MUSICIAN Pegasus R2R DAC

[juanitox]

a 1000$ Dac with no weight in the bass would be a no-go for me  , strange thing to use a dac to correct the response of a system ;

[bodiebill]

5 hours ago, juanitox said:

a 1000$ Dac with no weight in the bass would be a no-go for me  , strange thing to use a dac to correct the response of a system ;

 

This review https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/musician-audio-pegasus-r2r-dac-review/ praises the Pegasus' bass performance:

There is no other way in saying it that Pegasus simply excels in the bass area, starting with sub-bass and finishing with the upper-treble. It will impress a bass addict; it will slam hard and it will go the Mariana Trench levels of sub-bass if needed. Yes, I’ve felt the 20 to 25 Hz tones multiple times, I felt those shimmers and goose bumps with electronic music and in this regard, Pegasus is one of the few DACs that works incredibly well not only with instrumental/acoustic music, but with electronic music as well. Pegasus has an incredible acceleration and sustain, so bass notes are delivered fast and will stay awhile if the music is asking for it. Pegasus is a quite a big departure from all the Denafrips offerings that were good in here, but not exemplary. I feel that the powerful output stage and the wide bandwidth of the USB implementation said its last word in here.

 

Any owner experiences re bass?

[bodiebill]

17 hours ago, bodiebill said:

Anyone knows whether the Pegasus' I2S pin layout is configurable? Or if not, what the layout is? I need the PSAudio layout for my SDTrans384.

 

Tempted to try one, but not before I am sure about this. Still waiting for responses from Musician and/or Aoshida Audio...

[bodiebill]

deleted

[pm325]

On 7/7/2020 at 3:47 AM, Holzohr said:

The Pegasus won't replace my Matrix X-Sabre Pro (MQA). The plan is to use the Pegasus with HQPlayer via USB. Its I2S input works with my Matrix X-SPDIF 2 very well. Afaik they communicate via 'PS Audio mode'.

 

On 8/26/2020 at 4:00 AM, bodiebill said:

Anyone knows whether the Pegasus' I2S pin layout is configurable? Or if not, what the layout is? I need the PSAudio layout for my SDTrans384.

 

[bodiebill]

yes I saw that, but I would like to be more certain than 'AFAIK' 🤔😊

[mikelm]

I am also very keen to read more reviews of this DAC.

 

I think if Denafrips has a problem, they can chose not to supply the parts so for me this is not a problem at all.

 

If some has one still but they don't want to review it then please sent it to me and I will happily do a review.

 

mike

[80levan]

On 7/7/2020 at 1:47 AM, Holzohr said:

I received my Musician Pegasus today. My first R2R DAC. Indeed I was about to order a Pontus II but thanks to this thread I decided for the Pegasus. I like its form factor and of course the price point. The Pegasus won't replace my Matrix X-Sabre Pro (MQA). The plan is to use the Pegasus with HQPlayer via USB. Its I2S input works with my Matrix X-SPDIF 2 very well. Afaik they communicate via 'PS Audio mode'. The odd thing is (to me) the USB input gets deactivated when you chose another input so my HQPlayer 4 Desktop was complaining several times after a system boot that it can not find the DAC (the I2S input was active in this case).

 

There is still lots to play around and to listen. I am realizing the overdose of "Chi-Fi" in my gear. 🙂

 

 

 

 

I'm using the Pegasus with the xspdif2 but I'm having pops and crackling distortion via i2s. Musician Audio technician said I need a custom HDMI cable. !?!? Are you using a regular hdmi cable? Is your xspdif2 i2s setting set to def A or B? Thank you. 

[giordy60]

have you tried to connect the dac directly to the pc by eliminating the audio interface? .... using the usb connection of course ....

check that the switch is in the right position....

[Holzohr]

8 hours ago, 80levan said:

I'm using the Pegasus with the xspdif2 but I'm having pops and crackling distortion via i2s. Musician Audio technician said I need a custom HDMI cable. !?!? Are you using a regular hdmi cable? Is your xspdif2 i2s setting set to def A or B? Thank you. 

 

My X-SPDIF 2 is set to def B. I didn't have any pops but I have sold my Pegasus several weeks ago.

[80levan]

I had to set it to def B. Then was much less pop and cracking. But the channels are flipped. I couldn't tell if the phase is inverted in my test but there's a definite issue with 192/24 in particular of getting more pops and crackling in that resolution more than others.

 

I tried it on a jay audio CDT and the channels are flipped and the phase is inverted!!! Sigh.

 

I'm using AES through headphones and it's 'okay'. I enjoy the performance of the Hugo 2 via coaxial on the Jay way better. No contest.

[Rexp]

Sounds good here

 

[mevdinc]

On 1/19/2021 at 6:07 AM, Rexp said:

Sounds good here

 

This was an enjoyable three part video series on ATC speakers, passive, active and finally a nice comparison between the two.

