@justjames72 , to your question,
"so not worth it to upgrade from Onyx to Pavane unless you are super critical listener?"
I would say, probably not, unless the rest of your system is dialed in at a fairly high level.
However, this stuff is subjective and more than a few say the source is your most important component (closely followed, or led, by speakers). I definitely would not trade the Onyx or Jade for the Level 1 Pavane, that doesn't use the
Transient DAC Two modules.
I have been on a small mission to simplify my system and I am strongly considering purchasing an Adagio so I can remove the preamp from my system. One thing I didn't notice the first time I auditioned (i.e., owned) the Adagio, is that in addition to improved resolution and HF extension, the Jade (or Adagio) direct seems to provide a bit of a boost in dynamics over the Pavane L3/preamp....possibly because the DAC direct route is providing a higher voltage output than my preamp or, maybe just because there are less electronics in the path. The differences are relatively small.
The other thing to consider is that my amplifiers are relatively optimal for both passives and DAC-direct because of their high'ish 100K ohm input impedance. This DAC-direct option may not work as well with amps having lower input impedance. However, the output impedance of the Jade and Onyx is a low 100 ohms and output impedance of the Adagio is 100 ohms for the RCA output and 320
ohms
for the XLR.