question for Okto Stereo Dac owners

[fatoldgit]

The Okto manual alludes to being able to bypass the volume control (states set to 0db) for any of the four XLR outputs but doesn't specifically show the menu item/screen that does that.

So what I want in my setup is:

- PC controls "master" volume (connection via USB)
- one set of XLR's have Okto volume disable (but obviously volume to amp is controlled by PC)
- one set of XLR's have Okto volume enable (so it's input volume is as per PC but output volume includes the Okto volume level as well)

I have asked this question to Okto but no response so If an owner could kindly check if this is possible and even post a photo of the menu item that configures this it would make this grumpy old man happy...at least for a short while.

Thanks,

Peter

 

[poopy]

The Okto manual alludes to being able to bypass the volume control (states set to 0db) for any of the four XLR outputs but doesn't specifically show the menu item/screen that does that.

So what I want in my setup is:

- PC controls "master" volume (connection via USB)
- one set of XLR's have Okto volume disable (but obviously volume to amp is controlled by PC)
- one set of XLR's have Okto volume enable (so it's input volume is as per PC but output volume includes the Okto volume level as well)

I have asked this question to Okto but no response so If an owner could kindly check if this is possible and even post a photo of the menu item that configures this it would make this grumpy old man happy...at least for a short while.

Thanks,

Peter

You just need to set the volume to 0dB.

Usually one uses this feature with a preamp (that you can trust). Not sure I understand what you want to do if you don't have any preamp.

Bad idea in my opinion to control volume with PC. Set it to 100% and set the volume with your okto

 

[XpanD]

Yeah, PC volume is dangerous. Updates can reset you to 100% volume, media keys and key combinations on keyboards can cause sudden ramps, and app interactions can cause weird things too. It probably wouldn't be an issue in practice, but if your setup has a lot of gain on tap things only need to go wrong once...

 

[Sokel]

If I got it right you want to control both outputs with one VC at different levels, such as mains and sub for example.
Scrap PC, just set the gains at Okto and go from there.

Even so, make sure you have include some failsafe to sudden 0dB events.
Okto is really nice but its VC is still digital, so...

 

[fatoldgit]

1- I am 100% confident that the PC app wont go ballistic as I wrote the GUI myself and it has five guard rails:

- it has a startup volume value config so the volume is set to a lower level on startup
- it has a maximum volume value config so you can never set the volume above a certain level
- for every volume set/change step (increment is a percentage) it checks that the requested volume change in the GUI is reflected in the ALSA subsystem. If not, the subsystem is muted
- the GUI only supports a mouse (or touch screen touches) and has a guard rail around rapid mouse activations relative to the volume control (left button clicks/middle button scrolls)
- the volume control (with associated volume level numeric) is visible at all times and as is iconically large

This has been tested to death and means the volume cannot do weird things

2- I thought my English description was ok but obviously not so here is a block diagram. So can the okto do this:

3- given the PC controls the overall volume, if the okto has an issue it cant go any louder than the pass thru volume of the 1st XLR output pair whose volume is that of the PC app


Thanks

 

[staticV3]

So can the okto do this:

Reading the user manual, it doesn't seem like it can.

The only thing mentioned there is the ability to set an additional volume offset for either the Left or Right channel, so a channel balance control which is applied equally to both output pairs.

Master volume control cannot be disabled, nor can one Stereo output pair act differently from the other.

 

[fatoldgit]

Reading the user manual, it doesn't seem like it can.

The only thing mentioned there is the ability to set an additional volume offset for either the Left or Right channel, so a channel balance control which is applied equally to both output pairs.

Master volume control cannot be disabled, nor can one Stereo output pair act differently from the other.

thanks.

The manual says "The volume control consists of a master volume (displayed on the right screen) and per channel volume, accessible in Menu > Volume. The resulting value for each channel can be calculated by adding the two values. To bypass the volume control completely, simply setall the values to 0 dB."

So one interpretation of that (see bolded) is that for any specific channel you can bypass the volume control by setting it to 0 db?

Peter

 

[staticV3]

So one interpretation of that (see bolded) is that for any specific channel you can bypass the volume control by setting it to 0 db?

No.

It just means that if you wish to turn off any kind of digital signal attenuation across all DAC8 output, you simply set all controls to 0dB.

The two output pairs cannot be controlled independently. They're connected to the same DAC output internally.

 

[fatoldgit]

ok so the key bit is (in bold and undersoce) "To bypass the volume control completely, simply set all the values to 0 dB"

Bypass is only achieved when all channels are set to zero...so not at the individual channel level.

Thanks for sticking with this and making me see the light....I guess my brain wished it did so didn't see the obvious!!!

Peter

 

[nagster]

This is the DCR between the output pins of the Okto Research dac8 Stereo.
I was a little worried about measuring with the power on, so I measured with the power off.