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Okto 8 Owner’s Thread

dualazmak

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poopy

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According to the newsletter:
In 2022, we plan to update our existing products and continue on the development of a new product that we hope you will find exciting.

Any idea what could be the new product?
 

goldistan

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Now that I've had a few weeks with the Okto dac8 pro thought it would be good share my experience integrating a few DSPs with the Okto in Pure AES mode as it has NOT been completely straight forward.

Now that Okto is back in business, do those problems still occur? it's been 2 years and many firmwares.
 

mdsimon2

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Now that Okto is back in business, do those problems still occur? it's been 2 years and many firmwares.

I received mine in Feb 2021 and am on firmware 1.42 which is the same firmware that folks receiving units in November 2021 are reporting. As such I imagine the issues are the same.

I see no reason to use an upstream 8 channel AES output DSP with an Okto, it is literally designed to take an AES input, apply DSP in software and then route the signal back to the DAC. Learn from my mistake and do not waste your time with upstream DSP. It is a much better use of your time to figure out a software DSP solution that works for you than it is worrying about sync issues with an upstream DSP.

Michael
 

goldistan

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I received mine in Feb 2021 and am on firmware 1.42 which is the same firmware that folks receiving units in November 2021 are reporting. As such I imagine the issues are the same.

I see no reason to use an upstream 8 channel AES output DSP with an Okto, it is literally designed to take an AES input, apply DSP in software and then route the signal back to the DAC. Learn from my mistake and do not waste your time with upstream DSP. It is a much better use of your time to figure out a software DSP solution that works for you than it is worrying about sync issues with an upstream DSP.

Michael

Unfortunately the alternatives are even worse for me:
- Computer in the middle - high latency, I play video games
- Software DSP on the source computer - I will never trust Windows with 4KW of amplification. also high latency.

If not Okto I'll be getting 4 tiny DACs and control the volume from the DDRC-88D or using a sticky IR repeater on the dacs remote receiver.
 

mdsimon2

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Unfortunately the alternatives are even worse for me:
- Computer in the middle - high latency, I play video games
- Software DSP on the source computer - I will never trust Windows with 4KW of amplification. also high latency.

If not Okto I'll be getting 4 tiny DACs and control the volume from the DDRC-88D or using a sticky IR repeater on the dacs remote receiver.

And what do you think the latency of a DDRC-88D is? It is not nothing...

I've tried many times to help you, but I am done.

Michael
 

goldistan

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And what do you think the latency of a DDRC-88D is? It is not nothing...

I've tried many times to help you, but I am done.

Michael
You did help, I am not getting the Okto because of the timing issues you reported.
Thanks.
 

DWPress

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After a 4 day power outage I enter my studio to the smell of burned electronics. My beloved Okto Dac8 Pro is dead to a power surge and I'm quite distraught. I think all my amps survived as they were on a really good surge protection strip but as it's an active XO I've no way to easily test. The surge took out other things around here too so I'll be filing an insurance claim since my deductible is well below what the new price of the Okto is being sold for now. Even if I get an order in how long before replacement? At least they're taking orders again....

I should reach out to Pavel see if there's an option to send mine in for parts, might be a fair amount of salvage to offset a new one.

Guess I'm lucky I haven't sold my old miniDSP 4x10 but I'm hardly looking forward to swapping out my 8 balanced channels to XLR>phoenix connectors.
 

Feyire

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After a 4 day power outage I enter my studio to the smell of burned electronics. My beloved Okto Dac8 Pro is dead to a power surge and I'm quite distraught.
Did you check the fuse in the DAC's IEC (i.e. is it blown?). It may work with a new fuse, so it is worth trying at least, unless of course you see physical damage, burn marks etc..
 

DWPress

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Unfortunately it's not the fuse in the IEC though when I pulled it out it was blown. Replaced it and nothing still.
:(
 

dualazmak

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Very sorry to hear your issue with DAC8PRO. You said as "dead to a power surge", does this mean it was caused by the really terrible thunderstorm (and tornados) in your place the other day?

If so, it would be warning and precaution also for me (using DAC8PRO) to disconnect AC power cables earlier for all of my audio gears including DAC8PRO (or shut-down earlier the dedicated AC circuit breaker for all the audio gears) whenever I heard (distant or near) thunder and/or having local weather forecast of thunderstorm approaching.

Due to the rapid climate change, occurrences of thunderstorm (and bad typhoons) is increasing also here in Japan.
 
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DWPress

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It was a big storm but the damage happened when the local utility company "fixed" the downed power lines and re-energized them. That's when the damaged occurred. I've drowned out plenty of storms with music in my rural location for the past 30 years but I suppose there's always a chance of any equipment getting damaged WHEN the power goes out. In the future I will be sure to turn off my circuit breaker (I thought I had) and probably unplug things as well while waiting for power to be restored after this experience.

Curious thing electricity, very selective of what it destroyed. Took out ceiling fans, GFCI outlets, LED lightbulbs, the circuit board on a furnace and my Hobart mixer but left the damn TV alone along with most anything else with engaged breakers. Anyone ever notice how the smell of burnt circuits just lingers in the air for days?

I did reach out to Pavel today, I'll share what he has to say when I hear back.
 

Keened

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According to the newsletter:
In 2022, we plan to update our existing products and continue on the development of a new product that we hope you will find exciting.

Any idea what could be the new product?

