Sonnet Audio Morpheus

Thanks for the heads up @rja .
I read the review and like every other reviewer who has heard the Morpheus so far, he liked it. The reviewers have all commented on the excellent performance to cost ratio and end up concluding the Morpheus is at least equal to but in some ways better than the Pavane L3 or Adagio, although the reasons given are not always consistent. The Sonnet website promotes, "more weight, body, tonal richness, and a more natural sense of the space of the recording"  but I am not sure about "more than what?"
I would like to hear the Morpheus side by side with my Adagio and may decide yet to try one.  As a test this morning, I reconnected my Adagio directly to my new amplifiers, played some music, and then reconnected them through my SMc buffer and listened to the same music.  I found exactly "more weight, body, tonal richness, and a more natural sense of the space of the recording" when running the Adagio thorough the buffer, compared to amp-direct.  This observation is consistent with my previous attempts at going amp-direct.

I read this comment in the Mono&Stereo review:

So for those of interest a pricier, upper echelon Sonnet Digital Audio DAC is already in the pipeline, although it's not coming so soon.

It will be fun to see what Cees comes up with that will perform at an even higher level than the Morpheus.

@transience 
Your comment in another thread about Metrum Acoustics closing shop is correct according to this....
https://metrumacoustics.com/
Like a marriage, when SHTF only those involved in the marriage can figure out what really happened, and there are usually two sides to the story.
However, as a former Pavane L3 owner and current Adagio owner (and Jade, and Ambre, and baby Ambre) I can say without reservation that my dealings with Cees Ruijtenberg have been some of the most pleasurable I have had in my years in this audio hobby.  I am also glad Cees said he would help support Metrum Acoustics products if needed.   
The posting on Metrum's website sounds like sour grapes and was probably more of an emotional response than a tactical marketing response, which is usually a bad idea.  They had an excellent component line-up, solid customer base, and probably could have ridden the wave for awhile if they had only continued providing the stellar customer service I had received from Cees.  However, my great customer service experiences with Metrum were all with Cees directly.  If he was designing the products, overseeing manufacturing, and taking the lead on customer service, I can see where that would lead to overload and a need for a change in venue.  Pure speculation on my part.
Whether the Morpheus is better than the Pavane L3 or Adagio, I wouldn't know since I unfortunately have not heard the Morpheus.  I have been trying to decide whether I need a DAC in my living room, which is mostly set up with unobtrusive HT gear.  Actually, I am trying to find an excuse to purchase a Morpheus but haven't reached that point yet.  I do know the Pavane L3/Adagio are the best in digital that I have had in my system, which includes some very good CD players and DACs by Lampizator and Ayre.  They are quite natural sounding and have excellent drive.  However, I have consistently preferred the Adagio through my SMc Buffer rather than amp-direct.  I would really like to hear the Morpheus since some have spoken about how it fleshes out the sound more than the Pavane L3 or Adagio.  It is difficult for me to get my head around how the Pavane/Adagio have clearly superior chassis, more substantial power supplies, and use of separate boards, yet the fairly pedestrian Morpheus apparently at least matches if not improves on the sound of those two former Metrum flagship DACs, designed by the same person as the Morpheus.  However, all the positive reviews can't be horse hockey pucks so there must be some truth.  I am content to keep my Adagio until I can try and directly compare a Morpheus or the next higher level DAC Cees may reportedly be working on in his spare time. 

@dalims4, do you have your Morpheus yet?  I just sold a Pavane L3 and am using the Adagio now but I am interested in the Morpheus based on the differences in those two perceived by both Srajan at 6 moons, and by Cees Ruijtenberg the designer.  If you have your new DAC, what do you think?

I am also interested in reading a more detailed review of what you are hearing from the Morpheus after you have burned it in.  I am particularly interested in any comparisons you can make to the Metrum Pavane you previously owned.  Having owned the Pavane, Pavane L3, and Adagio, I am very interested in a DAC that delivers the resolution, natural tone, and dynamics of those upper level Metrum DACs while bringing just a touch more 'weight, body, tonal richness, and a more natural sense of the space of the recording" as stated on the Sonnet website and seconded by Srajan in his 6moons review of the Morpheus. 
While I have had no soundstage issues whatsoever with those upper level Metrum DACs listed above, I also own the Jade (Onyx with volume control) and I can understand how @donquichotte might be used to a "bigger" sound.  The Jade is a good-sounding DAC for the price but the additional DAC modules and larger power supply in the upper-level Metrum DACs do seem to provide more of everything. 

For clarity, I believe the Pavane used for comparison by the OP was the original version and not the Level 3 Pavane. The Level 3 is basically equivalent to the Adagio, sans volume control, and both of those were clearly superior to the original Pavane to my ears and in my system. My recent communications with the designer indicate the differences between the Morpheus and the two top Metrum DACs may not be large but to play at the same level as the Adagio and Pavane L3 and get there at about half the price is quite an achievement.

Do any of you Morpheus owners know whether the I2S and MQA boards are available from Sonnet yet? Also, do you know if the I2S cable implementation is identical to that used by Metrum.....so that I could run I2S from my Metrum Ambre endpoint into the Morpheus?

I actually enjoy Srajan's writing but I also find myself reading more closely to make sure I understand the context.  I find him to be a thoughtful reviewer and I appreciate how he usually tries the reviewed component with a variety of gear, and usually compares to other similar gear he either owns or has reviewed.

In the case of this Pasithea review, I did not find it to be a clear slam dunk.  On one hand he said,

I too reviewed the Morpheus, reviewed/owned the Terminator, now own the Terminator+ and rate all three as highly as my colleagues do.  You already know my sentiments on Pasithea eclipsing the Denefrips flagship…Nothing more definitive can be said when I’ve not reviewed John’s and Michael’s top decks.  I’d simply suggest that this latest Cees box probably belongs side by side with them or at least gets close…Either way would mark nice savings for going Dutch and throw in remote-controlled lossless volume control.

So, he is saying "better than Terminator+," "in the same ballpark with Mola Mola Tambaqui and dCS Bartok," and "a great value" but the confusing part for me becomes the absence of a Blue Moon Award, and what that means relative to his overall impression of the DAC, especially after awarding the Morpheus a Blue Moon.  He could have awarded it on the basis of "punches above its weight" or "tone with resolution at lower power" or something else.  

I would like to hear the Pasithea since I owned both the Metrum Pavane and Adagio - and Srajan said, "In my little black book, Cees Ruijtenberg has now wholly eclipsed his best-ever work at Metrum."  I thought the Pavane sounded best of the Metrum DACs in my system.  Although the volume control on the Adagio was "lossless,"  it was implemented at a higher output voltage 4V than the Pavane 2V and IMO whatever they did to the Adagio sounded slightly different than what I heard from the Pavane.  In addition, for the Adagio to sound its best, I still used a buffer between that DAC and my amps.  I like how Cees has offered a -10dB switch for folks using a preamp and I wish he had provided a method of totally bypassing the volume control.  I also wish the display were bigger and easier to read.