Metrum Octave versus Eastern Electric DAC

You may want to also consider the NAD M52 DAC. It's the equal of the PWD MK2, with differences mostly to do with synergy rather than anything else.

I recently sold my PWD MK2 to a local Audiogon member who has it paired with a Yamaha A-S2000 integrated stereo amp. It sounded better in his system and his Harbeths than it ever sounded in my system with NC400 mono blocks and Selah Tempesta speakers.

On the other hand, albeit after only a day of listening, my very recently acquired NAD M51 sounds better direct to the Hypex NC400s than the PWD MK2 did.

Highly recommend both the PWD MK2 and the M51.

the problem with all of the comments made about the minimax is the lack of specificity regarding what tube was used.

i owned the minimax. it was never offensive, and with the right tube, i preferred it to the ps audio power wave dac, which i own.

the reason i sold the minimax is that i have some cd players which i prefer.

i would like someone to explain, logically, how a solid state component can out perorm a tubed component, when the latter's sound is tube dependant, and can vary greatly with the tube selected.

i have always found the better tube dacs to exhibit more realistic timbre than solid state dacs.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll give the NAD a listen

Mrtennis-
Did you replace the minimax? If so, what did you replace it with?

Last Friday I had the opportunity to compare my Metrum Octave to my buddy's AMR DAP-777 in my own system and the results were somewhat surprising. The Metrum had a more forward presentation and was a bit more textured while the AMR was sweeter and more laid back. Generally speaking the AMR was preferred with acoustic or simple vocal driven stuff (i.e. civil wars) but I actually preferred the Metrum with blues, rock and male voices!

In both cases the differences weren't huge and as my friend put it, the two units were too close for comfort.

The transport was my Bolder modified Squeezebox Touch with Bolder (music railed) PSU. We're planning on doing the comparo again at his house with his rig, and the transport will be the LampizatOr Transport (heavily modified Sqeezebox Duet with tube spdif out).