed this behavior. During and after I use the dac's volume control, the right channel is about 5db louder. Some time afterwards, both channels will sound even again if I leave the volume at -0db. But, once I use the volume control again, the right channel again is louder than the left.
I did swap the RCA left right cables at the dac's output and the loudness follows the "red" RCA.
I did briefly use both RCA and XLR output (one to the sub) dunno whether this is a no no (for this dac).
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