Amethyst NOS DAC & H/P Amplifier
Product Information
Metrum Acoustics Amethyst
$2,450 DAC TWO
$2,995 Dac3 upgrade
It's what's inside that 's important.
Offering an alternative to that of Aurix's Transformer Volume Control ... an integrated design from Mr. Ruijtenberg.
Now both separates and a compact new integrated concept are available.
We can see two DAC TWO Modules which provide plenty of processing power and substantial energy reservoirs ... to provide smooth and efficient delivery of power.
Conventional analogue volume control ... directly coupled to D/A output board ensures - detailed quality sound.
Head-Fi Meet late 1800's :
Would you believe listening to a live Concert in another City.
Device :
Trickle down technology from Adagio and Pavane Level III, is now available at a most affordable price. A volume controlled Headphone output almost comes free.
The DAC TWO modules each incorporate Forward correction technology to both channels. This approach is ideally suited to R2R design and maximises performance, providing true 24 Bit performance. As with the Reference models, this allows for retrieval of very low level information/detail.
Even though Amethyst is a small 'mini' integrated design, incorporating both Digital and Analogue processing, channel separation is specified at 110dB. This together with an extremely low level noise floor of -145dB @ 2V RMS, indicates how this fine detail retrieval is made possible.
Amethyst can be used as a stand-alone Dac. Fixed level standard Redbook 2V output is available - direct from the new DAC TWO modules - no output stage is necessary to hinder/cloud signal information. The connection goes straight to the Analogue outputs - to feed Amplification.
Headphone volume control is designed to power lower impedance models down to 16 Ohms. 4 Volts is available on loads between 16 and infinity ... so power is constant regardless of the load.
When Phones are connected, volume control becomes active and when disconnected, the Analogue outputs become active with volume control muted.
With the Analogue output circuits in play, all power is diverted to Dac performance.
REVIEWS
Alpha Audio : Netherlands
Review translation : Jaap Veenstra pits Amethyst against the Mytek Liberty in a Focal Elear Headphone comparison.
"The Metrum Acoustics Amethyst is a purist device. . The presentation is open, fluid and has a lot of space and definition. The match with the Focal is incredibly good".
"Soundwise, the Metrum is a winner in this test"
HANGZASVILAG : Hungary
A Review translation :
"In recent years, mainly based on the experience of students trained in live music, NOS DACs have become especially popular. The temporal nature of over-sampling DACs is the reason why we can observe a degree of unnatural behaviour. This is mainly due to poor representation of percussive instruments.
The latter are liked by Musicians … and Audio Professionals - even though they believe in measurements".
WITCHDOCTOR : New Zealand
Andrew Baker also reaches back in History giving ancient near-40-year-old true budget Sennheiser HD420's plus more up-to-date/upmarket Grado RS2i's ... a headbang and workout.
"A ... ‘two-in-one’ affair, the Amethyst is a great first step into the world of headphone/computer audio or, conversely, a great last step.
Metrum Acoustics has released another product worth coveting. But then, it would seem that’s par for the course".
ALPHA-AUDIO : Netherlands
Quintijn Bulterman from Alpha Audio puts Metrum’s Amethyst and Moon 230HAD ($2499) to the test with Focal Elear Headphones ($1799). Personal Audio is no different to main System listening. Matching componentry in the complete Audio chain is important. Of note, is the view that to gain similar performance level from a main System - $25K would be min expenditure.
This Review focuses on Amplifier performance. It is clear in his opinion, that Amethyst follows in the footsteps of Aurix – neutrality of gain allowing Headphones to perform to their individual design parameters - without interference.
Remaining completely faithful to Source … the actual definition of ....
English translation link above :
6 MOONS : Ireland
Srajan Ebaen has now put Amethyst through its paces. Thoroughly out of context ... HiFiMan's US$6K Susvara Headphones are also under Review. It would seem Amethyst is capable (just), in powering the most difficult to drive Phones he has ever come across.
"With Metrum's paralleled FPGA-corrected R2R ladders coupling to the outputs through just an impedance-conversion buffer, plugging in Susvara approached that futuristic notion of direct neural wiring to the cortex; in the here now. The illusion of nothing between my ears and the music was unusually strong. I truly felt inside the music; a very different sensation from speaker listening or even good regular headphones".
Firing up HifiMan's 83dB inefficient Susvara, HifiMan's HE-6, Final's Sonorous X, Beyerdynamic's T1, Audeze's LCD-2 v1 and Sennheiser HD800, Srajan reports ...
"Amethyst should really drive any headphone extant. Quelle surprise. This petit Dutchman really flew even if rather than call it a DAC with Headphone Amp, we might call it a DAC which also drives headphones ; and very well at that.
For €1'295, such "Gripping one-box Performance" from a small unobtrusive deck really seemed outstanding !"
AUDIO CREATIVE : Netherlands
René van Es is no Headphone Guru - in fact you could say they give him the heebie jeebies. So his Amethyst appraisal concentrates on Dac performance.
Ancient Sennheiser HD414 Review Headgear - a step up from the 19th Century!
Audio Creative did not miss MQA ... BUT now it can be an option with direct Amp to Dac Module two-in-one Amethyst. "I already mentioned at the beginning of the story, whoever is searching for a DAC that can do everything, forget the Amethyst. No DSD, no MQA, no upsampling, no filtering and no line amplifier function. The Amethyst is a ladder DAC in the true sense of the word, it does not manipulate or affect the signal in any way and therefore reveals sound as ...
The new MQA Board
