[bobeau]

First independent user impression:
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Metrum-Octave-WOW

 

[Dynobot]

Interesting review
 
Just the word "Wow", and "it beats everything except the PDX..", and "the detail is etched and well defined....".
 
I'll wait for more reviews.
 
 

 

[bobeau]

Pretty active thread over on the large Aussie forum (started by the same guy above), at least one or two other owners pipe in -
 
http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/showthread.php/38534-Metrum-Otctave-Has-Arrivred-WOW
 
Also on audiogon Srajan gives more candid and fairly in-depth thoughts (sans the flowery prose found in his reviews) in this thread - 
 
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1232005991&openfrom&1&4#1

 

[realmassy]

And there's another independent review on an Italian forum:
http://www.tforumhifi.com/t19096-metrum-acoustics-nos-mini-dac-octave-come-suona
 
You can Google-translate it. The owner has a good experience with mid-fi dacs, and seems to be positively impressed by the Octave.
He particularly likes the totally black background and speed of attacks and decay. Stage would appear slightly compressed and flat, but he says it might be a sub-optimal speakers positioning.
 
Personally I would be very curious to listen to this dac, it should sound completely different from other NOS dacs.

 

[songmic]

I've ordered mine in black with the 14VA capacitor option a couple of weeks ago, after reading the 6moons review. Apparently it makes an exceptional combo with Stello U3, a USB-S/PDIF converter that was released in South Korea a month ago. According to Srajan's review, the U3+Octave combo (both of which won the Blue Moon Award) is currently his reference DAC, outperforming every other DAC's he owns that are in the $5,000> range. I've already purchased the U3, and is expecting the Octave soon.
 
By the way, I asked Metrum out of curiosity and they told me I was the first Korean to order the Octave.

 

[K3cT]

I'm definitely interested but the fact that the maker erases out the names on the chip is a bit on the errr side. 
 
The design also looks similar to the one proposed in this website (credits go to the guys in the SR-009 thread). 

 

[Lil' Knight]

I find that Japanese R-2R DAC looks even more impressive. If only I knew some Japanese to contact the guy...

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by songmic /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
 I've already purchased the U3, and is expecting the Octave soon.

 
Congrats on the order, please share your feedback when you get it.  I ordered mine on 8/19.  
 
Out of curiosity, how much is the U3 in USD in Korea?
 
I had a jkeny mk2 hiface and while I can hear the improvement over stock USB, it's almost virtually identical to using TOSlink -> Theta TLC (w/ regulated PS).. a 10 year old jitterbuster.  TOSLink is notoriously dirty but likely easier to clean as it is electrically decoupled.  I have a feeling the same would be w/ the Audiophilleo or U3... that these ~$500 class of convertors pretty much exist in the same performance arena, or whatever differences there are are pretty subtle. I'll hold onto the TLC for a bit longer until the prices come down to a more friendly $200'ish or the performance ramps up.  

 

[bobeau]

 
Quote:

I'm definitely interested but the fact that the maker erases out the names on the chip is a bit on the errr side. 
 

Why not?  If the 6moons piece is correct it sounds like he spent considerable time testing out chips to arrive at this one.  Either he's lying or he's protecting his R&D expenditure.
 

 

[K3cT]

Well, it's not as if divulging the identity of your super secret DAC chip will automatically lead to Chinese knock-offs. Even the big boys like Weiss, Esoteric or PS Audio don't do that censorship thing. 
 
I don't know, I guess I'm part of the old-school camp who likes their manufacturers to be as forthcoming as possible regarding the design choice of their products. 

 

[xaval]

I almost ordered one. I didn't because they have a no return policy plus the 8-10 week turn time.
 
It wouldn't be the first time I bought something in the dark, but the fact that I could not return it was a deal breaker. I guess the resale value wouldn't be that great due to the fact that almost no one knows about this company and I quite value my hard earned cash.

 

[gregorio]

Just read this:
 
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/metrum/1.html

Brilliant, thanks for posting that, haven't had such a good laugh for a long time.

As soon as I'm able to hear 7.5mHz signals I'll rush out and buy one.

What a fantastic idea though, do away with the virtually non-existent problem of pre/post ringing in the reconstruction filter by not having a reconstruction filter. It's like solving the problem of potential brake failure by building a car without brakes! And then to end, a classic: "Because of our unusual price-to-performance ratio ...." truly brilliant: Leave out half the components required in even an average quality DAC and charge 8 times more. Honestly, this is better than a classic episode of Monty Python!

Thanks again,

G

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

Well, it's not as if divulging the identity of your super secret DAC chip will automatically lead to Chinese knock-offs. 

And you know this how?  Most likely it's other boutique makers to be worried about.  He can't hide the circuit, which is simple and easy to copy, but his work selecting a chip not intended for this domain is a unique competitive advantage. 
 
You could be right, it could be a total BS marketing move and it is indeed a common audio DAC chip.  But if it's not I don't see exactly what the problem is, IP is IP.
 

 

[khaos974]

Just read this:
 
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/metrum/1.html

Brilliant, thanks for posting that, haven't had such a good laugh for a long time.

As soon as I'm able to hear 7.5mHz signals I'll rush out and buy one.

What a fantastic idea though, do away with the virtually non-existent problem of pre/post ringing in the reconstruction filter by not having a reconstruction filter. It's like solving the problem of potential brake failure by building a car without brakes! And then to end, a classic: "Because of our unusual price-to-performance ratio ...." truly brilliant: Leave out half the components required in even an average quality DAC and charge 8 times more. Honestly, this is better than a classic episode of Monty Python!

Thanks again,

G

For myself, I'd like to seem how it measures, if it has aliasing issues for example.

 

[knopi]

One my friend would like to order one. He wrote them two emails and did not get reply. What is your experience guys? He want order via bank transfer because he do not have paypal at this moment.