archerious
Active Member
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Shame it's so difficult to order one, the many outputs and input options as well as the built in Pi made it really appealing.
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Okto dac8 stereo DAC Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
Not difficult to order, it's the wait that gets to you. I'm now coming up on 2 years since I placed my Pro order, but nearly 20 mos since I recieved it.
Still the best audio purchase I've ever made, and well worth the wait.
Still the best audio purchase I've ever made, and well worth the wait.
mdsimon2
Major Contributor
Pretty difficult to order when they are not accepting orders and have not for several months.
Michael
Fair enough! - forgot about that, sorry!
I keep thinking of Elon's comments about 'production is Hell' and how Pavel has somehow made this work, even if a bit slowly.
This level of quality and performance for this price still astounds me.
BTW, I see Pavel (or someone from Okto) is still checking in here frequently.
I (still) wish them all the best, and owe him some feedback
I keep thinking of Elon's comments about 'production is Hell' and how Pavel has somehow made this work, even if a bit slowly.
This level of quality and performance for this price still astounds me.
BTW, I see Pavel (or someone from Okto) is still checking in here frequently.
I (still) wish them all the best, and owe him some feedback
mdsimon2
Major Contributor
Fair enough! - forgot about that, sorry!
I keep thinking of Elon's comments about 'production is Hell' and how Pavel has somehow made this work, even if a bit slowly.
This level of quality and performance for this price still astounds me.
BTW, I see Pavel (or someone from Okto) is still checking in here frequently.
I (still) wish them all the best, and owe him some feedback
100% agree, absolutely love my dac8 pro. The fit and finish and user interface are exceptional (on top of the excellent audio performance). Personally I would have gladly paid double. The fact that there are so many threads asking about alternatives and that there really isn't anything that offers all of the same functionality in one box is telling.
Michael
Out of curiosity, what serial numbers you have for which order number? I have read that the 8-channel and stereo versions would have different queue/order numbers. My serial is 75 and the order number was 304. Not that it would bother me but I got a little surprised.
phoenixdogfan
Major Contributor
Btw, mine arrived day before yesterday and will be installed in my system later today. I must say it appears to be built like the proverbial brick you-know-what. Look forward to pairing it with my Purifi Eigentact to drive my LS 60 Metas plus SB 2000. I think this will be special.
How long was your total wait from order to 2 days ago? I see that Okto isn't even taking anymore orders.
I sure hope you read my posts and give it some serious thought.
phoenixdogfan
Major Contributor
One day short of 31 weeks. I actually did not order the remote. I found the identical one on Amazon for $19USD. It took about two minutes to teach it all of Octo's functions. I think the remote was almost $50 on the Octo site.
Who has the highest order number? Are they over 1,000? If so, when was that order placed?
Daemonstration
Member
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2021
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#335ish finally left Prague and is now on its way - order placed back in mid-January.
Reynolds853
New Member
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- Sep 2, 2021
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#383 (ordered mid March) arrived yesterday. Reserving review until I can get some time with it but it clearly does not suck... (Black without streamer).
Fedex aircraft now showing, "operational delay " in Singapore.
Not that I'm checking it's progress every hour......
Reynolds853
New Member
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- Sep 2, 2021
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I included my past history with DACs and my system details. I think that context is critical.
I designed speakers as a kid and have hung out in audio shops and shows for decades. My digital hi-fi pursuit roughly started (in earnest) when I got a Musical Fidelity xRAYv3 - no slouch. I tried a Musical Fidelity M1 Clic to see how I liked streaming but noticed little or no difference. I eventually sold my xRAYv3 and dove into streaming with an Auralic mini & JRiver. Low cost, but the sound was great. A year later, I added a Arualic PSU. Nice and punchy DAC and untouchable at $500! The PSU took a bit of an edge off for another $300. More curious than anything, purchased a Border Patrol SE ($1500) a few years back. It is one of the worst measuring DACs you can buy but reviewers loved it. I attached it to the Mini streamer and noticed a nice step forward in performance, especially with things like cymbals and acoustic. I also did an A/B with a buddy's McIntosh DAC and it was VERY close to the SE. About a year ago, I upgraded my streamer to the Auralic Aries G1 (connected via SPDIF). The upgrade was very slight, but there. Not a lot of ROI on my $1900 purchase (used). Next came a demo of a $13k T+A MP2500 R DAC. This was the first time I could tell pretty quickly that there was a difference. Night and day? No. But hi-fi is a game of margins. It showed me that there is something to be gained out there but I was not about to drop that much on a DAC. I was on the hunt to do it for less.
