Metrum Acoustics Pavane DAC listening impressions

@Forza AudioWorks, if you haven't already, you'll want to read this from @gbeast

and also @Hands impressions of the entire Metrum range. I expect the L2 to sound identical to Adagio.
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...-oversampling-dac-comparison-master-list.4049

 

Ah, thank you! Will have a lok.

 

I am looking for the Adagio as a replacement for my pre and dac. I now have sms-200 as network player with Roon. Would be wonderful to have everything integrated in one unit. Ethernet in (roon endpoint) and analog out.

Anyone have more information about this?

 

The thread is called "Metrum Acoustics Pavane DAC listening impressions"....
Perhaps you do a little bit of research here first!

 

There's no more info about it AFAIK, try to ask Metrum via Facebook, they're very responsive

 

I think it is the right thread to ask about this information. I am not aware of an Adagio thread.

 

https://metrumacoustics.com/?product=pavane-l1-by-metrum-acoustics

Jade released, 2495€ without VAT.
Onyx (same as Jade but without preamp function), 2062€ without VAT.

 

Did the pavane get a price increase recently? I also see there are no more levels available on the metrum website.

 

I expected the "level 1" Pavane to disappear eventually as this was probably using up stock of old DAC ONE modules. Perhaps they also figured there could be some cost savings in making only one version of DAC TWO. Still, it's a pity if this results in the Pavane becoming a less affordable step up from Jade/Onyx level.

Note "street price" of Metrum kit is generally quite a bit better than ordering from them direct, ask your dealer.

 

Well I just got delivery of mine and early impressions are very good. Not sure if it's new toy syndrome but I do prefer it to the Yggdrasil. Vocals have more presence, the high end is just as sparkly but doesn't have any harshness at all and the main reason I sold the Yggdrasil. Bass doesn't punch as hard but hopefully that will go away once it's burned in. Soundstage is a bit bigger as well.

 

They have their reasons to discontinue Level 1 Pavane, DAC ONE chips have one ladder each one, Level 1 Pavane has 8 DAC ONE chips, so 8 ladders.
DAC TWO chips have 2 ladders each one, Onyx and Jade have 4 DAC TWO chips, so 8 ladders, the same as Pavane but at a much lower price.

 

Yep I also found the Pavane (L2) quite noticeably more punchy than Yggdrasil in both macro and micro-dynamics, in fact this is one of the first things I noticed, and Yggdrasil is no slouch...

 

Exactly. And on the DAC TWO modules the fpga is integrated within the module, but I can't tell how this improves the sound (I have limited technical knowledge).

 

No price increase and the level 2 and 3 upgrades are still there. Right hand corner below. L1 as such is no longer available and i have heard there are some steal deals on the l2

 

Just saw the 6moons first take on the new jade on the website https://metrumacoustics.com/reviews-2/

 

Sorry for the long overdue write-up of my Pavane impressions. I bought this and spent considerable time comparing with Yggdrasil which I already owned for few months at that time. Since both DACs were seriously expensive, not to mention excellent, it was not an easy decision - but eventually I decided to keep the Pavane. To put this in context, for me the Pavane cost around 60% more than my Yggdrasil. Outside Europe, and especially in the USA, the value see-saw clearly tilts even more in favour of Schiit gear.

Early impressions

The Pavane L2 is mighty impressive. Most obvious difference is the extreme bottom end, which is very very solid even compared with Yggdrasil - kick drums etc are really felt and not only heard, something like replacing a 12 inch subwoofer with an 18 inch.

Overall they are really pretty close and more similar sounding than different (even given the NOS roll-off, which is not hugely noticeable on Pavane). I think I probably prefer the Pavane, but not by much.

Final conclusions (after some weeks of listening...)

1) The sub-bass is also noticeable in odd places, like the strikes of piano hammers on the left hand part really having a palpable 'doink' (where on Yggdrasil this was a bit lost under the louder melody). I guess this might be what some folks mean by micro-dynamics.

2) Noticeably more realism with Pavane. Not really talking about staging, 3D-ness, imaging etc. More about excellent, convincing timbre / tonality. At some point you cross a threshold where your brain 'hears' a real acoustic guitar and not a recording of one.

3) Some slight sibilance and unnaturally sharper sounding edges in the upper treble with Yggdrasil. I find this a bit distracting on hi-hats sometimes, it draws undue attention to the upper end. Where sibilance was noticeable on Pavane at all, it felt more naturally blended with the rest of the vocal part and didn't stand out particularly. It's worth noting that with DAVE, I found similarly oversharpened and artificial-sounding edges - and from memory, to a much greater extent.

Some or all of 2) and 3) may be down to better synergy of slight NOS roll-off with LCD-XC frequency response. However, I also tried using the DEQ2496 to slightly boost the upper treble - following as closely as possible the inverse of the graph below. My conclusions are in 4)

Spoiler: NOS frequency response

(pic courtesy TotalDAC)

4) Yggdrasil is clearly a bit more extended in the very upper treble. On a couple of tracks, there was significantly more air and smoothness and my preference would go strongly to the Yggdrasil. However, for the vast majority, the differences were minor or even not noticeable at all. This is one of the major strengths of the Pavane, it has the best of NOS without giving up much ground at all, even comparing to the best OS DACs.

5) Pavane has a very slight midrange emphasis compared to Yggdrasil, but overall both could be described as pretty 'neutral' overall.

What else can I add? In many ways, these are both excellent DACs with little between them. I would be very happy with either. The Pavane and Yggdrasil share the attributes of the best R2R: excellent "musicality" with all genres; ease and smoothness with very little digital hardness, glare or grain. The natural presentation without digitus is what first attracted me to the humble Modi Multibit over delta-sigma DACs. Clearly Yggdrasil builds on this. Pavane, for me, is even more natural in some ways without much compromise, considering the fundamental limitations of NOS. This may be, for now, as close as you can get to analog.

The Pavane is a damned expensive piece of kit so I'm hoping the Jade/Onyx will hit the sweet spot for some (similar pricing to Yggdrasil in EU). I did not think the Amethyst was great value, despite the much lower price.

Chain: DEQ2496 > TOSLINK / AES > Pavane L2 / Yggdrasil > SE > Phonitor > LCD-XC

 

The above aligns pretty well with my thoughts on the Yggdrasil vs Pavane comparison. The Yggdrasil is somewhat forward and somewhat bright sounding to my ears.

If this doesn't bother you, then save some serious coin and get a Yggdrasil. If it does, and I am one of the folks that it did bother, then the Pavane is a great alternative.

The Yggdrasil is always going to win on a bang for the buck basis - it is brilliant value and it does almost everything very well indeed.

My Pavane is currently being upgraded to L2. I hope to have it back before Xmas, but these things take time...

 

@bengo Will you be trying the Jade/Onyx as well?

 

Unlikely as I was forced to buy the Pavane in order to hear it.

Onyx/Jade thread