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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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poketacez

Showing 1 response by mistercrash

mistercrash
20 posts
 

I use an Okto DAC8 Stereo in my office system, hooked up to an electrostatic headphone amp. I used to have a Weiss Helios DAC in that system, but when I volume matched them and ran them through a selector switch so I could A/B them, I was not able to reliably tell them apart. I tried switching back and forth between them many times over the course of several months, and eventually concluded that if I didn't need the Weiss DSP features and only needed balanced outputs, the Okto was just as good in my system as the Helios. The Okto also has the advantage of having multiple Toslink and USB inputs in case you have multiple sources.

 

Originally, my Okto was a non-streaming version, but I installed a Raspberry Pi 4 board with a microSD card flashed to RoPieee to make it a Roon endpoint as well, and it's worked without issue. The headphone output on the Okto doesn't work right for me (I hear a lot of clicking when I try it) but I don't need that.

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