Sonnet Digital Audio's Morpheus Reviews

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by sahmen, Mar 25, 2020.

  1. StageOne

    StageOne Friend

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    My DAC background is mostly Schiit Multibits, D/S and the Drop RDAC. I’ve heard a few other ESS/AKM DS DACs but nothing NOS. While I like the Gungnir, I’m still looking to see if there is something that adds a little more.

    Chains
    RPi (DigiOne) - Sonnet Morpheus/Gungnir MB A2 - Freya S - Aegir Monoblocks - Spatial M3 Sapphires
    RPi (DigiOne) - Sonnet Morpheus/Gungnir MB A2 - Freya S - DNA Starlett/ECP T4 - Focal Clear

    I’ll skip the first few days impressions as this DAC does benefit from a few days warm up and it’s quite noticeable, more so than the Schiit DACs. My focused listening sessions were on day 4 and 6.

    During the first few listening sessions, the things I noticed most about the Morpheus were the weight/density of the tone, incredible timbre and sense of realism. It seemed to give an immediate live presentation to the music. In addition, notes just sing to have a sustain that I have not heard before.

    Synergy:
    As good as a single component is, it needs to work with your other pieces, so first up..

    The DNA Starlett… I love this amp, it does so much right and I can listen to it for hours, but.. with the Morpheus, it just didn’t work for me. The dark tilted Focal Clears, rounded sound of the Starlett and the warmer than neutral sound of the Morpheus was just too much, almost oversaturated. The mid bass was fatiguing after just a few songs and once I heard the bump,I couldn’t un-hear it. If you’ve heard a warmer amp with well worn 650 pads, it’s kinda like that. The synergy is just not there, it might be too much of a good thing. It just didn’t work for me.

    The ECP T4... I really like this headphone amp as it works well with the Clears. It’s fast and fun but I really wasn’t expecting much after the Starlett. But, I was totally shocked, this was the polar opposite. The few minor grievances I have with the T4, narrow headstone and slight congestion, are gone with the Morpheus. The headstone was much bigger as were the instruments and everything was smooth but tight, fast but with just the right amount of smoothness. This is a setup I’d add to the Synergy thread. Even now, I miss this setup.

    Since the building of my music room last fall, the majority of my listening is now done with speakers. Headphones are reserved for home office or late nights. So I spent most of my time evaluating the Morpheus with my 2 channel setup. Since I don’t have a lot of DACs to compare too, I’ll focus on the differences related to the Gungnir MB.

    The first thing I heard was the richness, tone and timbre . It’s a big difference vs the Gungnir. The vocals were a step back, almost to a point of being recessed vs what I’m used to. With my setup of the Aegirs and M3s, the soundstage was not as different between the systems. I don’t get a huge amount of depth with either chain but I did notice the presence of instruments was greater with the Morph. They seemed much larger while the Gungnir presented them smaller more focused but with better separation.

    Running through my test set of songs, I noticed the following:

    - Daft Punk “With in”, the piano and bass had incredible texture
    - David Gilmore “5AM” the guitar sustain was crazy and so right
    - John Scofield “Combo 66” Increased instrument separation and again sustain.. wow
    - Fleetwood Mac “Dreams” Intro cymbals sounded a bit flat but Stevie Nicks vocals were right on and sounded fantastic

    Overall I got more bass, more bass texture and detail, but was a wash in the mids and treble. More roundness and sustain but lacked the macrodynamic and punch.

    I really enjoyed listening to the Morpheus but there were a few things I missed, the punch, macrodynamics and liveliness of the Gungnir, that I just can’t trade.
     
  2. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    Sitting here listening to Yggdrasil A2 --> Af --> Auteur and I still miss all the strengths of the Morpheus... this is despite me saying it isn't what I wanted in terms of system synergy.
     
  3. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

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    I know the feeling...
     
  4. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    Here's how it ended up for me:
    • Morpheus > DSHA-3F > Verité closed: work, late night
    • Yggdrasil > Af > Verité open: deep listening
    Well, I also have a Phonitor XE that is feeling lonely, must do something about that eventually.
     
  5. sahmen

    sahmen New

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    Well, a lot of water has gone under the bridge since the first post, but I'm still faced with the same dilemma: trade up my Onyx + $1649 and get the Morpheus, or stick with the Morpheus and keep my Onyx and cash?

    Most of the reviews I have read about the Morpheus are very impressive and encouraging, I have even e-mailed Cees, who thinks the trade-up idea is a no-brainer, and because many reviewers tend to place the Morpheus in the league of the Pavane L3 and the Adagio, I have no reason to doubt the soundness of his suggestion, even as the designer of the Morpheus and the Onyx, from whom some degree of bias might be expected.

