jkn Posted September 21, 2020 Posted September 21, 2020 On 05/08/2019 at 6:08 PM, Mickstuh said: @Thelastjedi Does that price for the Okto include GST? Thanks in advance. My price was $1880 plus $265 tax/duty on arrival to AU. Great DAC separate volume to each channel Using it in active 4 way with Audiolense software. J 1
rand129678 Posted September 22, 2020 Posted September 22, 2020 7 hours ago, jkn said: separate volume to each channel Hi J, could you expand on what you mean by separate volume to each channel? I thought Audiolense would automatically adjust channel levels in the software also? Cheers!
jkn Posted September 22, 2020 Posted September 22, 2020 4 hours ago, rand129678 said: Hi J, could you expand on what you mean by separate volume to each channel? I thought Audiolense would automatically adjust channel levels in the software also? Cheers! Hi rand12... I use volume trim to adjust audio driver’s efficiency before taking measurements. You right Audiolense does it automatically but I think is better to attenuate volume in hardware VS software. j 1
davewantsmoore Posted September 22, 2020 Posted September 22, 2020 (edited) On 05/08/2019 at 8:35 AM, AudioGeek said: is this the new form/method No.... it's been around forever. Sometimes you need a device which measures that well, for certain reasons, or in production, etc..... in a playback system, I think there are usually more important things to focus on. Edited September 22, 2020 by davewantsmoore
davewantsmoore Posted September 22, 2020 Posted September 22, 2020 1 hour ago, jkn said: I use volume trim to adjust audio driver’s efficiency before taking measurements. You right Audiolense does it automatically but I think is better to attenuate volume in hardware VS software. The attnuation inside the Sabre DAC chip and the volume calculated in the source are both going to be extremely high quality. 2
WINEDS Posted September 23, 2020 Posted September 23, 2020 (edited) Loving my DAC08 Pro since last xmas. Listen to it for hours every day. Bliss. Edited September 23, 2020 by WINEDS 2
Essence Posted September 23, 2020 Posted September 23, 2020 My unit is finally going to arrive this week after ordering all the way back in May. I talked to Paval quite deeply on the custom voltage option to better pair with bufferless Purifi amplification but was told of "distortion penalty" when output is customised for higher than stock output voltages. Finally can complete my mini home-cinema setup! 1
Celentano Posted October 8, 2020 Posted October 8, 2020 On 24/09/2020 at 9:35 AM, Essence said: My unit is finally going to arrive this week after ordering all the way back in May. I talked to Paval quite deeply on the custom voltage option to better pair with bufferless Purifi amplification but was told of "distortion penalty" when output is customised for higher than stock output voltages. Finally can complete my mini home-cinema setup! Can you share your thoughts of the musical qualities of this DAC, please? Some sort of a review would be very appreciated. Thanks in advance
jkn Posted October 11, 2020 Posted October 11, 2020 (edited) I have my Dac8pro for a short while now but have to say it was a really good purchase Having very good sounding 8 channels dac create a lot of opportunity especially with active speakers.. I do run my speakers with PC base software in pure USB mode and also with DEQX doing all the crossovers and running Dac8 pro in Pure AES mode. Trim to all 8 channels is very handy as for example DEQX in digital mode does not have hardware volume trim. There is no click/noise whatsoever when changing sample rate music files and also no noise at all when taking any measurement thought different equipment I was waiting for mine unit months but it was really worth it J Edited October 12, 2020 by jkn 1
Essence Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) So I decided to get two units of the Topping pre90 preamp which coincidentally got reviewed in Stereophile February Edition. This allows me to switch to an analogue relay based volume control and further consolidate gain staging. The Purifi amp modules provide 12.8dB of gain with the buffer stage providing either 7.2dB for a 4.4V RMS source or 12.5dB for a 2.2V RMS source. The buffer-stage bottlenecks the Purifi amplification hence why you see so many outfitters try custom bufferstages/opamps, of which the Neurochrome universal buffer is one of the better options but not attainable unless you DIY. By running buffer-less, the purifi requires 10V RMS output to reach max gain, this makes it perfect pairing with the pre90 as its best performance is in the 8-10V range. However it can provide up to +16dB of maximum gain which is more than enough to reach max gain even if your source is unbalanced/2V. I am glad I didn't go through with the customised voltage option with my okto dac8 as a) its not easily reversible and b) distortion penalty mostly likely very significant looking at how costly line-level amplification can be (Benchmark LA4/HPA4). As I run a 4.1 setup with my okto dac8 having two units of pre90 gives me 4 channels to play with, I'll still need a way to integrate my sub. So I considered my options: Run them off the pre90's rca outputs which can be concurrently active along with the xlr. I'll need to use line-level attenuators to bring the voltage down to match my subs input sensitivity, this also gives me no control DSP wise over my subwoofers, it'll be 'invisible' to the system which would only see a 4.0 setup and I'll need to do the appropriate muxing. I could set pre90s to as static gain of 7.2dB, making them a line-level power amp and go back to using okto dac8's default digital volume control probably the easiest option configuration wise but I'll be missing out on the analog relay based volume control. Add another pre90 unit for more channels. Will probably happen in the future as I add another sub which means I'll definitely need to be able to DSP them for proper integration. I'll leave this here for people who are looking do something similar. Edited January 12, 2022 by Essence
Ittaku Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 7 hours ago, Essence said: Topping pre90 preamp which coincidentally got reviewed in Stereophile February Edition. Where do you see that? I don't see February available yet in my digital subscription?