Active version wins the day which doesn't surprise me. I have been using ATC actives with great satisfaction since 1998.
Feeding the system with a quality source is all one needs.

I am currently considering upgrading my DAC.

 

[Rexp]

10 hours ago, mevdinc said:

This was an enjoyable three part video series on ATC speakers, passive, active and finally a nice comparison between the two.

Active version wins the day which doesn't surprise me. I have been using ATC actives with great satisfaction since 1998.
Feeding the system with a quality source is all one needs.

I am currently considering upgrading my DAC.

 

Yes the DAC sounds very analogue, the question is, is it too smooth as some R2R DACs can be. 

[johnwilk]

That question is hard to answer as he's using a Chord M-Scaler into the Pegasus. My Pegasus left China a couple of days ago, so I should be able to give a view in a couple of weeks.

[DancingSea]

Just posted to YouTube

 

 

[FIndingit]

With good sources USB is the best input of Pegasus, i2s can of course be better and very transparent to the ddc used. 

“Smooth” in my view is a word someone using solely the spdif or aes would use to describe this dac. 

[johnwilk]

Mine arrived yesterday, and 30 hours later is coming alive (at first sounded thin) - Musician recommends a week's burn-in but I don't have that much patience. I'm using USB, and running NOS and unbalanced because my Linear Tube MicroZOTL3 headphone amp doesn't have balanced inputs. It's terrific - I'm baffled by some comments about a deficient bass. I'm using Roon, and playing with settings have found a strong difference from my Sony TA-ZH headphone amp where the differences between no upsampling, DSD upsampling and different filters were negligible to my ear (the Sony always upsamples PCM anyway). With the Pegasus the differences are dramatic. I much prefer PCM to DSD, with PCM initially sounding stronger upsampled to Max PCM, but now it's bedded in a bit, I'm preferring direct, unmodified. Haven't yet tried a DSD file natively, later... This purchase was impulsive after some negative reviews, but the unit arrived in immaculate condition, 17 days from order (Amazon is quoting a ridiculous delivery date into April!), and I'm entranced by its sound already.

[Robmano]

Hi, has any of the owners compared it to Denafrips Ares 2? 

Kind regards 

[AudioLibiertarian]

Does anyone here use the Pegasus with any Apple Mac Computer by any chance? If so, could you connect the Pegasus and Mac with USB cable and see if the system volume (NOT ITUNES & AUDIONIRVANA, or any other audio players for Mac) changes the output level by pressing volume +/- on the keyboard. Please note what version of MAC OS you use, and what happens when you lower the volume all the way down (if it mutes the output completely). I have been able to regulate the volume with my Macbook sysem volume with most of dacs I ve owned (SMSL D1, Topping 7DX, Goldmund), but NOT with some brands firmware like IFI, KIng REX, etc. Wonder if I have a conflict somewhere... Appreciate it greatly!

[AudioLibiertarian]

This place is quieter than heaven on Saturday night, to quote Leonard Cohen 😀

[AudioLibiertarian]

I am breaking in the Pegasus, thus far have about 150 hours  24/7 music playing thru its balanced outputs, so will report in a week , after 300 hours mark is reached.....

 

Anyone else care to share their experiences , quirks, etc?

[FIndingit]

In my view it is unusually sensitive to usb quality, mains quality, vibration (try good footers) and warm up. When you take care of these things, it’s one of the best bargains. 

[AudioLibiertarian]

On 2/13/2021 at 11:03 AM, FIndingit said:

In my view it is unusually sensitive to usb quality, mains quality, vibration (try good footers) and warm up. When you take care of these things, it’s one of the best bargains. 

Its  chassis got welded steel feet,  pretty stable  actually, wonder if  new brass feet would make any difference

[EddieF]

On 2/13/2021 at 3:40 AM, AudioLibiertarian said:

I am breaking in the Pegasus, thus far have about 150 hours  24/7 music playing thru its balanced outputs, so will report in a week , after 300 hours mark is reached.....

 

Anyone else care to share their experiences , quirks, etc?

Do you have an update after reaching 300 hours?

 

I'm a new Musician Pegasus owner and close to 300 hours. There have been no issues other than Roon 1.8 on macOS was limited to DSD DoP and not offering native DSD. So I moved Roon to Windows 10 PC, downloaded and installed the Pegasus driver. Now I can choose and play native DSD up to DSD256. 

 

The Pegasus is in my main stereo system connected via balanced XLR to Rogue Athena tube preamp, Wyred 4 Sound Class D amp, and Martin Logan Spires. I listen primarily to high rez downloaded files of acoustic jazz and jazz vocalists from HDTT, Native DSD, BlueCoast, HDTracks and others. The Pegasus is very impressive. There is nice weight to instruments and fullness to vocals. Warm and rich sounding. There's excellent soundstage depth and noticeable layering. Good soundstage height as well. The bass is deep and tight. So far the Pegasus is meeting my expectations.