Simply put, the Pavane sounded real, like the real thing, perfect. No thinness, no harshness, nothing. The bass did not sound strong, nor weak, nor tight, nor loose, it sounded like the real bass instrument.
Everything sounds good and correct. Tons of clear details instead of a mess of sound on other DACs.
No faults with the sound. Even at whisper level it still sounded good.
This is how other DACs sounded compared to the Metrum Pavane :
$6000 PS Audio Directstream: Thin and flat and incorrect, this sounded so bad that if you did an A/B with the Metrum you'd think it's defective and in need of repairs.
$2000 Benchmark DAC2: Hints of thinness. Lots of bass. Shares traits with the Directstream sound.
$2200 Emotiva XMC-1: This thing sounded surprisingly good. A bit veiled at lower volume, also hints of incorrectness from time to time.
Pavane sound reminded me of the sound you used to get out of CD players of the 90s (except way better of course)... What happened to this industry...
I may want to try cheaper dacs of this type, $4000+ is a lot to lock up in a DAC...
Edit: just got to add, Pavane sounded good right out of the box, you don't have to burn in your brain for the sound signature.