Metrum Acoustics Pavane DAC listening impressions

I had DAC2 and DAC3 chips and ultimately went back to DAC2. Here’s my experience. In traditional NOS fashion, DAC2 chips have soft transients. That makes NOS a poorer match for music that requires a sense of speed. What NOS gives you in return is a sense of beauty and timbral accuracy. Cees then modified his filter for better attack, putting this in Pasithea. DAC3 was an attempt to create Pasithea’s sound, but the process was limited by Metrum’s less-capable FPGA. The result is a compromise. DAC3 provides (at least more of) that sense of speed, but the harmonics are all screwed up in the vocal region. The result is drier, almost recessed female vocals. Now the DAC sounds more modern but compromised. In my view, if you want a fast sound, go with an oversampling DAC, not a NOS DAC that is attempting to sound like an OS DAC. If you want the NOS sound, and the beautiful tonal density, then stick with DAC2. For me, DAC3 is a weird middle ground that satisfies none of my desires.

 

I have tried to find any issues with the female vocals in my rig with the DAC3 modules over the past few days and I honestly can't hear it as dry or recessed. The female vocals come across to me as rich and warm and very pleasant. Perhaps not quite as prominent or warm as they were with the DAC2 modules, but I doubt my audio memory is good enough to be sure of that. It might be a case of my aged ears not being up to the challenge of hearing the changes correctly, or maybe it has been masked by my amp/DDC upgrades mentioned previously.

 

I think @skem uses only 2ch. You’re on headphones. Does 2ch exposes/magnifies deficiencies more vs hp or vice versa?

 

Good question. I rarely use 2ch, so I can't say for sure. At a guess I would say headphones should be more revealing, but no doubt there are plenty that would disagree.

 

Yes. 2ch. Fwiw, I think @Ishcabible joined me and can share his view. It was a while ago.

 

Metrum’s new website

https://metrumacoustics.com/

Metrum dac3 factsheet

https://metrumacoustics.com//index.php?controller=attachment&id_attachment=23

i2s adapter specs & compatible ddc/streamers


https://metrumacoustics.com/content/21-i2s-module

 

Just for fun, I tried pushing some DSD256 through my Matrix Audio X-Sabre MQA Pro DAC. Wow. I had no idea DSD could make such a difference.

Chain:
PC (Roon conversion PCM to DSD256) -> SU6 -> I2S HDMI -> Matrix Audio X-Sabre -> Holo Bliss KTE.

Bottom line is that the Metrum Pavane, even with the DAC3 modules and I2S RJ45 feed, isn't in the same ballpark to my ears. I have removed the Pavane from my audio chain and will be using the Sabre DAC until the T+A DAC 200 arrives, hopefully soon. The strange thing is that the DAC3 module upgrade cost me more than the Matrix DAC did (I got the Matrix as a special ex-demo unit). This brings me around to broader topic - Delta-Sigma DACs were generally pretty awful sounding about 10 years ago when I got serious about audio - this is what pushed me into NOS and the Metrum Pavane after a few years of trying to find a D-S DAC that didn't suck. D-S has come such a long way. The ESS 9038PRO dual chipset as implemented in the Matrix DAC is superb sounding. No digititus or treble nasties of years past. Makes me wonder if the extra cost of a NOS ladder DAC is really worth it anymore. Not to my ears, but YMMV.

Since I am retiring my Pavane I will exit this thread. Good luck to all

 

Have you tried using 8x HQP upsampling/Roon with pavane ? Roon upsampling is meh imo.