Sonnet Audio Morpheus

@ducatirider - The Sonnet Audio Morpheus (and the Metrum DACs) only decode PCM, no DSD support at all. In order to play DSD files you would need to convert them to PCM either before playback or on the fly.

DSD over PCM (DoP) is not PCM, but is the DSD data encoded into PCM frames for transmission. In order to support DoP playback a DAC must be DSD compatible, but instead of converting native DSD it first recognizes the PCM frames as being DoP and then converts the data back to the original DSD to then be converted to analog. So PCM only DACs do not support DoP playback.

When DoP data is decoded back into DSD by a DAC which supports it, the recovered datastream should be identical to the original DSD. Therefore if there's a difference in the sound quality of DoP compared to the original DSD it's not due to a difference in the data, but could be cuased from additional processing required to decode the DoP back to DSD and potential noise that the conversion might create.

Thanks Bill

For anyone interested, 2 part review at mono and stereo site.
1st part up now second part coming.
Also check the review on 6moons.

I've got a Morpheus.  We've been playing it probably 12-16 hours a day for a week or so, including white noise (ocean waves) overnight.  My previous DACs were a Metrum Octave, then a Metrum Musette, so that is my basis for comparison.

To my ear, the Morpheus really opens the music up.  Individual instruments and voices are easier to distinguish.  I'm hearing stuff I haven't noticed before.  Instrumental and vocal timbres are reproduced in a very accurate and life-like way.  It's got kind of a round sound, for lack of a better word, like the Octave did, but is much much more detailed.  It's accurate like the Musette was, but with a much more full-bodied sound.  Things that sounded reedy on the Musette - strings, saxophone, some vocals - sound fleshed out on the Morpheus.

It's got a volume control, which we don't really need because we have a pre-amp, but if you are happy running all digital end to end you may not need a pre-amp.

It's a really, really good DAC.

Thanks for the excellent review.
What type of files were you running through the Morpheus?