Metrum Octave Dac experiences

i have a metrum since 4 weeks now ,replace an audio-note dac 3.1kit and berkeley alpha. at first i was a little disapointed coming from two excellent dac. the octave sounds thin , constricted with an upfront medium. so i decide to mod it with few dollars parts , just replace the little diodes with a shottky bridge , leave out a dozen of tantalum caps and replace it with elna cerafine near the chips. now it"s a keeper , i call it a little berkeley , very relaxing sound with tons off details...

mac mini/ pure music / jkenny hiface/ octave a damn good combo :)

Finest dac I have ever heard PERIOD. I wrote quite a bit about it and my findings but the powers at AGON killed the thread. In my opinion upsampling has NEVER EVER sounded right (even when all the magazine gurus were busy telling us how superior upsampling was) and that includes the 64 bit upsampling in my beloved Pure Music. No other dac has sounded as real or pure as the Metrum. The Concert fidelity dac (USD 10K) is a fine unit and it pales in comparison to the Octave and it has tubes in the output stage; not that that means a thing :) Tubes are no panacea and most times they can obscure purity with a false fattening of the musical event. Now I also have an AMR DP777 with about 11 days on it and I will state that it is nearly equal to the Octave (remember the AMR is NOT yet fully run-in). The AMR is an awesome sounding unit and a huge value for the money.

You absolutely can't go wrong with the AMR or the Ocatave, I have heard a great number of very very expensive dacs and most of them are nothing more than the stock circuit (supplied by the manufacturer) of the dac chip employed with little changed and in some cases it is verbatim. Don't let anyone fool you. A fully run in Octave (minimum of 4 weeks) will go head to head with anything I have heard in 14 years of being involved in this hobby. The only thing I have heard thus far to come close to it is the AMR.

Maybe you should try upsampling, Audiofun, because on a certain Aussie forum, they think the Octave really takes off once you do so.

Also a converter at the level of an Audiophilleo is needed to really unlock its potential.

Tannoyd: Hi and thanks for the advice. I have tried it extensively and it always sound processed and less real when you go back to native resolution. I admit it can sound nice until one goes back and listens deeply into the music (especially live recordings), it simply sounds processed.

Concerning USB/SPDIF I have owned the M2Tech Hiface and EVO, and I settled on the Kingrex UC192 with the upgraded MKII power supply (fully regulated linear supply with 48V toroidal transformer) and I also own the Sonicweld Diverter HR.

Believe me, the UC192 performs well above where one would think especially with the version 6 firmware installed and the Diverter HR is in a league of its own.

Not everyone is sold on the'superiority' of upsampling rates. Some simply find it more 'hifi' in character and native 16/44.1 to sound more 'natural' YMMV.