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Review and Measurements of Okto DAC8 8Ch DAC & Amp

rajapruk

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VanityHD-cards for Oppo-players.
I have Vanity103HD in my Oppo BDP-103, outputing 7.1 in AES3. Works flawlessely.
 
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amirm

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- Home Theaters: use a BluRay player output in hdmi, then use a converter from hdmi to multi ch AES/EBU, then finally from that converter to Okto DAC8 AES/EBU inputs. The only such converter I found is Arvus (http://www.arvus.io/hdmi-2a.html ).

This Arvus converter seems to be quite expensive.
The device is violating the HDCP agreement that comes with HDMI interface unless it forces the sample rate to be at 48 kHz or below.
 

THW

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That said, I think it's important to note that most of the differences between good DAC's (and I think all of the DAC's measured here) is very, very subtle even if, as I and some others believe, it can actually be heard.

So completely irrelevant in casual listening and that there are no "night and day" differences between competently engineered DACs unlike what faith-based audiophiles like to claim all the damn time?
 

somebodyelse

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The device is violating the HDCP agreement that comes with HDMI interface unless it forces the sample rate to be at 48 kHz or below.
Is that part of the agreement valid in all jurisdictions? Region coding was part of the agreement with DVD, but New Zealand ruled it an unlawful restriction IIRC, so players there had to play content from any region.
 

MWC

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May I suggest not using HDMI out from one's BD player, rather use analogue outs instead, if one likes music better than redbook resolution. HDMI was, and remains, IMHO a connection merely of convenience designed not for any improvements in AV quality but simply to replace multiple analogue outs with a single digital connection. In some respects HDMI is a backward step. Definitely convenient to have 1 instead of multiple cables and once the standard includes passing Mch PCM at 24bit/192kHz then it will be truly useful.
 
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Neddy

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VanityHD-cards for Oppo-players.
I have Vanity103HD in my Oppo BDP-103, outputing 7.1 in AES3. Works flawlessely.

I'm in that same pool - I assumed the Vanity cards are NLA, and haven't seen any show up on fleabay.
Any suggestions as to where to get one? (I have a 103).

Either that or the very slick and apparently pricey Arvus sure look like they'd make a nice match for the OktoDAC, allowing for dual purpose use...but yikes the cost.
The alternative for me would be some kind of 8-way analog switch - ugh.
 

beefkabob

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The whole copy protection/DRM thing is obnoxious. I gave up on trying to live with it 20 years ago when I played DVDs through my VCR to connect to a TV. Purposefully ruining signals hurts nobody but paying customers. Earlier this week, my wife wanted to play a BluRay on her Macbook. We have a computer BluRay reader. We have a software player capable of reading unencrytped BluRay files (VLC). Does it work? No. Encrypted BluRay. SMH.

So I'm fully in favor of companies "violating the HDCP agreement". That's a valuable feature.
 

MWC

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Now I'm confused. Amir says HDMI has to down-sample to 48kHz, so how can it also be passing 24/192 Mch.?
I guess I'm really out of touch: Nowadays can HDMI pass Mch DSD to a DSD DAC with no pre-conversion to PCM?
 

g29

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Now I'm confused. Amir says HDMI has to down-sample to 48kHz, so how can it also be passing 24/192 Mch.?
I guess I'm really out of touch: Nowadays can HDMI pass Mch DSD to a DSD DAC with no pre-conversion to PCM?

HDMI can pass high resolution audio to another device, but that other device can not output high rez digital due to contractual agreements, not due to physical limitations. This is similar to the ANALOG SUNSET license agreement.

"... After December 31, 2013, Blu-ray Disc players with component video output jacks will no longer be sold. NOTE: To comply with this license agreement, Blu-ray Disc players by Sony manufactured from the beginning of 2011 only output 480i resolution through component video. ..."​

The Day the Music Died :(

 
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MWC

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But, in theory, if I was to back-up my BDs to a NAS and play them from there through an AV receiver connected via analogue outs and the software player said it was playing 24/192 Mch would the receiver still deprecate the resolution?
 

g29

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But, in theory, if I was to back-up my BDs to a NAS and play them from there through an AV receiver connected via analogue outs and the software player said it was playing 24/192 Mch would the receiver still deprecate the resolution?

Your AV receiver should just do an analog pass-through since the signal coming is already analog in your above scenario. The analog inputs don't know if the analog signal is low or high rez because the sample rate data is gone once it was turned into an analog signal. Your AV receiver should just act as an input switcher with analog gain controls unless it has DSP capabilities for analog inputs.
 
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MWC

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So HDMI is a massive step backwards and we all should keep hold of our analogue receivers. Then it is pointless having a cable (HDMI) that is capable of 24/192 Mch but in effect is crippled by the receiver to 48kHz at best, possibly 16 bit too? 'Progress' is a wonderful thing.
 

Kal Rubinson

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Now I'm confused. Amir says HDMI has to down-sample to 48kHz, so how can it also be passing 24/192 Mch.?
I do not know what Amir said but I can confirm that I do this all the time without issue. Could be dependent on specific hardware but it is not a problem for HDMI.
I guess I'm really out of touch: Nowadays can HDMI pass Mch DSD to a DSD DAC with no pre-conversion to PCM?
Depends. I can do this from my Oppo players but not from my servers.
 

Kal Rubinson

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But, in theory, if I was to back-up my BDs to a NAS and play them from there through an AV receiver connected via analogue outs and the software player said it was playing 24/192 Mch would the receiver still deprecate the resolution?
No.
 

Kal Rubinson

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HDMI can pass high resolution audio to another device, but that other device can not output high rez digital due to contractual agreements, not due to physical limitations.
See my other posts. This is possible but it depends on the specific hardware devices.

This is similar to the ANALOG SUNSET license agreement.

"... After December 31, 2013, Blu-ray Disc players with component video output jacks will no longer be sold. NOTE: To comply with this license agreement, Blu-ray Disc players by Sony manufactured from the beginning of 2011 only output 480i resolution through component video. ..."​
All that is irrelevant.
 
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amirm

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Is that part of the agreement valid in all jurisdictions?
The agreement was created by Intel so I imagine their lawyers have considered enforceability in a bunch of jurisdictions.
 

Kal Rubinson

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The agreement was created by Intel so I imagine their lawyers have considered enforceability in a bunch of jurisdictions.
I think some are inferring more from your statement than they should.
 
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amirm

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Now I'm confused. Amir says HDMI has to down-sample to 48kHz, so how can it also be passing 24/192 Mch.?
To be clear, the restriction applies to any digital connection that is without approved copy protection technology. AES/EBU has no copy protection so restriction must be enforced. This restriction comes from the HDCP component of HDMI protocol:

1565994226175.png


To be very clear, HDMI itself doesn't care about such restriction. It is the included HDCP protocol that is used for HD and higher video formats that does.
 
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amirm

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I think some are inferring more from your statement than they should.
I think so too. To be very clear, you can send any resolution audio over HDMI and a device can play it. The restrictions are only there if you try to retransmit the audio format over another digital connection without copy protection. HDMI by itself is fine as is a DAC, AVR or processor that receives HDMI and plays that format in analog.
 
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