Enter the Okto. I figured it would great to contrast the worst measuring DAC with the best to see where that got me. Well, the difference is not as great as you may think. They both sound very good. The Boarder Patrol is tad less resolving. After some time with the two DACs, it was clear that the Okto produced more realistic timbre and blacker backgrounds to give it the edge. The space around instruments is easy to pick out, as well. I would put the Okto on par with the T+A at a fraction of the price.
Finally, I tried a couple $5 USB cables I had around the house. No real change. I ordered a Wireworld Starlight 8 USB. I had been at a demo of a USB cable at a show years ago and could not believe a USB would make any difference - but it did. That was attached to a PC, though. My streamer does not have a power leg on the USB port so I again was skeptical it would do anything. I stand corrected, again. In my system, that was the last little bit that took any "digititus" off the top. I can't say it made the sound stage or tone different but it did take some sort of edge off allowing me to play more poor recordings without cringing and play metal music very loud without discomfort. Worth the $100? Yup. Once I heard the difference, I could not give it up. Commence the cable bashing ASR trolls. I have been able to notice slight differences but nothing huge (power/speakers/interconnects). That is my experience in my system. Your results may vary. If it is placebo, I'll take it.
For perspective, I have B&W 804d3 speakers driven by a Musical Fidelity M6500 amp in a dedicated room designed from the ground up as a 2-channel space. Room proportions are the golden ratio to reduce nodes. It is in a basement and has a very low noise floor.
Conclusion: I can't imagine that there is much more performance to gain in the DAC world. This is a GREAT match for my system in my room. I am a very happy owner who does not think I "settled" based on budget.
In case Okto is listening: You need to ship these things in a bag. Mine had a little moisture on it from shipping (condensation). Thankfully, no issues. The 5 month wait was slow torture but communication was good and prompt. It is clear that supplier delays are an issue. Hope you get that worked out so you can scale your business. It would be a crime NOT to get a lot of these DAC's out there. They are simply a great value and great in absolute terms.
I designed speakers as a kid and have hung out in audio shops and shows for decades. My digital hi-fi pursuit roughly started (in earnest) when I got a Musical Fidelity xRAYv3 - no slouch. I tried a Musical Fidelity M1 Clic to see how I liked streaming but noticed little or no difference. I eventually sold my xRAYv3 and dove into streaming with an Auralic mini & JRiver. Low cost, but the sound was great. A year later, I added a Arualic PSU. Nice and punchy DAC and untouchable at $500! The PSU took a bit of an edge off for another $300. More curious than anything, purchased a Border Patrol SE ($1500) a few years back. It is one of the worst measuring DACs you can buy but reviewers loved it. I attached it to the Mini streamer and noticed a nice step forward in performance, especially with things like cymbals and acoustic. I also did an A/B with a buddy's McIntosh DAC and it was VERY close to the SE. About a year ago, I upgraded my streamer to the Auralic Aries G1 (connected via SPDIF). The upgrade was very slight, but there. Not a lot of ROI on my $1900 purchase (used). Next came a demo of a $13k T+A MP2500 R DAC. This was the first time I could tell pretty quickly that there was a difference. Night and day? No. But hi-fi is a game of margins. It showed me that there is something to be gained out there but I was not about to drop that much on a DAC. I was on the hunt to do it for less.
Enter the Okto. I figured it would great to contrast the worst measuring DAC with the best to see where that got me. Well, the difference is not as great as you may think. They both sound very good. The Boarder Patrol is tad less resolving. After some time with the two DACs, it was clear that the Okto produced more realistic timbre and blacker backgrounds to give it the edge. The space around instruments is easy to pick out, as well. I would put the Okto on par with the T+A at a fraction of the price.
Finally, I tried a couple $5 USB cables I had around the house. No real change. I ordered a Wireworld Starlight 8 USB. I had been at a demo of a USB cable at a show years ago and could not believe a USB would make any difference - but it did. That was attached to a PC, though. My streamer does not have a power leg on the USB port so I again was skeptical it would do anything. I stand corrected, again. In my system, that was the last little bit that took any "digititus" off the top. I can't say it made the sound stage or tone different but it did take some sort of edge off allowing me to play more poor recordings without cringing and play metal music very loud without discomfort. Worth the $100? Yup. Once I heard the difference, I could not give it up. Commence the cable bashing ASR trolls. I have been able to notice slight differences but nothing huge (power/speakers/interconnects). That is my experience in my system. Your results may vary. If it is placebo, I'll take it.
