Except APx555 doesn't really have outstanding performance for its DAC output. It's its low distortion precision oscillator gives the high SINAD performance.
APx555's dac is actually arguably outperformed by D10s for 100 just dollars.
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Okto dac8 stereo DAC Review
- Thread starter amirm
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APx555's dac is actually arguably outperformed by D10s for 100 just dollars.
Nope
You mean the Toyota or the APx555 ?
It has streamer which may decode/first unfolds MQA
I see London, I see France, I see Harmonies underpants. So there!
Tks
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Shots fired
This is my impression as well. When listening to very good DACs (I have listened to about 7 or 8 models in the blue and green categories of this website). It is very, very difficult to tell them appart and I won't name names, but I always went back to the Benchmark DAC3 because of deeper and more transparent bass. I won't call it "tight" because that word has a somewhat repressed connotation, when the bass is in fact very light footed transparent and free/liberated. There's a lot of nuance very deep down. The Okto DAC8 matches that bass quality, while it has better measurements, streamer, a nicer case and is cheaper in Europe (But no analog-in).For anyone interested, my dac8 stereo with RPi4 was shipped with Volumio pre-installed, just like in Amir's review. The installed version was very recent (System version 2.778 dated June 7th 2020). The Roon Bridge plugin was also already installed.
Some brief subjective listening impressions so far:
When comparing the difference in sound quality I perceive with the optical input on the dac8 vs the optical input on my previously used SMSL SU-8 V2 DAC, I immediately noticed that the bass was for more tight and well defined with the dac8. Put simply, you could feel the lower bass much more. My girlfriend also noted this difference and complained about it(she doesn't like bass
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Congratulations to Okto for making a DAC so superlative in performance it ignites conversation about
the specifications of the test equipment! You know you have arrived when your equipment is nearing the limit
of the ability of the test equipment to measure.
Wow. Epic review.
the specifications of the test equipment! You know you have arrived when your equipment is nearing the limit
of the ability of the test equipment to measure.
Wow. Epic review.
DaaDaa
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anyone else got theirs?
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I’m still patiently waiting for the best DAC in the world...
Last time I got an update from Pavel, he told me they were still working on the first group of orders before they had put a hold on new orders.
Feyire
Active Member
Since Pavel has not answered my inquiry I sent 3 weeks ago about an issue I found with my DAC8 Stereo, I'm curious to see if any other DAC8 Stereo owners on this forum have come across or noticed this issue as well.
So what I found is that if I plug my left and right speaker cables into the L and R analog outputs of the DAC8 as appropriate (i.e. either 1L+2R or 3L+4R - as illustrated below), the L signal comes out of the right output and the R signal comes out of the left output.
I checked my DAC8 Stereo menu and ensured that the "L-out src" was set to "Left" and the "R-out src" was set to "Right". I also checked the balance control in the DAC menu, and it was set to "L=R".
If I set the "L-out src" to "Right" and the "R-out src" to "Left", it resolves my issue and I get the expected L audio signal coming out of my left speaker and the R audio signal coming out of my right speaker. I double checked to ensure that I wasn't routing my cables to the incorrect speaker, and can confirm everything was correct (i.e. DAC L output was going to L speaker and R DAC output was going to R speaker).
Can other DAC8 stereo owners confirm this?
So what I found is that if I plug my left and right speaker cables into the L and R analog outputs of the DAC8 as appropriate (i.e. either 1L+2R or 3L+4R - as illustrated below), the L signal comes out of the right output and the R signal comes out of the left output.
I checked my DAC8 Stereo menu and ensured that the "L-out src" was set to "Left" and the "R-out src" was set to "Right". I also checked the balance control in the DAC menu, and it was set to "L=R".
If I set the "L-out src" to "Right" and the "R-out src" to "Left", it resolves my issue and I get the expected L audio signal coming out of my left speaker and the R audio signal coming out of my right speaker. I double checked to ensure that I wasn't routing my cables to the incorrect speaker, and can confirm everything was correct (i.e. DAC L output was going to L speaker and R DAC output was going to R speaker).
Can other DAC8 stereo owners confirm this?
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Sounds like a bug and should be fixable through a software update.
How do you like your dac8 Stereo? What speakers are you using? Any subjective impressions?
John1959
Member
When I ordered my DAC8 PRO in April, Oktoresearch did not charge any VAT in Europe yet. Probably their business reached a certain scale so they now have to pay VAT themselves which is passed on to the customer of course (like any company does).
John
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Feyire
Active Member
I can work around the issue in software for now, but it would be nice to know what the true underlying cause is.
A few possibilities:
- Software bug
- Back panel mistake (i.e. outputs are labelled incorrectly)
- Hardware mistake (e.g. Incorrect routing of PCB traces for L and R output channels from DAC)
- Some combination of the above
Pioneer S-3EX. My complete setup is in my signature.
@Sunship and I both agree subjectively, that the low frequency extension / lower bass when using the DAC8 stereo is far more noticeable/pronounced than our previously used DACs. The noticed difference is not subtle at all and the bass sounds fantastic now, especially in movies. There is just so much more presence and feeling.
John1959
Member
BTW, on my DAC8 PRO there is a routing option in the menu which could solve the problem. I don't know this is available in the DAC8 stereo too (maybe not, because only 2 channels instead of eight so much less useful). But you probably already figured that out.
John
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Feyire
Active Member
That is how I work around the problem for now. The DAC8 Stereo has the same routing option.
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