DAC/ADC 8 channel upgrade would be the most obvious next step in terms of not having to make a new chassis, but given the difficulty of what they are doing in general I would guess that is the least of their concerns. But they would just have to add relays to swap the pinouts from the input panel and they'd be able to run that to another board in the empty space right behind it.

I'm halfway hoping for a more mature re-kindling of the relationship between themselves and miniDSP. I don't really understand the politics behind their chip purchasing relationship so I don't know if it is a kind thing to hope for, but it would be very nice to see them work together to create something really special. Maybe they'll even use that additional board to process additional digital inputs and turn it into a SOTA non-hdmi :( digital pre-pro.

It would be nice if Amir or someone else with a BSEE could weigh in on whole house surge protection, I don't know which ones are worth it outside of the full size commercial ones. There are 'consumer' level versions from the big commercial companies, smaller 'whole house' from companies I have no way to evaluate, and apparently a healthy market for rebranding some of them as EMP shields. Which, if you're close enough to be affected directly in any sense it won't matter and if you're far enough away that you're worried the grid will transmit it to you there will be plenty of things to blow before it gets to you. But...it might actually be an interesting case for coronal mass ejection events which could theoretically induce a current in the lines between your local transformer and your house (and any sufficient long runs inside your house if I understand right).

Can't just worry about plant weather with a multi-thousand dollar system, gotta worry about space weather too :)
 

DWPress

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Can't just worry about plant weather with a multi-thousand dollar system, gotta worry about space weather too :)
Careful, some like @dualazmak might just give up audio completely - I'll continue to live dangerously....
 

DWPress

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Interesting that the fuse blew, but failed to protect.
In case anyone wants to know the fuse is 5x20mm and is a F 400mA L250V. Seems like it wouldn't take much to take it out.
 

mikessi

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I'm halfway hoping for a more mature re-kindling of the relationship between themselves and miniDSP. I don't really understand the politics behind their chip purchasing relationship so I don't know if it is a kind thing to hope for, but it would be very nice to see them work together to create something really special. Maybe they'll even use that additional board to process additional digital inputs and turn it into a SOTA non-hdmi :( digital pre-pro.
Yes, it would be great if the DSP/xover functions of miniDSP could be integrated with Okto DAC8.

whole house surge protection, I don't know which ones are worth it outside of the full size commercial ones...
I can only speak from my own experience with an Outback Power hybrid solar + batteries + inverter system for the house that cost ~CA$20k+ with me doing a lot of the installation work. All of the 110VAC circuits are on a 4000W inverter + 48VDC batteries backup, a few of the key 220VAC circuits (like pump in the well to supply running water) are also on backup. Aside from the loud noise of the cooling fans whenever the system input/load exceeds ~2000W, it's seamless: When utility grid power goes down, we don't notice the transition to batteries; all the computers keep running, the lights don't flicker. When AC comes back on, that's also not noticeable. Total available battery energy is only ~10kwH, so batteries could be depleted fast if we aren't aware of the power outage, we have taken steps to warn us when backup is running. No electrical device failures to grid power issues since the hybrid system was installed 3y ago. And the power grid is not very reliable here in winter. So a high quality invert/batteries backup system can be a good if expensive protection system for grid power fluctuations. The investment is justifiable if you have to rely often on a generator for backup power.
 

Zooqu1ko

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It would be nice if Amir or someone else with a BSEE could weigh in on whole house surge protection, I don't know which ones are worth it outside of the full size commercial ones. There are 'consumer' level versions from the big commercial companies, smaller 'whole house' from companies I have no way to evaluate
[,,,]
A BSEE from decades ago may not be too helpful regarding the current code and/or best practice for residential electric installations.
Which, if you're close enough to be affected directly in any sense it won't matter and if you're far enough away that you're worried the grid will transmit it to you there will be plenty of things to blow before it gets to you. But...it might actually be an interesting case for coronal mass ejection events which could theoretically induce a current in the lines between your local transformer and your house (and any sufficient long runs inside your house if I understand right).
There's little to no protection from induced overvoltages e.g. by nearby lightning strikes or space weather - the transformer on the pole near your house may sacrifice itself in case of extreme events, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing. You have to get your own protection devices (type 1 + type 2; installed in the breaker panel + type 3 for individual outlets) to get anything meaningful. If you're in the US, it should be sufficient to find an electrician who can install appropriate protection devices as required by current code for new or renovated installations. I'd expect those devices to be UL rated/certified, which should make them somewhat trustworthy. I'm not from the US or an electrician, so take that with a grain of salt.

All this is offtopic for this thread, so you should probably start one in a more appropriate section.
 

Vincentponcet

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According to the newsletter:
In 2022, we plan to update our existing products and continue on the development of a new product that we hope you will find exciting.

Any idea what could be the new product?

The main use case of this 8 channels DAC is hometheater, but it is incredibly expensive to buy a processor with aes outputs.
So, the dream would be an avr processor with HDMI in and Dirac. Probably too much of a dream.
 

Zooqu1ko

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The main use case of this 8 channels DAC is hometheater, but it is incredibly expensive to buy a processor with aes outputs.
So, the dream would be an avr processor with HDMI in and Dirac. Probably too much of a dream.
DIY is the way to go, if your budget doesn't stretch beyond $10k. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/.../adding-post-dsp-spdif-outputs-to-avrs.19468/

A 1100$ low end Onkyo, a few of those I2S -> S/PDIF boards, a soldering iron and a steady hand my be all you need...
 
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