Metrum Octave single ended output

I would say it depends on what other gear you have. If say, you have Ayre which is designed to run balanced it's a dealbreaker. If you have any sort of british gear -NAD, Rega, Cyrus, Roksan, Creek etc it's not as most of that equipment is designed with single ended in mind.

For short runs, single ended shouldn't be a big issue as I understand it. I'm running the Octave with an LFD integrated which is all single ended and it is working fantastically well, balanced is not something that I miss or even wonder about at this point.

There is a new Metrum Hex coming out which I believe has balanced ins/outs but it's a lot more money-$4k or so I believe.

Hi Audiojedi, thanks for the detail info. Just ordered one Octave from Hifi Heaven today (they offer 14-day return policy with restocking fee). I plan to use it with Pass XP-10 pre and from there running balanced to Pass XA30.5 amp. I also use Empirical Synchro-mesh for reclocking. May the force be with you.

Kzhtoo,

Sorry for going off topic, but what's your experience been with the Synchro-mesh reclocker? I've been thinking of inserting one between my Logitech Touch and my DAC, but I haven't seen many user reviews yet. Thanks.

In my system and for my own personal requirements (see below), Synchro-mesh makes a world of difference. I went through the break-in of synchro-mesh (2-3 days) with my electrocompaniet ecd-1 dac and the experience can be described as going through winter, spring to summer. And this is with one cheapo optical to SM and from there I use AQ entry level cinnamon optical to dac. (I've also ordered Grover Huffman digital RCA to replace AQ optical but still waiting for it to arrive) Steve from Empirical Audio, the designer of SM, also mentioned it's best used with glass optical but due to its fragile nature, I decided to go with digital RCA.

AppleTV is my choice of transport due to 1/superb interface 2/iTunes Match streaming 3/my favorite type of music doesn't have a lot of high-res offering (EDM) although I enjoy diana krall, norah jones type every now and then. If you have less jittery source than AppleTV, the improvement could be YMMV. I also read in 6moon review of SM that it doesn't improve much for PS Audio PWD II that has very good de-jittering circuit.

One thing I just confirmed with Steve is that, with the current configuration in my system with Octave, I'd get 24/96 (hardware upsampling with latest TI chip from SM) going to my Pass pre, which I think is good enough for me.

AppleTV (16/48) --> SM (24/96) --> Octave (24/96)

"The only experience I have with single ended out is with my receiver and I find it quite noisy".

Key word here is "receiver".

Devilboy, you're absolutely right. First thing I checked when I fired up the Octave this morning is noise. I use 1M Nordost Heimdall IC and I detected NONE. :)

BTW, I posted this in other thread, but I guess I'd ask it here as well. Octave sounds great cold out of the box (unlike oppo-95 which has a break-in up north of 500 hours), but one thing I notice is constricted soundstage compared to my Electrocompaniet ECD-1 dac. Is soundstage one of characteristics that gets better over time? Or if you don't mind, I'd love to hear what you experienced during Octave 3-4 weeks break in period, in general.

Kzhtoo, thanks for the feedback on the Synchro-mesh. Good luck with the break-in on your Octave.

kzhtoo: The Metrum sounded really good right out of the box. Over the course of a month the Metrum opened up and got "smoother", soundstaging opening up nicely. Give it time. I absolutely love this dac. It beat my Weiss Minerva hands down at a price of $5,500.

Hi Devilboy, thanks for the info. Do you use any aftermarket power cord? Today I switched in Shanyata Venom 3 and heard the improvement.

I'm using a Synergistic Research AC Master Coupler. It's the only one I ever had on the Metrum. I'm about to pull the trigger on an Audiophilleo 2 which, as I understand, is really good.