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
Hi guys! I am interested in the Metrum dacs, but I have a few concerns. Can you detail a bit how the two (Onyx and Pavane) stack up to each other as well as in absolute terms with respect to:

a) the soundstage width (I’ve read that Onyx is quite narrow, I can’t stand anything narrow) and

b) HF extension (I don’t need / like a piercing treble, but I can’t stand a rolled off one, I need to hear all the beautiful HF resonance of a lightly hit triangle decaying naturally, for example, instead of cut short or borrowed in the mix)?
Please if possible mention the inputs and outputs used in your comparison. I’d probably use a CD transport via electrical SPDIF and both the unbalanced and balanced outputs.
Oh, by the way, can something like Ambre be also used for playing music from the computer’s HDD? Sorry if this is a dumb question...

Thanks!

Why, you disagree with this assertion?The impressions I've read are quite contradictory in this regard - hence my specific questions above. Please, feel free to contradict this statement.

To put things in perspective, when I had the Gungnir Multibit in my system for a few weeks I Ioved many of its sound traits but wanted a wider stage, much blacker background, better treble extension (the stuff above ~10kHz, probably), a more relaxed, effortless presentation (difficult to put it into words, it was a bit as if I was kept in a bit of a tension all the time, perhaps something similar to how I felt about my ex AKG K1000 / D class amplifier as opposed to the effortlessness my Stax) and maybe just a little thicker tone (but this latest thing might have been more a matter of synergy). All heard in a couple of solid state systems + my Stax headphones. It was the (supposedly) latest, unofficial "A2" version (November 2017), kept on all the time and with more than 200 hours of burn in.
@don

The issue is, many of your questions are system dependent, as in, what are the speakers and how are they placed in the room.  Anything to do with sound stage is more dependent on speakers and speaker placement than electronics. At this level, the electronics are high fidelity and detailed, there's great channel separation, bandwidth and signal to noise ration. 

Secondly I don't think many have compared the Pavane to the Onyx directly, unless there's DAC meetup, these comparisons are difficult to do.

OS dacs sound different than NOS dacs. Delta Sigma dacs sound different than R2R dacs. Onyx/Pavane are both NOS and R2R. Typically these sound more relaxed than delta sigma dacs, I don't know why. But keep in mind all dacs have a sin(x)/x roll off which is compensated in OS dacs. And you can compensate for that in NOS dacs by oversampling in software before sending to the dac.

Either way, with My speakers and electronics (Legacy Signature SE, Lyric Audio Ti 140 MK2, home built HTPC w/ SSD feeding the Onyx via USB) the sound is effortless, noise free and high resolution. You can check my original review for more technical stuff.  If you name some test tracks you use I can play them and get back to you.