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Review and Measurements of Okto DAC8 8Ch DAC & Amp

gvl

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Is it correct that the Stereo model also uses the same clock for the async USB and the Sabre chip but the latter still runs in async mode?
 

maxidcx

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yes gvl, at the moment the clocking scheme for Stereo is same as Dac8pro so behave as explained earlier. for USB data flow, the DPLL is "passthrough" due to same clocks domain between ESS dac and xmos (i2s/dsd).
 

maxidcx

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If i use Okto Stereo with spdif from blu ray-player, how much delay Okto adds ?

cheers
hi Snafu, when using the dac8pro in Pure AES, the spdif signal is decoded by the receiver, this needs one sample time. then it is serialized and arrives in the xmos, another sample time after. then there is a main loop at the sampling frequency to send back this sample immediately to the I2S lines for the dac. this lead-time is very minimum there is no buffering in this direction, so I d say 3 samples. Then the dac receive the sample and process it trough all its filters which takes between 4 and 35 samples depending on the filter.
 

gvl

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yes gvl, at the moment the clocking scheme for Stereo is same as Dac8pro so behave as explained earlier. for USB data flow, the DPLL is "passthrough" due to same clocks domain between ESS dac and xmos (i2s/dsd).

Nice. Is this true that while DPLL is effectively bypassed the ASRC/jitter reduction is still active? You mentioned you ran tests with the Sabre chip in sync and async modes, what was the conclusion about the differences? Thanks.
 

maxidcx

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Hi gvl, can't disclose too much on this, my feedbacks on the forum will focus around xmos because I felt there was a need for more information, but you can trust that every choices made by Pavel are with the goal of getting the very best of the beast :)
 

jjk

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Hello maxi and all,
I am curious: what would be the application(s) for the 4 x AES/EBU inputs?
Thanks.
 

jjk

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Also to followup on my above question, does the DAC8 Pro have DSP/Bass Management? Early postings on this thread indicate that it does, but I don't see any reference on the website or the manual.
Again, thanks very much for your patience.
 

g29

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Also to followup on my above question, does the DAC8 Pro have DSP/Bass Management? Early postings on this thread indicate that it does, but I don't see any reference on the website or the manual.
Again, thanks very much for your patience.

No, one of the pre-production versions had a miniDSP module inside, but that board has been discontinued by miniDSP. You can do DSP/bass management in your PC's software.
 

maxidcx

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Hello maxi and all,
I am curious: what would be the application(s) for the 4 x AES/EBU inputs?
Thanks.
Hi, typically for home theater we see users having a Yamaha DME24N ou DME64N for the treatment and then up to 4 AES connexion to a dac8pro. The difference in SNR and thd is an order of magnitude... :)
 

jjk

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Ok, thanks. So could that also be something like a Vanity 103D or a minidsp ddrc-88d.
 

maxidcx

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Ok, thanks. So could that also be something like a Vanity 103D or a minidsp ddrc-88d.
Oh yes, I m using my dac8pro with one of the first Vanity for Oppo 93 :)
minidsp dddc-88d is also a good candidate as it provides 4AES output, but it might not be easy to integrate with the source as it has 4AES inputs only...
minidsp nanodigi 8B is quite appealing with its optical/coax input and 4 output that could directly feed a dac8pro
 
H

Hifihedgehog

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Are you kidding? I was thinking only 2 months.
That’s the order fulfillment time, my friend. :) I surely hope they begin to scale out for demand because too much wait and they may one day drag behind the competition.
 

g29

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Are you kidding? I was thinking only 2 months.

That’s the order fulfillment time, my friend. :) I surely hope they begin to scale out for demand because too much wait and they may one day drag behind the competition.

Nov 20, 2019: We are now building and shipping around 5 DAC8 PROs a week. This number should significantly increase in the beginning of December, so hopefully we will be able to ship the vast majority of orders before Christmas.
 

