Musician Pegasus Review

Musician Pegasus Award

If Google brought you to this page directly, click here to go to the start of the article here: https://www.headfonia.com/musician-pegasus-review/

Sound General

 

Is it wrong to say that the Pegasus has that typical R2R sound with superb precision, clarity and excellent dynamics? I do have to admit though, that I am a sucker for the R2R technology and I absolutely love how the beforementioned R2R DAPs sound. The Pegasus excels when it comes to sounding natural and it has the most gorgeous timbre and vocal presence. Naturality, precision and musicality are the top 3 characteristics to remember, with an exciting and engaging delivery which logically is very addictive. The Pegasus sounds superbly realistic and it does so without any effort.

The Pegasus doesn’t boost any frequencies or puts anything to the front or back. It is balanced and extremely complete in everything it does. I however can’t describe the Musician Audio Pegasus as a fully neutral sounding DAC, therefor its sound is just a bit soft and smooth (but very musical and precise) in the delivery. You also get a full bodied but natural sound from top to bottom, but it’s never too heavy sounding.

This DAC in no way is digital, cold or dry sounding, it definitely has a more analog presence. Because of all these excellent characteristics, the Pegasus is also easy to get a good synergy with and I not come across any amp that didn’t shine with the Pegasus hooked up to it.

Musician Pegasus

There really isn’t anything bad I can say about the Pegasus’ bass and mids. Both have great depth and layering and the overall staging capacity and positioning is really good. If you’re a fan of vocally strong music, the Pegasus will be your very best friend. No matter if you’re listening to Leonard Cohen or Melody Gardot, the vocals will be incredible.

The only part where some of you might find it a bit too forgiving in is the top end treble. The Pegasus is precise but soft in this area and if you’re a fan of a more aggressive and energetic top end rendering, the Pegasus light be a bit soft for you. At the same time this softness makes the Pegasus very easy and addictive to listen to. Listening fatigue is not something that will ever happen because of the Pegasus.

As mentioned before the Pegasus offers a NOS and oversampling function. To be honest, the noticeable difference is limited if you ask me, unless you use really precise gear such as the Ferrum OOR and Susvara/HD800. So personally I would say to not expect too much from this option. The difference is there, but it’s not night and day.

Sound – Inputs

Just to be clear again, the above description of how the Pegasus sound is with the USB-input. In this chapter we check the impact on the sound with the other digital inputs. The source used for this test is the X10tii digital turntable as it features a optical, AES and coaxial output. The only input we aren’t able to test is the I2S one.

Optical

The biggest difference for me here is the elevated level of energy and the lighter presence in regards to overall body. With the Optical input everything sounds a bit sharper, more aggressive and the vocals become less blended natural with a more to the front presentation and sharper delivery. In a way you could say that the optical output sounds more digital compared to the USB-input. I personally also find the optical input to sound a more messy and less clean/separated. It’s not my preferred input, that’s for sure.

Musician Pegasus

AES

The AES input is more comparable to the USB input. What you get here is slightly more energy, great body and really excellent separation. Like the USB input there is a full bodied and natural presentation, but it’s slightly more separated and analytics, where the USB input is perhaps less strict, but more a complete “whole”. Also with the AES, the vocals are lightly more forward sounding.

Coaxial

The Coaxial input with a lot of DACs is my favorite input as it seems to bring the best of all inputs to the table. With the Pegasus, I find the coaxial input to sound a lot like the AES input, and I find very little differences between both. So you get a full bodied sound with excellent separation, but with the same added energy and vocal forwardness.

There is no best input in this case and it really depends on what your preference is. For me personally the USB input here is the best overall performer, even if I do like the extra body and superb separation from the coaxial input. The USB input is also the easiest to listen to for me.

Let us know in the comments what input you prefer on the Pegasus.

Conclusion

The Musician Audio Pegasus DAC is a very complete, versatile and easy to use unit. Not only does it sound excellent with its R2R technology, but it also looks great and doesn’t break the bank.

The fact that I have been using it non-stop in my office desktop setup and for testing, shows that’s it’s an incredible piece of engineering. As such it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I am awarding the Pegasus with our Recommended Buy award. To our best gear guide it goes!

 

 

Page 1: Musician Audio, R2R, Pegasus, Features, Specs

Page 2: Box & Accessories, Design & Bulid & Lay-out, Usability, Sound Intro

Page 3: Sound General, Sound Inputs, Conclusion

4.2/5 - (197 votes)
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin

Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

6 Comments

  • Reply January 21, 2022

    B3Nz

    Awesome review! Any comparison to Schiit Bifrost 2? I believe the Multibit is r2r as well….

  • Reply January 22, 2022

    Victor Hoi Yu

    Hi how will this compare to Hugo2 DAC ?

  • Reply February 8, 2022

    The Best Piano Teachers

    With the Musician Pegasus, I hooked up the balanced inputs directly on my Integrated Amplifier. This worked pretty well.

  • Reply March 12, 2022

    Nic Chan

    Try upgrading the internal fuse! You will be amazed how big a leap it gets! It’s jaw dropping good!

  • Reply August 10, 2022

    Nic Chan

    Being a pround owner of the Pegasus. It’s one beautiful DAC to own. Especially when you don’t mind to spend a few extra bucks to upgrade the internal fuse. It’s a super significant upgrade to the whole sound spectrum! I also own the Hugo TT2 DAC. I will say after the fuse upgrade it’s like a new DAC and offered at least 70% of what the Chord has to offer.

    FYI: I had the SR purple fuse installed.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.