Got mine last week. It is currently burning in.
Showing 4 responses by elberoth2
I've been playing with my Metrum Octave DAC for the past 4 weeks, and I have to say, that it sounds spectacular. Super transparent, fast, detailed, smooth, with excellent front to back layering and soundstaging in general. It is indeed a game changing product. No, it is not better than my uber-expensive dCS Scarlatti, which is still smoother and has even better resolution, but is not that far behind. This DAC could sell for $5k and (fit and finish aside) could still represent a good value for money. |
Vicdamone, Lewinskih01 - I have been using my PC server, running Win 7 64-bit with JRMC 17 and Jplay, exclusively. It is true, Metrum needs a low jitter source to show it's true potential. Out of a few dozens of USB/SPDIF converters I have tested, JK SPDIF mk 3 works particularly well with Metrum, and offers by far the best bang for the buck. I have a few 176kHz files, and they do sound outstanding on Metrum, but those are Reference Recordings HRx albums, so I'm not sure if the quality is due to them beeing 176kHz or superior mastering. 99% of my collection are regular 16/44 files. I play them back with no upsampling (Jplay does not offer this option), and they also sound great, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. The key is a great USB/SPDIF converter (be it JK mk 3, Off Ramp Turbo 4/5, BADA Alpa USB, HiFace Evo stack). |
Bugredmachine - Martin Colloms from hifi critic tested Metrum with his vintage Meridian transport, and it still sounded very good. It is not that it will sound 'bad' or any worse than other DACs in this price range when using with ordinary transport. But the sound quality you get from this DAC is so high, it is so transparent, that it imidiately shows improvements in transport quality. |