For perspective, I have B&W 804d3 speakers driven by a Musical Fidelity M6500 amp in a dedicated room designed from the ground up as a 2-channel space. Room proportions are the golden ratio to reduce nodes. It is in a basement and has a very low noise floor.
Conclusion: I can't imagine that there is much more performance to gain in the DAC world. This is a GREAT match for my system in my room. I am a very happy owner who does not think I "settled" based on budget.
In case Okto is listening: You need to ship these things in a bag. Mine had a little moisture on it from shipping (condensation). Thankfully, no issues. The 5 month wait was slow torture but communication was good and prompt. It is clear that supplier delays are an issue. Hope you get that worked out so you can scale your business. It would be a crime NOT to get a lot of these DAC's out there. They are simply a great value and great in absolute terms.
I figured I would chime in. Enough time has passed since selling my unit as to not anger my buyer. Please note that while my product quality issues were well documented on here, I don't hold grudges and my poor opinion of the sound is completely independent of the ownership experience.
I was greatly underwhelmed by the sound. This DAC absolutely proved to me beyond doubt, that great measurement doesn't mean great sound. When I had this in my listening room, I was in the process of upgrading dacs so I had several great pieces to compare against. Obviously they would all measure much worse than the DAC8. I had a dcs Elgar with Purcell, an Antelope Pure2, a Berkeley Alpha 2, a Mytek Manhattan 2, and my current hardware, the Meridian Ultra DAC.
The difference in sound between Okto and the others, regardless of price, was night and day. The Okto sounded like it had compressed dynamic range, narrow sound stage,and weird tonality.
I understand that some of the units I listed are several times the price, but even amongst the group I listed the rank order wasn't in order of cost.
My preference by rank.
1. Meridian Ultra Dac (i currently own this)
2. Berkeley Alpha 2 (i wouldn't recommend since no usb input)
3. Antelope Pure 2 (requires pro audio style cables on balanced output) BEST VALUE!!!
4. Mytek Manhattan 2 (almost indistinguishable sound from Antelope, but cost is much higher)
5. dCS Elgar Plus/ Purcell ( great in its day, harsh by today's standard)
6. Okto Dac8 Stereo ( would be further down but I only had 6 units on hand at the time)
For reference I'm not one for audio foolery. My cables are bulk wire. My amplifiers are Hypex. My speakers are my design and are all ScanSpeak drivers.
I recognize that the industry has devolved into madness with insane prices and snake oil everywhere. That said you just can't sum up great sound with measurements. If the DAC8 is perfect I will gladly take flaws. Don't fool yourself that you're getting the world's best DAC.
Just my $0.02
Note: I only listed components I was actually able to plug into my system that day. None of these were based on comparison across dealer demo systems. I auditioned many more including the Dave and the Rossini, but its impossible for me to campare apples to apples.
I was greatly underwhelmed by the sound. This DAC absolutely proved to me beyond doubt, that great measurement doesn't mean great sound. When I had this in my listening room, I was in the process of upgrading dacs so I had several great pieces to compare against. Obviously they would all measure much worse than the DAC8. I had a dcs Elgar with Purcell, an Antelope Pure2, a Berkeley Alpha 2, a Mytek Manhattan 2, and my current hardware, the Meridian Ultra DAC.
The difference in sound between Okto and the others, regardless of price, was night and day. The Okto sounded like it had compressed dynamic range, narrow sound stage,and weird tonality.
I understand that some of the units I listed are several times the price, but even amongst the group I listed the rank order wasn't in order of cost.
My preference by rank.
1. Meridian Ultra Dac (i currently own this)
2. Berkeley Alpha 2 (i wouldn't recommend since no usb input)
3. Antelope Pure 2 (requires pro audio style cables on balanced output) BEST VALUE!!!
4. Mytek Manhattan 2 (almost indistinguishable sound from Antelope, but cost is much higher)
5. dCS Elgar Plus/ Purcell ( great in its day, harsh by today's standard)
6. Okto Dac8 Stereo ( would be further down but I only had 6 units on hand at the time)
For reference I'm not one for audio foolery. My cables are bulk wire. My amplifiers are Hypex. My speakers are my design and are all ScanSpeak drivers.
I recognize that the industry has devolved into madness with insane prices and snake oil everywhere. That said you just can't sum up great sound with measurements. If the DAC8 is perfect I will gladly take flaws. Don't fool yourself that you're getting the world's best DAC.
Just my $0.02
Note: I only listed components I was actually able to plug into my system that day. None of these were based on comparison across dealer demo systems. I auditioned many more including the Dave and the Rossini, but its impossible for me to campare apples to apples.
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