Metrum Onyx versus Metrum Pavane


I wanted to see who has moved up from the Metrum Onyx to the Pavane or Adagio and was it worth it?

I currently run the Onyx with Metrum Ambre via I2S.

Let me know who else out there has experience with Metrum in general.

Thanks!
128x128justjames72
I do not have wide enough experience to answer your question but I will tell you what I can.  I went from an $8K CD player to a Mojo Audio Mac mini server then to the Antipodes DX.  I have had Antipodes upgrade the DX twice and then added an outboard end point so I run Ethernet directly to the DX and then Ethernet from the DX to the endpoint (currently the Metrum Ambre or SOtM triad since I own both) and then either USB (when using the SOtM endpoint) or AES/EBU or I2S (when using the Ambre) into my Metrum DAC.  Switching from the internal Roon endpoint in the DX to the external endpoint (either Ambre or SOtM) was a bigger change IMO than going from Ambre to SOtM.  This current set-up easily tops the $8K CD player and is the best front-end I have had (I do not use vinyl).

Removing my preamp and adding the Adagio DAC-direct actually made some difference in resolution, even though my other DAC is the very good Pavane L3.  I want to try adding the preamp back in so I received instructions as to how to remove the volume control from the preamp circuit by installing two resistors - resulting in a unity gain buffer.  Volume will be controlled by the Adagio while the SMc preamp will maybe add a little special sauce. I purchased two (expensive!) Audio Note 2W Silver Tantalum resistors to perform the bypass so I am excited to hear the result.
@mitch2 thanks for that. My setup is strictly Ambre > I2S > Onyx > XLR >McIntosh MA6600 > B&W 702S2.

I use Roon on my IMAC also

 I think it sounds damn good, but it’s always fun to wonder what I might be missing.
@mitch2 I’m in a spot now with a Schiit Gungnir Multibit and Metrum Onyx. I’ve touched on the differences on another forum ( https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/metrum-acoustics-onyx-balanced-dac-and-jade-balanced-dac-pre.5181/page-12#post-254964) but the short story is that I find Onyx lacks bass authority, slam and texture but I prefer it to the Schiit product for more-or-less everything else.

Now I’m eyeing up Pavane L3/Adagio and thinking "will the bass improve enough that it’s worth it?" Any insights would be great!
Interesting that people are comparing the Gungnir to DACs costing twice as much.  
Yep. Even still with that in mind there isn't a clear winner. Different, not better.