Sonnet Digital Audio Pasithea -- Best in Class $5K DAC? You get to decide, the Reviews are in! Check out Cees Ruijtenberg's Latest Creation.

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Review: Sonnet Digital Audio Pasithea DAC (Part One)

Sonnet Digital Audio Pasithea R2R DAC 

The new Sonnet range does a wonderful job of presenting even the most complex music in a natural and inviting manner with every ounce of nuance intact. There is no artificial sounding edge, no sense of a flat cutout image, basically none of digital’s nastier stuff. In some DAC designs, this type of presentation comes with a somewhat dark and muddy sound, but that is not the case with the new Sonnet range. Pasithea allows you to hear even deeper into the recording.  

Cees Ruijtenberg has started a new company, Sonnet Digital Audio. 

The renowned designer of the unanimously acclaimed Metrum Acoustics Pevane and Addagio DAC’s is back in full force with two new creations, Morpheus and Pasithea. Sonnet and Cees were referred to Audio Art by a noted industry journalist who has “heard it all” after asking for a recommendation to an emerging and important line of digital audio products, with something special to offer. I’m glad I got in touch with them, and I can tell you without hesitation, Pasithea and Morpheus are sonic mind-benders at their asking prices. Cees and team have come to play.

Pasithea -  the personification of relaxation and meditation

It is fair to say that in Cees Ruijtenberg's latest creation, this has been achieved.  Sonnet's long awaited Pasithea, residing in their line-up as a new flagship model, above the highly acclaimed Morpheus Mk II, boasts even better specifications and enhanced versatility.  But above all, Pasithea produces a beautifully natural sonic soundscape as if it had come directly from the recording engineer's mixing console, without any degradation. There are few words to describe a product that does its work so neutrally. This is the Pasithea in a nutshell.

Because of immensely energy-efficient electronics, there was room to add even more high-end technology within the dimensions of Sonnet’s standard, footprint friendly enclosure. Eight DACs are employed with a proprietary Field Programmable Gate Array, which is used to take Sonnet's stellar specifications to even greater heights.  

Unbelievable linearity, and ultra-low distortion, even at extremely low levels with a noise floor a full 10 dB lower than Morpheus!  The eight custom SDA-3 modules developed for this design collectively have a vanishingly low output impedance so virtually any load can be driven.  Flexibility has also been increased with RJ45 based I2S and USB inputs both included as standard options, without having to swap modules.

Special attention is paid to linearity.  The philosophy here is that a high performance digital to analog converter ideally should have zero errors.  When achieved, this enables the data in the digital domain to match the value in the analog domain, dictating best possible sonic performance.  Noise plays another important factor in Pasithea's design philosophy.  When noise is this low it becomes possible to realize real 24 bit performance.

Pasithea includes Sonnet's Pure & Simple Digital to Analog conversion with Volume control

What more can you do after designing two of the very best sounding DACs available today?  The idea of having a capable volume control to take the place of an analog preamp is always a big plus. However, such an attenuation device in the signal chain can also have a negative effect.  After exhaustive testing, Cees discovered the best way to achieve this was to change the output voltage of the DAC itself by changing its reference voltage. With the SDA-3, a new generation of R-2-R Ladder DAC modules was designed to get the purist voltage regulation possible. The result of this process is an extremely high linearity, right down to -160 dB, giving Pasithea a realistic 24-bit dynamic range.

"The Bottom Line:  Sonnet Digital Audio’s Pasithea is the perfect DAC to call your end-game digital source, at a price that is sending $10K, and beyond DAC designers back to the drawing board! Sonnet’s Pasithea echoes its moniker. It’s a faithful conduit to the artists’ intent while, at the same time, it presents the artistry in an easy and rather seductive fashion. Yes, the Goddess Pasithea lives in this DAC…"

… Edgar Kramer
SoundstageAustralia.com