French high-end manufacturer Métronome has spent the past two years quietly building out Métronome Digital Sharing, a four-model family that tackles digital audio from every angle a modern listener might approach it: spinning a CD, converting a digital signal, streaming from the network, or running an entire library and set of subscriptions off a single built-in server.
Where Métronome’s AQWO and Classica ranges pair transports with DACs for listeners still committed to physical media, Digital Sharing is the brand’s answer to a household that increasingly lives in Qobuz, Tidal and ripped FLAC files, without asking anyone to give up the sound quality Métronome built its name on. All four models share a chassis language of solid steel and machined aluminum, offered in silver or black, so they can be mixed and stacked as a matching system.
DST: A CD Transport With No Interest in Retiring the Disc
DST is the newest addition to the Métronome Digital Sharing range and the clearest statement that Métronome isn’t ready to let the compact disc go quietly. It’s a dedicated transport rather than a full CD player, built to hand a clean digital signal to an external DAC through S/PDIF, AES/EBU or I2S, with resampling available on each output and I2S stretching as far as 384kHz/32-bit PCM and DSD256. A 3.9-inch touchscreen display, controllable by hand or via the included infrared remote, handles track and time information without cluttering the front panel. Métronome pairs DST most naturally with DSC mini, the range’s own converter, though its outputs are broad enough to work with almost any modern DAC.
DSC mini: The Converter Built to Pair
DSC mini is the Métronome Digital Sharing range’s D/A converter, built around an ESS ES9026PRO chip rated at -110dB THD+N and a 124dB signal-to-noise ratio. It accepts S/PDIF, AES/EBU, Toslink, USB and I2S, with the I2S input specifically tuned to receive the native signal from DSS 2, and USB alone capable of native DSD512. A 3.5-inch display keeps track of format and sample rate, and RCA and XLR outputs on the back cover both single-ended and balanced setups. At under 5kg and built into the same 250 x 70 x 250mm footprint as its siblings, it’s designed to sit invisibly underneath or alongside whichever source feeds it.
DSS 2: The Network Player That Speaks Every Protocol
DSS 2 is where Métronome Digital Sharing meets the streaming world directly. It plays music from a local network to any DLNA- or UPnP-compatible app, but the protocol list goes considerably further: Roon Ready certification, Qobuz Connect, TIDAL Connect, Spotify Connect and MQA rendering are all built in, alongside “Plays with Audirvāna” certification for listeners running that software as their primary library manager. PCM decoding tops out at 384kHz/32-bit and DSD reaches 256 natively over I2S, with dual-band Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet covering network connectivity. It’s a streamer built to slot into almost any existing ecosystem rather than pull listeners into a proprietary one.
DSAS: The Server That Turns Audirvāna Into Hardware
DSAS is the range’s most ambitious model and its first true music server, developed in partnership with software specialist Audirvāna rather than built entirely in-house. Inside is 2TB of SSD storage, expandable to 4TB, alongside USB 3.0 ports for external drives, feeding an external DAC such as DSC mini over USB or network at up to DSD512.
Every DSAS ships with a three-year subscription to Audirvāna Studio and a perpetual license for Audirvāna Origin, giving buyers a turnkey way to manage a local library, mixed playlists and HD streaming from Qobuz, Tidal, HRA and Presto Music from a single smartphone or tablet app, without separately sourcing or licensing server software. Chromecast support and a 10-band parametric EQ round out a feature set aimed squarely at listeners who want the convenience of a streaming appliance without handing sound quality over to it.
Taken together, the four models let a listener build a Métronome Digital Sharing system as narrow or as complete as they like: a DST and DSC mini pair for a CD-first system, a DSS 2 alone for straightforward network streaming, or a DSAS at the center of a household’s entire digital collection with DSC mini handling conversion. It’s a similar philosophy to what drives modern network streaming hardware elsewhere in the category — treat the digital front end as a set of interchangeable, purpose-built boxes rather than one do-everything unit — but built with Métronome’s own steel-and-aluminum design language and, in DSAS’s case, a direct Audirvāna partnership baked into the hardware itself.
Pricing and availability
The Métronome Digital Sharing range is sold exclusively through Métronome’s dealer network, so exact pricing varies by market and importer, but European retail listings give a reasonably consistent picture: DST is priced from roughly €5,200 to €5,700 (around £4,400 to £4,800), DSC mini from approximately €4,850 to €5,490, DSS 2 from around €4,590 to €4,700, and DSAS — the newest and most feature-complete model, with its bundled Audirvāna licensing — at approximately €6,990. All four are available now in silver or black finishes.
Key specifications
- DST: dedicated CD transport, 3.9-inch touchscreen display, S/PDIF/AES-EBU/I2S digital outputs up to 384kHz/32-bit PCM and DSD256 (I2S), 21W power consumption
- DSC mini: ESS ES9026PRO DAC chip, -110dB THD+N, 124dB S/N, S/PDIF/AES-EBU/Toslink/USB/I2S inputs, USB up to native DSD512, RCA and XLR outputs
- DSS 2: Roon Ready, Qobuz Connect, TIDAL Connect, Spotify Connect, DLNA/UPnP and MQA rendering, dual-band Wi-Fi plus Gigabit Ethernet, PCM to 384kHz/32-bit and DSD256 native via I2S
- DSAS: 2TB internal SSD (expandable to 4TB), 3-year Audirvāna Studio subscription plus perpetual Audirvāna Origin license, USB DAC output to DSD512, Chromecast built-in, 10-band parametric EQ
- Shared across the Métronome Digital Sharing range: solid steel-and-aluminum chassis, silver or black finishes, 250 x 70 x 250mm dimensions, sold through Métronome’s authorized dealer network