Kees Huizinga

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Yesterday the order status changed from awaiting processing into processing. I don't know what this exactly means for the delivery time, but I am keeping hope it will not exceeds 2 months.
 

dualazmak

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I placed my order for DAC8PRO on February 15, and the order status has been changed from "Awaiting Processing" into "Processing" as of today, February 29 Japan Time.

I am ready to build stereo 4-way 8-channel multi-amplifiers audio system with using the software crossover "EKIO" in my audio dedicated Windows 10 Pro 64bit PC running Roon and JRiver MC26. I have already fully tested and confirmed that EKIO works very nicely together with ASIO4ALL, VB-AUDIO VIRTUAL CABLE and VB-AUDIO Hi-Fi CABLE/ASIO BRIDGE, directly receiving 24bit 192kHz signals from Roon or JRiver MC26 for stereo-4way 8-channel crossover. I am very much looking forward to having DAC8PRO very soon for my multi-amplifiers system with 4 stereo amps, or 8 mono amps.
 
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dualazmak

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One addition..... Today, I also placed my order for the Apple Remote (EURO 25) to be paired and shipped together with my DAC8PRO.
 

Kees Huizinga

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Hi Dualazmak, I am following the same route as you. Instead of EKIO, I am using dePhonica-software, I think it is a bit more sophisticated than EKIO.It has FIR and IIR filters and a combination of them, there is a phase-equalizer and a very nice feature : you can inverse the measured frequency response. You also can change the number of taps. The Russian developer is a very helpful guy. I am told he is working on a Linux - version. There is a demo-version. I will test the EKIO too, to hear if there is any difference in sound quality.
At the moment I am playing with a 8-channel dac from DIYNHK (with it's own ASIO-driver) and a three way loudspeaker-system with Satori-drivers from SB-Acoustics .The sound quality is already very, very good, so I can't wait to test the Okto-dac8. Succes, Dualazmak.
 

dualazmak

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Hello Kees,

Thanks a lot for your invaluable information. Since I will be very busy for the coming months on my biomedical research related to COVID-19, it looks I would have little time to test dePhonica-software. I would highly appreciate, therefore, if you could share your possible evaluation and comparison of EKIO and dePhonica-software .

As for the "virtual connection" from Roon into EKIO, I experienced some frustration and poor reproducibility of ASIO4ALL and VB-AUDIO VIRTUAL Hi-Fi CABLE routing.
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From JRiver into EKIO, on the other hand, the routing is simple, stable and reproducible when I set VB-AUDIO Hi-Fi CABLE ASIO as the output device of JRiver, then ASIO4ALL input/redirection into EKIO. I would also highly appreciate if you could find more suitable and stable routing method from Roon into EKIO; currently I have no idea of using Satori-drivers from SB-Acoustics to connect Roon into EKIO.

We may hopefully expect some stable routing from Roon into EKIO after having OKTO DAC8PRO using its WDM and/or AES features. Yes, I also can't wait to test DAC8PRO. Good luck for both of us....
 

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Kees Huizinga

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I don't have Roon, so for that part I have no experience. Dephonica has it's own "ASIO-Sink driver". This driver is set as audio-device in JRiver. The DIYINHK-dac has also it's own ASIO-driver and this one is set as output in the dePhonica-program. That's all. Because jriver is the play-back device you can even measure through dePhonica. So in this case there is no need for Asio4All, or virtual cable. I am still waiting for the Okto-dac (order 96). I think it's a pity the Okto-dac has no (not yet) ASIO-driver. I was a bit unclear, but the Satori drivers are loudspeaker-drivers from sb acoustics, they are my loudspeakers. In the next weeks I will have a better look at the Ekio-software. As I remember the demo-version only works for a 2-way system.

In the meantime you have more important work to do. This week we have two Corona patients in the Netherlands.

So I wish you lots of success with your research and hopefully we soon can experiment with the routing in our new dac's.
 

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