Review and Measurements of Okto DAC8 8Ch DAC & Amp

[Dave H]

Even in a desktop situation I can't understand how you could describe it as very hard to use. Yes it has a slightly jagged font, but it's a long way from being illegible.

 

[SpyB]

You think the display will be hard to read up close? You cannot be serious?

I did not say it was hard to read,all I have is a preference to not looking at a display that has jagged font.
I think you are just looking for a debate

 

[SpyB]

Even in a desktop situation I can't understand how you could describe it as very hard to use. Yes it has a slightly jagged font, but it's a long way from being illegible.

Did I say illegible,I think like the other guy you are looking for something to pick at

 

[wineds]

Deleted

 

[Dave H]

Did I say illegible,I think like the other guy you are looking for something to pick at

I suggest you look for an alternative DAC then.

 

[somebodyelse]

Even in a desktop situation I can't understand how you could describe it as very hard to use. Yes it has a slightly jagged font, but it's a long way from being illegible.

delusional

I know people, mostly graphic designers, who would find a display like that a constant source if irritation if it was in their line of sight. They'd move it, cover it up, put it in a cupboard or something to avoid the annoyance. I can't understand it, but I can see it's a very real thing for them. It's no more delusional than having a strong dislike for a particular food.

 

[wineds]

I know people, mostly graphic designers, who would find a display like that a constant source if irritation if it was in their line of sight. They'd move it, cover it up, put it in a cupboard or something to avoid the annoyance. I can't understand it, but I can see it's a very real thing for them. It's no more delusional than having a strong dislike for a particular food.

Is that what I was referring to? I think if you read back you will see that it wasn't.

 

[g29]

Audiophile Jewelry Rules !!!

 

[Neddy]

 

[Tks]

People talking about the display dpi.. when instead they should be worried about OLED burn-in.

These 1-bit panels will eventually suffer this issue even with the color depth simplicity of not having to deal with anything but black/white. It's surprising more people in the industry don't seem to see this. Heck even my RME ADI 2 DAC with it's LCD panel is showing burn-in issues will less than a few months of use (really wish RME would implement a screensaver). So you can imagine this getting to be a problem for these sooner.

The display itself looks gorgeous from what I am seeing. Couldn't care less about some "jagged-ness".

 

[Kennyknetter]

People [...] should be worried about OLED burn-in.

Oktos units can be configured to dim the display after a time that you choose yourself. Burn-in should be a non issue.

 

[Tks]

Oktos units can be configured to dim the display after a time that you choose yourself. Burn-in should be a non issue.

Dimming the display only delays the issue. No one has done the research using monochrome OLED panels, but RTings has undertaken months-long testing of LG's OLED TV's (multiple running various colors and content in as real-world scenario as possible, since artificially testing this easily produces burn-in visible quite easily).

Though I suppose I should be a bit more clear about what burn-in on OLED actually is. It's not the classic image retention issue in reality. What it actually is, is the uneven degradation of the organic material of the diodes due to different material being spent unevenly due to material properties, and static elements on a screen. So in the future it's not like your panel was actually "burned in" as if some sort of etching has occurred, it's simply for instant the color red isn't actually -as red- as when you got the monitor fresh.

This is why OLED will forever fail in the desktop sphere unless some breath-through occurs (which it doesn't look like it will due to the physics of the issue), the best efforts now are only to mitigate the issue, and delay the effects to years instead of what used to be months of a few viewings of news station with static elements all over.

So while it's much less of an issue in 1-bit panels with only one color or simply off for black, so the worst is simply more dim area's of the screen that are lit, otherwise it should be okay. Still not something I think suits devices like this, considering how nice they look and such.

 

[Neddy]

Very interesting OLED info - I'll check that reference.
Still not too concerned about it - I do much prefer the better brightness & contrast though.
(EVERY design/parts decision can be critiqued, of course, but I'm pretty impressed with what Pavel has done so far - pending delivery.)
And, FWIW, I have a 4 (?) yr old samsung W10 tablet with a 12" display that has been/is used 2-3hrs per day, every day, and, to my eyes at least, looks not a bit different (glorious) than it did when new.
(Before I bought it I compared it in person to the displays on the TOTL Apple and MS tablets, and it just made them look dull and weak. )
So my guess is that (esp if the Okto display goes dark when not being 'poked') that thing will likely outlive Me.
I also have some OLED lighting panels for (another) project-in-waiting - will be curious to see how they hold up.

 

[1234VICE]

Oktos units can be configured to dim the display after a time that you choose yourself. Burn-in should be a non issue.

I have been curious about this. Very happy to hear that this is implemented. Would be nice if it can be switched off entirely, or that the dimmed brightness can be configured. Perhaps with firmware updates.

 

[Kennyknetter]

I have been curious about this. Very happy to hear that this is implemented. Would be nice if it can be switched off entirely, or that the dimmed brightness can be configured. Perhaps with firmware updates.

To judge from the picture below, it's most likely possible to choose the screen to be off 'After timer'. After all, which modes would there be to choose from after the timer, other than 'dim' and 'off'? If only 'dim' was the option, why have an option at all? Pavel could probably chime in here with a bit of input, when he has the time

 

[Olivier]

Gentlemen,
I'm interested in using the Okto DAC 8 pro combined with a multi-channel DSP to run my 3-way stereo speakers. Do you think that the miniDSP 4x10 Hd could work in an adequate manner with? Are there some alternative hardware solutions? Many thanks for your feedback!
Best,
Olivier.

 

[digitalfrost]

I don't understand what you want to do. The 4x10 HD already has DACs, what do you need to Okto for? See the diagram on page 1 here:

https://www.minidsp.com/images/documents/Product Brief - miniDSP 4x10 HD.pdf

 

[Olivier]

The idea is to use only the DSP part and to bypass the DACs on the 4x10 HD. I would then plug the digital Out of the 4x10 HD to the digital In of the Okto. These DACs cannot be compared to those on the Okto... I use a full digital source so the only D/A conversion would be at the very end of the sequence on the Okto...

 

[Olivier]

I also found this device made by minidsp: https://www.minidsp.com/images/documents/Product Brief-OpenDRC-DI.pdf
This one might be adequate too and cheaper than the 4x10HD!

 

[Kal Rubinson]

The idea is to use only the DSP part and to bypass the DACs on the 4x10 HD. I would then plug the digital Out of the 4x10 HD to the digital In of the Okto.

But it has only 2 channels of digital output, not the 6 or 8 that you would need for input to the Okto.

I also found this device made by minidsp: https://www.minidsp.com/images/documents/Product Brief-OpenDRC-DI.pdf
This one might be adequate too and cheaper than the 4x10HD!

Same here. How could you implement your active crossovers with only 2 channels of output?