    I wish I'd heard the Morpheus myself in order to measure the degree of improvement it brings to the table before taking the jump. Oddly enough, considerations such as system synergy do not bother me at this point. I have owned a Metrum Hex, which I traded up for the Onyx, and both Hex and Onyx have sounded great to me, for both headphone and speaker use in my rigs, and they have always compared very favorably with my Yggdrasil A2 (wa A1 before)

    So what do you guys think? Should I let my beloved Onyx go, and get the Morpheus? I know there are many posters on this board who have experienced both the Onyx and the Morpheus, which is why I am asking, First hand experiences are always valuable. Btw, I have always used the Onyx with the i2S connectivity option, and I expect to do the same with the Morpheus, if I wind up getting it.

    By the way, the Morpheus will probably replace the Onyx in the following chain:

    Sonore Optical Module ==>Uptone Etherregen ==> Metrum Acoustics Ambre ==> Metrum Acoustics Onyx ==>> Cavalli Monolith Liquid Platinum (of course the amp is also replaceable with others)
     
  6. bilboda

    bilboda Florida boomer

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    Never tried a Metrum dac prior to the Morpheus. Gugnir MB (A2, I think) Matrix XSabre Pro, Soekris 1321 and others.

    I realized the most improvement with speakers, not meant to minimize it's effect with phones but the differences with speakers was profound. So much so that I went ahead and spent a good amount of $$ on new (used) speakers and an amplifier.Rearranged and removed furniture for speaker placement with new stands as well
    Phones take a back seat now, they have there place on occasion and I can wear them for hours.

    You will like the remote. This serves as my preamp and does a great job. SW51+ and Crack are happy around 12 o'clock on their dials and I adjust the Morpheus to fit. Remote power for the balanced speaker amp so it all works smoothly for my lazy ass.

    So yep, spend more money so you can have opportunity to spend even more too.
     
  7. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    In your shoes, I'd likely look at exploring amps rather than DACs. The Morpheus is better than the Onyx, I feel (from memory, haven't had the Onyx for quite a while and I've got the Morpheus recently) but the differences, while noticeable, are not huge, certainly less than going from a good mid-price headphone amp like the Lyr 3 or the Cavalli Liquid Carbon to a magic amp like the Aficionado or the DSHA-3F. With Cees back at Metrum, you can expect continued NOS development, the Morpheus won't be the last word from him.
     
  8. sahmen

    sahmen New

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    I hear you, except that things do not feel as straight-forward for me in the amp department either. At present the best one I own is the Violectric v281 which is paired with my Yggdrasil. When considering upgrades, I typically think of the Niimbus US4+, because it comes with the Lake/People/Violectric house sound, which is to me, a known quantity , and one which has a reliable history of playing nice with the cans I have, and doing a pleasing enough job at it. I also think of the US4+, because I may have a Susvara in my future, and that amp will have the advantage of driving that as well as the other cans in my stable that aren't so hard to drive. The problem I have with the US4+ is that, from the viewpoint of my wallet, it looks like quite the big leap, and has to wait for some hard budgeting moves to fall in place before I can make a move on it, whereas the Morpheus is quite easily within striking distance, especially with the Onyx trade-up thrown in. Besides, if I were to get the US4+, I'll probably need a new DAC too, so getting the Morpheus first would be just getting the DAC first before the AMP, so it would be like skinning the same cat, but starting from a different part of the body (Ouch! My apologies to all cats, it was just a metaphor;))

    I really do not know much about the other amps you have mentioned, so I can't comment on their suitability for my needs. Doing a few quick reads about the, DSHA-3F it seems as if it is well known as an amp that is custom tailored for the focal HP series, which do not agree with my ears at all, because of their typically aggressive top ends (As an aside, I couldn't stand listening to an Elex I bought, for 5 minutes before deciding resell it... I could hear the technical qualities of the headphone, but the harshness of the top end was like some acid on my eardrums... That experience crossed out the focals from my list, as reading reviews confirmed to me that the other cans in the series weren't much different in that harsh-treble department...). I wonder whether that does not also cross out the DSHA-3F., which seems to rock best with the focals, from the little I have read about it

    At any rate, If I am to consider upgrading my amp, the one I get ought to be able to play nice with all my Audeze and Hifiman cans, including the Susvara, which I do not even have yet... If a customized DSHA or Aficionado amp can do that, then I shall place them on my watchlist... In the meantime, the Morpheus decision is still pending,
     
  9. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    Originally, I think so, but it has become a favorite of some ZMF Verité owners, including me. The Morpheus>DSHA-3F>Verité chain has been kept me sane during COVID-19 confinement. But the DSHA-3F is made by hand, only now and then, so it's probably not a good thing to look for except if someone here decides to sell theirs (it does happen, although not often).

