Metrum Onyx versus Metrum Pavane

I have the Onyx, it sounds so good and I lead such a busy life that I couldn't justify the Pavane. I spoke to Metrum personnel directly and they kinda agreed. Unless you listen critically everyday, it probably wouldn't make any "real" difference.

It's not so much about "how better can it get" rather, how astonishingly good the Onyx/Jade are for the price.

Pavane has more output hardware, dual transformers and two more r2r chips (same generation chips as Onyx/Jade) per channel.  So in theory better channel separation and faster calculation. How audible? You decide.

At this level, I'd concentrate more on speakers, speaker placement, room correction than wondering about source upgrades.

Yes I own the Onyx, I have owned it almost since it came out. The dac progression would be:

Peachtree Decco integrated > HRT Music Streamer + > Cambridge Audio Dacmagic + > PS Audio Perfectwave MK2 > Metrum Onyx

I own a portable high res audio player from Pioneer (XDP 100R) which uses the Sabre ESS9018 chips. This is also a fairly high end player as far as that space is concerned.

And of course I heard plenty of other dacs such as the T+A DAC8 DSD, Mytek Brooklyn etc.

I prefer the rounded, tangible nature of the Metrum over the delta sigma dacs I have owned.  This is also an extremely high resolution, noiseless dac. 

@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.

I have been very busy but I will get back to my impressions on known audiophile tracks as well the tracks you mentioned. One quick note is as a headphone listener your experience of soundstage is different than a primarily speaker listener. Of course it’s extremely easy to place instruments and even follow instruments as they move with the Onyx ( Train Song):
https://www.lifewire.com/stereo-test-tracks-3134905

my issue is more what soix mentioned, do you like exaggerated soundstage width beyond speakers all the time? As most tracks aren’t recorded that way.

Jan Garbareck - Pygmy Lullaby - Sax is center focused, percussion starts stage slight left backstage with the hand held tambourine drums (I believe that's the instrument) slight right backstage. Then the percussion comes in at stage right backstage. Sax solo ends with keys, drums kick starting center, backed up by bass. Then sax comes back on with the percussion on both sides .

Desolate mountains 2 - chimes in different tones way left off center, keys in middle, snares behind chimes - very slight, way left, then chimes again (different tones....shifting from left to right, back to left - snares very slight behind chimes way left), sax solo accompanied by louder chimes, snares and brush on snare drums, very deep percussion way back center stage, bass stage right. 

I believe you're talking about the tonal shifts in what we call timbre of the chimes, their frequency and amplitude shifts, as well as at the end the varying pitch differentiation....all very clear on Onyx. Beyond that I can't say....this is my high end setup (I had the $200 vintage Kenwood integrated hooked up before)...very high res full range speakers and high end, low distortion tube integrated.

The headstage on phones is very different from a "you're watching a performance" soundstage provided by speakers, so it'll not be comparable. Plus your monitors and unsure if you're sitting on a desk, will not provide the width and depth I am getting from my setup. I would highly suggest using it (if you decide) with your headphones to compare against your current dac.

Onyx is quite transparent, it accurately portrays the drama in this particular recording which I've not heard before. Once again I commend Metrum on a bargain. 

I would spend bulk of the budget on speakers, and then a very good source. At this level, Onyx is certainly not going to be the limiting factor.