Volunteer sir sanders zingmore Posted January 12, 2022 Volunteer Posted January 12, 2022 7 minutes ago, Ittaku said: Where do you see that? I don't see February available yet in my digital subscription? 1
Ittaku Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 1 minute ago, sir sanders zingmore said: Thanks, I was going to ask if it was in the print version but it made no sense that a digital version would be delayed relative to the print version. I stand corrected, what a weird world... 1
Volunteer sir sanders zingmore Posted January 12, 2022 Volunteer Posted January 12, 2022 1 minute ago, Ittaku said: Thanks, I was going to ask if it was in the print version but it made no sense that a digital version would be delayed relative to the print version. I stand corrected, what a weird world... Agree. I can see a reason to delay publishing on their (free) website, but it doesn’t seem to make sense to favour print subscribers over digital subscribers 2
Ittaku Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 2 minutes ago, sir sanders zingmore said: Agree. I can see a reason to delay publishing on their (free) website, but it doesn’t seem to make sense to favour print subscribers over digital subscribers I've been curious to see how Stereophile reviews Topping stuff if they're not advertising in their magazine... Maybe they're only reviewing it because Topping decided to take out a little ad in Stereophile? If they haven't advertised, I expect them to say it measures well but find all kinds of limitations in its "sound" but be "good value". I'm not cynical, I'm realistic; the review world is corrupt as. 2
Essence Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 13 minutes ago, Ittaku said: I've been curious to see how Stereophile reviews Topping stuff if they're not advertising in their magazine... Maybe they're only reviewing it because Topping decided to take out a little ad in Stereophile? If they haven't advertised, I expect them to say it measures well but find all kinds of limitations in its "sound" but be "good value". I'm not cynical, I'm realistic; the review world is corrupt as. I think could be a passion project? Just like the okto dac8 review, multichannel is neither popular nor profitable.
Ittaku Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 10 minutes ago, Essence said: I think could be a passion project? What's a passion project?
Essence Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 31 minutes ago, Ittaku said: What's a passion project? Reasoning for the review, like when stereophile reviewed the Okto dac8 back in Jan 2021 at which point I don't think they (Okto) were accepting orders with a minimum half a year+ of order to delivery backlog surely didn't need the extra publicity. 1
MattyW Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) I just wish Topping or someone else made a cheap rackmount 5.1 DAC with volume control. I’d go separate power amps for my home theatre. Edited January 12, 2022 by MattyW
BugPowderDust Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 1 hour ago, Ittaku said: I've been curious to see how Stereophile reviews Topping stuff if they're not advertising in their magazine... Maybe they're only reviewing it because Topping decided to take out a little ad in Stereophile? If they haven't advertised, I expect them to say it measures well but find all kinds of limitations in its "sound" but be "good value". I'm not cynical, I'm realistic; the review world is corrupt as. The usual “grin****” that Stereophile do huh? Can’t find fault with anything but it doesn’t “sound as good” as some piece of never before seen exotica that someone in the in house team have in their system. 1
Ittaku Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, BugPowderDust said: The usual “grin****” that Stereophile do huh? Can’t find fault with anything but it doesn’t “sound as good” as some piece of never before seen exotica that someone in the in house team have in their system. I take it back. Apparently they loved it and compared it mostly favourably to a Pass XP32 preamp. Interesting times... EDIT: It's really bugging me that I can't read it despite my digital subscription. I can see the new digital edition available to purchase, but it's not showing up in my library yet. Edited January 13, 2022 by Ittaku
BugPowderDust Posted January 13, 2022 Posted January 13, 2022 I found a pdf of it online. That Topping gear might perform well, but would it kill them to get an industrial designer to tart it up a bit?
Peterbean Posted December 21, 2024 Posted December 21, 2024 I’ve taken delivery of one of these, and have been getting my mind around it.Two other members have also been looking at it. Consensus is that the remote is absolute rubbish to use. Has anyone used Logitechs, or have any recommendations?
Peterbean Posted December 26, 2024 Posted December 26, 2024 Has anyone here found a better remote for the okto than the apple one? I’m wondering about using a harmony one
WINEDS Posted December 28, 2024 Posted December 28, 2024 My apple remote works flawlessly. There were instances in the ASR thread where people were having issues though. I think this was fixed with a firmware update. I recall another case where someone's TV was in close proximity and causing issues. Are there any IR repeaters in your listening room?
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