Menuet Forward Correction NOS DAC : Archived Product
Product Information
Continuing the 'musical dance' theme attached to the new Transient DAC ONE range . . . Menuet has arrived . . . to fill the gap between Hex and Pavane. At its price point, it offers performance very close to Pavane but is much more affordable. Check the Reviews - it comes exceedingly close to a €9,900 Totaldac d1-tube-mk2 in one Review source's opinion.
Pavane Level I, and DAC TWO levels II and III of course, should give pause for thought ... as they are priced far below this too ....
Metrum Acoustics
We are proud to finally present the newest member in the Metrum line up - Menuet.
In order to improve upon the Hex we stopped looking towards our secret industrial chip and implemented our new Transient technology, as used in our flagship Pavane.
Menuet is designed to fit the same basic frame as used with Hex. However to avoid internal vibration, the electronics are built on a well damped sub chassis.
Menuet uses four Transient™ R2R ladder modules, as used in Pavane. These modules can handle extremely high sampling rates but are limited to current industry standards. Maximum (384kHz) on the USB input. Like Pavane, digital data will be split over two 12 bit clusters. Each Dac cluster processes a portion of the data in the most linear region of the dac chips and as a result, a full 24 bit range in the analog domain will be realized. Despite the single board design, channel separation is close to a dual mono operation. This contributes to the flawless positioning of instruments. The result of this process is extremely fast and accurate behavior.
Bringing listening experience to a higher level.
In short, Menuet is a DAC that has taken all the lessons and experiences that her designer has learned over the years and combined them in an ambitious DAC that can fit into any system.
It is musical, honours Non-oversampling principles, whilst simultaneously incorporating technological progress that has been made over the years,
Cees Ruijtenberg
As for performance . . . all that can be squeezed from her designer is : Menuet is a “Poor man’s Pavane or "Musette on Steroids”.
Price : $5,250.00 SOLD OUT
2 Year Warranty
Reviews :
High End News : Greece
Translation through Google, Bing, Systran and Lexilogos hopefully approximates. Greek speaking audio enthusiasts welcome to advise if anything 'not quite right'.
Paris Kotsis puts Menuet to the 'File format' test ....
"The Menuet is the ultimate antidote to ... DSDmania of our time, a PCM converter keeping things simple without simplifying them.
It always keeps control and good measure without the slightest deviation, very revealing in good systems but can expose the inferior. Anyway it is quite expensive to become very popular but rather cheap for those who can distinguish the character of a recording, regardless of the spec file or native formats.
It is one of the rare cases where the "Concept of Musicality and Precision" coincide perfectly".
THE EAR : Europe
The EAR plugs in and Jan de Jeu listens to Menuet - fed from a CEC TL5100 Transport, NAD M50 music vault via Balanced connections to Music First Audio Classic V2 Passive Preamp, Pass Labs X260.5 Mono Amplifiers driving Harbeth SHL 5 Plus Speakers.
“…and instantly recognised the most important characteristic of Metrum Acoustics Non-Oversampling DACs; they really know how to transmit the emotional message of the music.
The natural fullness and deepness of tone, the fully explored timbre, the rhythmic timing and deeper meaning of the musical message were conveyed in a most convincing and captivating way.
A realistic recording of a full scale symphonic orchestra was heard … It’s a vivid piece and one of Varèse’s most approachable. The exciting rhythmic displacements and beautiful tonal colours came through splendidly.
To put it in one sentence; If I were in the market for a new DAC at this price point, the Menuet would be on the" ... "Top of my ‘Must Hear’ list”.
Comment :
Also reviewed and rated by HighEnd News, a Lampizator Lite 7 (final production model c.$8,450).
Menuet would seem to compare more than favourably (in their opinion) with this model.
Unfortunately there is no ‘one’ source of information covering all equipment from around the world but even though they are (only) opinions (subject to tastes and systems), sometimes cross referencing such opinions can be a guide.
Jig-sawing opinions therefore, a prototype (please note) Lampi Lite 7 was reviewed by Stereomojo (Reviewer a professional recording and mastering engineer, who also owns Puget Sound Studios). Extracts :
“I have had other DAC’s including the Mytek Stereo 192/DSD, MSB Diamond with Diamond PS, dCS Scarlatti and the DAD AX24. So what’s the verdict? The Lampi is the best DSD I’ve heard.
Looks like we have a new King !”
Perhaps opinion regarding Octave I and II plus Hex from HiFiCritic, HiFiChoice and THE EAR, were not far out, when they also compared these Metrum designs to the very well regarded MSB Platinum Dac IV. Critic places the MSB on a par with a 'fully clocked' Scarlatti (at an unbelievable £44,000 new).
On the face of it, perhaps these claims were truly justified ?
Menuet is a step up the R2R Dac ladder from Hex and as mentioned in HighEnd News – “the perfect antidote to DSD.”
For many, DSD catalogues are minimal in genre and content. As Streaming is becoming more important and outpacing all other music format sales, perhaps MQA will become the new DSD. Tidal and other services offer 'so called' lossless music (CD quality) and now HiRes quality - up to 24/96kHz through any Dac capable of this resolution.
Personally I have found CD's (and lossless download/streamed files) contain far more information on this medium than was ever thought possible. The better the Dac, the more information becomes available. This is great news for anyone with a CD collection - upgrading your Dac also upgrades your existing music collection, regardless of HiRes developments.
The latest generation of Metrum's Dacs emphasise the importance of recording quality ... maybe more important than higher resolutions ?
From Greece - Metrum's Dealer - Chamelion Audio's Reference System.
Headphones definitely required here - for over the Moon sound.
Texture, ambience and natural reproduction = emotional involvement.
Innards
If STS Digital's Reference of Pavane > Aurix > Nighthawks is out of reach ... then Menuet is the answer. The Nighthawk's Bass impress using Silver cabling - which provide Aurix with a pure signal.
Rear Panel : The best Input and Output options are available.
Computer (of ill repute) feeding Menuet
Partner with Aurix for musical precision.