My initial impressions are as follows: This is the most transparent DAC I have ever heard, previously owning Denafrips Terminator, Holo Spring, Sonnet Morpheus, Aqua La Scala, PS audio PW DSD and others of lesser renown and quality.
Honestly?
Okto DAC 8 Stereo (Shout-out)
I know this DAC made a buzz via a Stereophile A+ rating a couple years back, and I can’t say how many times I casually checked if they were back in stock for purchase. A couple of weeks ago I happened to check and they were.
Previously I had read the lead times were up to 8 weeks for a build, but happy to report it arrived in just over a week to the states. Great communication and service from the Okto team. Unfortunately couldn’t get one with streaming on-board due to R-Pi shortages.
Seems well built, nice screen, and overall a smaller chassis than I thought. Hopefully won’t miss lack of single ended outputs. A note you can use this as a preamp and order to custom output voltage to match your power amp.
My initial impressions are as follows: This is the most transparent DAC I have ever heard, previously owning Denafrips Terminator, Holo Spring, Sonnet Morpheus, Aqua La Scala, PS audio PW DSD and others of lesser renown and quality. . The instrument separation is quite good, a wide and deep stage, and an almost eerily clarity that lacks any glassy edginess that sabre DAC based designs seem to be known for. Although I owned a HIFI rose and loved it.
Anyways, kudos to Okto and a heads up they are in stock. Great performance and a very affordable price!
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Showing 3 responses by lordmelton
@yyzsantabarbara I look forward to your review of the Okto, you are one of the few people I believe to give an informed and unbiased review. Besides, we have both owned the Musetec 005, which I feel the Okto will struggle to beat. We will see of course. At a little less than half the cost of the Musetec 005, the Okto offers amazing value, however the interior is very spartan, does it use a switching or linear PS? No mention of which ESS chip is being used. The Musetec uses the ESS 9038 Pro, it would be nice if the Okto uses the latest ESS 9039 Pro chip. Good Luck!
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@milpai Much of the general chatter about DACs is based on the Emperor's New Clothes. Virtually every DAC out there is made as either an ESS 9038 Pro based DAC or a R2R Ladder DAC. There was a very interesting discussion on WBF a little while back which maintained the point, what could you possibly do to turn a Wadax into a $240k DAC? Even a MBF R2R DAC into a $100k DAC? They all use the same resistors, maybe they are closer matched? Certainly better power management but you're still dealing with the same core. If you've got a good (real good) front end most DACs are going to sound excellent. A recent fallacy is it's all down to the DAC. This is preposterous. Trash in, trash out. A DAC cannot reconfigure the signal it gets unless oversampling and up-sampling are employed, but it gets boring and lifeless after a while. It's like looking at your Rolex and knowing it's a fake. Personally I prefer ESS DACs, I've had AKM and they sound muddy to me. R2R can sound excellent but at the end of they day, maybe not this day, processing power will remain supreme. Any digital based system needs a master clock more than a high priced DAC. |