    You know better your amp and headphone preferences. Anyway, back to the Morpheus, it's never old how it does well-recorded jazz trios. Listening to the superb Triplicate album (Steve Coleman/Dave Holland/Jack DeJohnette) right now on the above chain, it's crazy how present they all are (I've heard all of them live multiple times, although never in this combination).
     
  10. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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  11. Steve966

    Steve966 New

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    Hello Guys, I wanted to ask for advice.

    I have a system consisting of Metrum Menuet that Cees had updated me with the Dac Two modules.
    As an amplifier I have Benchmark HPA4.

    I was wondering whether to buy the Benchmark dac3b because I know it goes well with HPA4 or if I want to upgrade the system and switch to another dac.

    Thanks friends.
     
  12. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    It's really hard to know without more information. Are you unhappy with your current DAC, hoping for improvement in some aspect? It's unlikely that anyone in this relatively small forum has heard your particular combination of components and possible alternatives. In my experience of Cees DAC designs (Metrum Onyx, Sonnet Morpheus) they go really well with some good solid-state amps (Phonitor XE, ecp DSHA-3F) and some headphones (such as ZMF Verité) because they balance the tonally dense but somewhat relaxed NOS attributes with the excellent transient response of those amps and headphones. My guess is that the DAC3B will sound as different from your Menuet as any capable DAC would, probably less rolled-off, more aggressive in the highs, less tonal density in the mids and upper lows, generally a more dynamic but less relaxed sound presentation. But that's very much a guess.
     
  13. Steve966

    Steve966 New

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    Thanks earnmyturns, in truth i have never listened to any other dac outside the Metrum. The combination satisfies me a lot but I wanted to understand if it can be further scaled with the all Benchmark combination.
    Or I could try another superior dac like Morpheus or the superior design that Cees is expected to present in the coming months. Maybe it's worth doing 30-day trials in the system with the return option.
    Let's see if anyone has compared both of these two dacs.
     
  14. bengo

    bengo Friend

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    DAC2 sounds about as far as you can get from NOS. Avoid.
     
  15. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    Do you want to stay within the same general sound presentation of your current DAC, or jump to something totally different? Personally, I had limited tolerance for the ESS-based DACs I encountered, they sounded too shouty, too harsh, but I have no way to know if that's the case for DAC3 B. That's the main reason all the DACs I've owned in the last several years are either resistor-array models (either discrete R2R or chip-based), including some of Cees's NOS designs; or a few, carefully engineered AKM-based DACs.
     
  16. Steve966

    Steve966 New

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    Unfortunately, I've never heard any other dacs other than the Metrum in my system. Let's just say the original Menuet wasn't great.
    But then after updating it with the new modules it got great.

    I would be curious to hear the differences with the Benchmark which having high outputs should match well with HPA4.
    I would also like to hear the differences of the metrum vs other DS dacs like Chord Dave or others.

    Perhaps the only solution is to test in your system with the possibility of returning within 30 days.


    I understood that in this hobby there is a strong risk of retreating rather than improving and it is not certain that spending more will improve the system. But on the other hand you always want to experiment and try, otherwise the game is over.;):D
     
  17. Sqveak

    Sqveak Friend

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    The Chord DACs are not DS. They use a different conversion method that is similar to how Sony does PCM to PWM in their enthusiast line of Walkmans. I don't know enough to go into detail though. Suffice to say that it's a whole other animal.

    Since you are already enjoying the upgraded Menuet. Why not shake things up on the amplification side instead? What else have you tried with your Phi?
     
  18. Steve966

    Steve966 New

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    Hello Sqveak, I find the Benchmark amplifier fantastic. I had a Violectric V281 with relay volume control before this. We are completely in another game. I can't find fault with it. It pushes the Abyss with great authority and without introducing any distortion even at very high volumes.
     
  19. bilboda

    bilboda Florida boomer

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    If you want an upgrade path...see this... Capture.JPG
     
  20. scotto

    scotto New

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    Thanks all, this has been very helpful! As a Metrum Octave owner, I've been very curious about the Sonnet Morpheus. It seemed like a potential aspirational upgrade. I would have loved to have been in on the loaner tour for this Dac, especially being in SoCal. How does one get in on loaner tours? Have been pre-occupied with the Pandemic, learning all I can, and trying to figure out how to be in business safely ;)
     

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