Ok so I am sitting on the fence about the DAC8Pro, and my main use case is that I want one universal system for Music, HT and Gaming.
My questions:
1. If I plug the DAC8 into my Windows box via USB, will it appear as a standard 8 channel sound device?
2. Will I be able to select 5.1 or 7.1 as my sound format for normal Windows sound playback?
3. If I can get my multichannel (DTS, DTS-HD, DTS-HDMA, etc.) BluRays to play in VLC or Kodi with the below sound selections available, will they come through the DAC8 as proper multichannel audio, if I select 7.1 in Windows? Example below of the audio menu from a BluRay in VLC:
View attachment 89939
4. Is there any lag with the HT use case from (3.)?
5. What happens if I use an ASIO driver? Does it still work?
6. Has anyone tried multichannel audio from gaming? Does that work?
Sorry for these pedantic questions! It's just a lot of cash to potentially waste on return shipping.
1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Don't know - I took a different (Oppo->ADC->USB) approach to that, just seemed simpler than messing with software (and fee$!).
But I can try out VLC and let you know. (I just got a 'new' BR movie I want to try out, and have a BR drive on the PC/NUC.)
4. Not with my routing, so I would expect even less if playing back from a PC BR drive.
5. IRCC, the supplied/recommended ASIO driver (DIYsomething) solved some issues; can't remember what anymore.
6. No, but no reason to expect any issues running from a PC.
So far, I haven't read of anyone
not getting their OktoDAC (after months of praying to the OktoGods), or returning it for mfg defects.
I'm the
last to defend poor customer service, but also respect the value proposition of a 'one man shop'
during a worsening global pandemic.
I DO know from personal experience that startup/new product intros can eat you alive with good/annoying/pestiful questions, and prevent you from
ever getting anything out the door.
Not to
mention software upgrades in flight ("Do we ship with beta software, old software - and deal with customer upgrade headaches, or hold shipments until we think it's good?").
For me, it boiled down to: is it worth a $1k risk for one of the worlds best DACs, for the
only solution that worked for my setup, for a very high quality product for
very reasonable cost (given the design/components). The wait was longer than 'promised' but not by all that much (maybe a month - but that was during the holiday season, too.)
For me - and apparently many others - the risk was 'checked off'. Even with v1.02 software, and still missing proper rack ears, it continues to work as intended, and aside from (2) apparently storm related 'loss of contact' events (unplug, plug back in) has been absolutely flawless in operation.
One risk mitigation, in the event you don't like how it works - would simply be that I'll bet you could make all your money back and then some selling it off - look at selling prices of equally rare Oppo 205s vs purchase costs.
So I'm inclined to say Put on your Big Boy Pants, make sure you keep all the documentation of your purchases, and Apply Mindfulness (or Patience).
Best wishes to all, and Stay Safe!!