Metrum Acoustics Octave - Page 26

Quote:

Originally Posted by songmic 

 

So after those 40 remaining units are sold out, the original Octave is gone forever? Or will he continue to make them alongside the new MK II?

The site states the price is a special offer until stock are depleted, so it's safe to asume its the end of the Mk1. That being main reason i ordered one know instead of after getting new cans

So I've been trialling the Octave with the Violectric V200 amp and T1.  Very happy with the sound, rich, dynamic, no 'tizz', detailed...

But here's the thing... for some reason the vocal seems to be no longer dead center but edged off to the right of the stereo image.  I reduced the gain on the V200 from factory neutral to the lowest setting and this seems to have helped but vocals still feel slightly less 'centered' than before the Metrum.

Is this a thing? What would cause it? I seem to remember having a similar issue with the HD650, lowering the gain seemed to help. (I don't have the 650 any more to compare). 

Its a weird little niggle on an otherwise superlative set-up that I don't understand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by avl06 

But here's the thing... for some reason the vocal seems to be no longer dead center but edged off to the right of the stereo image.  I reduced the gain on the V200 from factory neutral to the lowest setting and this seems to have helped but vocals still feel slightly less 'centered' than before the Metrum.

Have you tried to switch the L and R interconnect on either the Octave or the V200, to see if the edges off to the left instead? If it doesn't then it's probably not the DAC.

I think I have the same "problem" with my system, unless your is faulty.

Maybe you are hearing your ears not matching 100% of the time because of the impressive soundstage your system may be offering.

I think there are a lot of music with slightly off center channel too (for both sides of course).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sganzerla 

I think I have the same "problem" with my system, unless your is faulty.

Maybe you are hearing your ears not matching 100% of the time because of the impressive soundstage your system may be offering.

I think there are a lot of music with slightly off center channel too (for both sides of course).

Thanks guys. I'll try swapping the interconnects - havn't had a chance yet. But Sganzerla I think you might be right - it might be the price of a revealing rig!

i got my Metrum Octave!! first impression was wow! i'm really happy with it so far. it really brings back the emotions of my music! highs are nice and sparkly, and i noticed the poorer recordings that usually had their highs distorted are now smoothed out! 

hmmm too bad the Halide Bridge upsamples 16bit to 24bit, so maybe that kinda defies the NOS dac concept XD 

Quote:

Originally Posted by angelsblood 

i noticed the poorer recordings that usually had their highs distorted are now smoothed out!

Poor recordings had distorted highs but are now smoothed out by the Octave? Hmm... that's not how I feel about my Octave, at least. An excellent DAC as it is, it doesn't make poor recordings sound great, I'm sorry. On the contrary, while many DAC's add some color to the sound to hide the flaws in poor recordings, the Octave is very neutral sounding and lets you hear the music as clearly as it is. Well-recorded songs will sound truly hi-fi, but the Octave is unforgiving with bad recordings. Kinda like the Sennheiser HD800, I suppose. To be honest, I don't really mind somewhat colored-sounding headphones or amps, but I think a DAC (or any digital source component, for that matter) should be as neutral and unforgiving as possible, like the Octave.

Quote:

Originally Posted by angelsblood 

hmmm too bad the Halide Bridge upsamples 16bit to 24bit, so maybe that kinda defies the NOS dac concept XD 

I always upsample my 16/44.1 CD-ripped RedBook files to 24/176.4 with Pure Music or Audirvana+ when using my Octave. It sounds better that way, in my opinion!

Quote:

Originally Posted by songmic 

 

Poor recordings had distorted highs but are now smoothed out by the Octave? Hmm... that's not how I feel about my Octave, at least. An excellent DAC as it is, it doesn't make poor recordings sound great, I'm sorry. On the contrary, while many DAC's add some color to the sound to hide the flaws in poor recordings, the Octave is very neutral sounding and lets you hear the music as clearly as it is. Well-recorded songs will sound truly hi-fi, but the Octave is unforgiving with bad recordings. Kinda like the Sennheiser HD800, I suppose. To be honest, I don't really mind somewhat colored-sounding headphones or amps, but I think a DAC (or any digital source component, for that matter) should be as neutral and unforgiving as possible, like the Octave.

hmm this is actually what i hear. the only thing i changed in my system is the DAC. now when i play back 3 of the songs i noted as having distorted highs, it is not as present now or rather, smoothed when i installed the Octave. And the difference is too big to be a psyhcological thing!

then i guess i didn't make a bad choice going for the Halide bridge afterall! ; )

Quote:

Originally Posted by perrew 

Anyone compared it to a Headamp Dac?

As far as I know, HeadAmp does make decent desktop headphone amps but not DAC's. Or are you talking about HeadAmp's portable DAC/amps? If so, I don't see why anyone would compare a dedicated desktop DAC to a small DAC/amp...