I finally received my unit at the end of September - about 6 weeks after the order was placed. Again I was too busy with work to write about it - I gotta change jobs or something.
It's got about 20 hours burn-in time. I'm impressed with how much more of a soundstage and depth it casts. It also renders the bass with more girth without muddying up the bottom - I no longer think that my KEF R300 bookshelfs are bass shy. Cymbals, triangles, and acoustic guitars are rendered realistically - which is generally true for most acoustic instruments. The vocals are slightly improved - I don't know how to qualify this.
Occasionally when the music is too busy like when the instruments are all mostly centered, fast, and competing with each other volume wise, the rendering sounds disorienting like the signals are out of phase which I liken to a bad attempt at creating surround sound from 2 channels. This rarely happens but is more pronounced compared to my cheaper Dac-Wow.
Overall, worth the price and wait. |
Bought one from Hifi Heaven's website last week and it shipped out the next day. After only a couple hours I am impressed! At first I was rather cheesed about the dealer mark up, but even at $1100 this thing appears to be an incredible bargain. I say this while listening to a unit that is nowhere near broken in after swapping it in place of a fully warmed up Berkeley Alpha DAC Series 2 20 minutes ago. Just as good? Let's not get carried away, but pretty damned ridiculous at a shade over 1/5th of the price. |
Hifi Heaven must have remembered my plight and reached out to me to offer a discount on a unit. I unfortunately had to decline it since I've already placed my order with Metrum.
I included a link to this topic in my reply in hopes that they'll read it and will work to prevent my issues from happening to other folks. I hope I'm not being an ass for doing it that way. |
Just wanted to let folks know that Hi-Fi Heaven sent me a shipping notice on the Metrum Octave. I'm scheduled for delivery on August 28th. If anyone out there wants a Metrum, now is probably a good time to call as I assume they still have available product. |
Cool, I'll report when mine comes in too.
Hopefully the delay turns out to be overstated and it actually arrives sooner (as in Vicdamone's case). |
Will post when mine comes in. Even with a delay that's some nice savings by going direct. |
I decided to go direct and ended paying $904 (with today's exchange rate).
It would be interesting to see how far behind my order is compared to Sibelius' order from Hifi. |
More like $200 if I use standard post: 668Euro ($825) + shipping 26E ($32) + paypal fee 23E ($28) = $885(compared to Hifi H $1095).
* 668E comes from their pricelist page for the 14V power supply and in silver
Vicdamone, did you use standard post? I haven't bought anything from Europe for a decade now. Has standard post gone downhill that I should consider UPS? |
Huynhh1, Aren't you saving almost $400 buying it direct from Metrum?
They quoted me at least six weeks and it arrived in the fourth week. |
Amazon reporting that there were 3 available was probably a due to a delay between dealer and Amazon. Regardless, Hifi H was completely aware of my order each of the 3 times I called them.
I think the confluence of 6-weeks in customs, Amazon's auto cancel of order after 37 days, Hifi customer service procedures, and my work schedule are to blame. Before Amazon cancelled the order, I talked to Hifi customer service and asked them if they can guarantee me a unit on their next shipment even if Amazon cancelled my order. They said yes, no problem, but they didn't take my card - so in the end, that conversation translated into just being a courtesy call.
I got a reply from Metrum Acoustics, they will sell direct but the lead time is 6 weeks plus the time in customs. Shipping is 26 euro for post and 125 euros for UPS. They said UPS is faster and more reliable. Anyone know if UPS's rates are really worth 100 euros more? |
I'm wondering if the Amazon interface may be at fault? |
Huynhh1:
Yes, they took my card over the phone and said they would not charge it until the unit ships. Which sounds fairly shortly. |
Sibelius,
Did they take your credit card? Please let us know when you actually receive your order.
In my case, placing the order wasn't the issue. And yes my order (their shipment) was also in customs, but it took 6 weeks before it was cleared and then they needed an immediate response to complete the sale.
If I'm unable to get it direct then your experience may influence my decision to retry. |
I e-mailed Hifi heaven this morning inquiring about the Metrum and received a response almost instantly. I then called them and got through immediately. Took me 5 minutes to place the order. No problems what so ever.
They have a large shipment on the ground in Chicago going through customs as we speak. Sounds like deliveries should commence within a few weeks. I also inquired about the Hex and they do not have any definitive dates yet. However it sounds like we are probably at best a few months away. |
Huynhh1, That's correct, I purchased mine before Metrum Acoustics set up their dealer network. Once that happened the price went up at the dealer.
I'm guessing there may still be a waiting list for Octave DACs and HiFi Heaven is managing their list at their discretion.
I would email Metrum and describe the situation, ask about their production output, and if their dealers are waiting. Also, ask if you could purchase directly. |
I had a problems a couple of times with dealers, dealing directly with the manufacturer is the way to go. |
Vicdamone,
I placed the order through their amazon store, so I assume only amazon had my card info. Since it wasn't delivered within 37 days, amazon automatically cancelled the order per their policy. However, I called Hifi Heaven about this before the cancellation and arranged to be on their waiting list. I was never asked for my card info, so maybe they weren't technically obligated to do anything for me *shrug*. Perhaps the extent of their obligation was only to call me and nothing more.
So it's good to know that Metrum Acoustics has sold directly. They're current website states that 'The NOS Mini DAC is available via Acelec Engineering(parent company - ) except the following countries'. When you click on the countries link, USA is on the list with Hifi Heaven being the dealer. Despite that, I'll give them a shot and email them.
Thanks |
Did you pay HiFi Heaven before delivery?
Some retailers will ask for a credit card impression (number) that doesn't get charged to you account until the product arrives. If this happened and they sold the product they should be reported to the manufacture, BBB, and your credit card company.
I would drop an email to the manufacture and explain the difficulty. When I purchased mine directly the price was around $700 including shipping. Because of the popularity of the Octave there was a waiting period of almost three weeks so I can't say how long the actual shipping took.
I did have a short email, and very unbusiness like, conversation with HiFi Heaven so your experience is not at all surprising. |
You might try direct; explain the problems you are having. I bought mine that way ; there was a long wait but well worth it. |
