Metrum Octave single ended output

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

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.

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)

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.