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Metrum Octave Dac experiences

I had another thread on this dac before I ordered (and heard) it, but I can't find it anywhere. So here's a new thread since I promised to share my experience here ;-) I have been listening to this dac for a few weeks now, I have no idea how many hours. I am playing from a dedicated music server with JPlay.

To my ears (I don't have much experience with other dacs, only a Audio-GD dac) it sounds really good. The main thing I noticed was the lack of listening fatigue, everything sounds real natural. I still need to try it with oversampled music, I haven't had the time to make a good comparison yet.

By the way, I'm (only) using a V-Link at the moment but looking to upgrade to an Audiophilleo of Off-Ramp in a few months.

I was sondering if anyone has any similar experience or maybe some tweaks to make it sound even better ;-)

Thanks!
newbie79
newbie79 OP
7 posts
 
Hi all,

Yes, I meant upsampling ;-)
jwm
918 posts
 
There are other options that I think sound better than the Metrum and that is buying a used Musical Fidelity Trivista DAC you get great upsampling and tubes in the output stage. You can find these for less than 800.00 and my opinion sounds better than the metrum.
elberoth2's avatar
elberoth2
1,223 posts
 
Ordered one of those 2 weeks ago to find out what's the buzz all about, but the lead time is 8 weeks.
juanitox
42 posts
 
i have a metrum since 4 weeks now ,replace an audio-note dac 3.1kit and berkeley alpha. at first i was a little disapointed coming from two excellent dac. the octave sounds thin , constricted with an upfront medium. so i decide to mod it with few dollars parts , just replace the little diodes with a shottky bridge , leave out a dozen of tantalum caps and replace it with elna cerafine near the chips. now it"s a keeper , i call it a little berkeley , very relaxing sound with tons off details...

mac mini/ pure music / jkenny hiface/ octave a damn good combo :)
audiofun
799 posts
 
Finest dac I have ever heard PERIOD. I wrote quite a bit about it and my findings but the powers at AGON killed the thread. In my opinion upsampling has NEVER EVER sounded right (even when all the magazine gurus were busy telling us how superior upsampling was) and that includes the 64 bit upsampling in my beloved Pure Music. No other dac has sounded as real or pure as the Metrum. The Concert fidelity dac (USD 10K) is a fine unit and it pales in comparison to the Octave and it has tubes in the output stage; not that that means a thing :) Tubes are no panacea and most times they can obscure purity with a false fattening of the musical event. Now I also have an AMR DP777 with about 11 days on it and I will state that it is nearly equal to the Octave (remember the AMR is NOT yet fully run-in). The AMR is an awesome sounding unit and a huge value for the money.

You absolutely can't go wrong with the AMR or the Ocatave, I have heard a great number of very very expensive dacs and most of them are nothing more than the stock circuit (supplied by the manufacturer) of the dac chip employed with little changed and in some cases it is verbatim. Don't let anyone fool you. A fully run in Octave (minimum of 4 weeks) will go head to head with anything I have heard in 14 years of being involved in this hobby. The only thing I have heard thus far to come close to it is the AMR.
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