[khaine1711]

Quote:

???

I find Metrum Octave linear enough and upfront, actually Octave compares well to Naim which is upfront and in-your face sounding, i even find Octave not so forward sounding compared to Naim CDX2 i have too. also Octave keeps good balance between dry and syrupy warm, it's rather slightly dry but only tiny bit. i like more presence in stage, never liked laid back sound, so both Octave and Naim are my favorites.

Errr read it again, I said the QuteHD is more forward and leaner than the Octave 

 

[Clemmaster]

Leaner? Hum... I'd say it is warmer than how I remember the Quad sounded (albeit on a different setup: 500s vs 5LEs).
I noticed it is quite hot on the output level, like the DP1.
I put the NFB-27 on a quite high level too (56 on the dial); should be in the 2.5 - 3V range.

I don't plan on buying a USB bridge before I move to the US (the DI V3 is cheap, though) so I will try to use the NFB-15 as a bridge (I read somewhere it could do that nowadays?).

I need to sell the DP1 quickly, so if someone is interested... The ciunas might go too now I found a small DAC I can take with me!

 

[Gintaras]

damn, i am totally out of focus today, i thought you meant Unity Qute but you talk about Chordette QuteHD which i have no idea about, sorry.

 

[Zoo Animal]

I've been playing with the Izotope settings in A+ to get a better oversampling sound from the octave than the default settings provided. I have found 2 different setting that work much better. My understanding is that Fidelia also offers user adjustable Izotope settings and should work the same. Two other Metrum owners, one on Hex and another on an Octave have also given these a thumbs up. 

Steepness: 80
Filter Length: 2,000,000
Cut-off: 0.95
Anti-Aliasing: 200
Pre-ring: 0.99

Steepness: 4
Filter Length: 2,000,000
Cut-off: 1.03
Anti-Aliasing: 200
Pre-ring: 1.0
 

 

[slim.a]

I have ordered a Metrum Octave MKII : I am eager to hear how it compares to my existing oversampling converters (I never owner a NOS converter before).
 
I will post a detailed review once I receive it.
 
BTW, could any Foobar user point me to a better sample rate converter than SoX ? In my current system, I found that SoX sounds best with passband set at 90% (gentle filter), aliasing, and Intermediate Phase (25% from memory).

 

[zenpunk]

Don't worry it will sound as good as other converters. Actually it was indistinguishable from my Dacmagic,  so pretty good really.

 

[Clemmaster]

  Don't worry it will sound as good as other converters. Actually it was indistinguishable from my Dacmagic,  so pretty good really.

 
I don't think that's the kind of argument he wants to hear, honestly 

.
Why pay $1000 on a DAC if the end result can be had for 500 less?...
 
The Dacmagic is an OK DAC but certainly not as capable as the Emotiva XDA-1 or NFB-3 (I used to own the later two, a friend owned the DM and quickly changed for the XDA-1 as well).
Those 3 DAC cannot compare to the Quad I used to own.
 
Unless they screwed everything when jumping from the Quad to the Octave (which reviews and impression said they didn't, much the opposite), the Octave is an excellent DAC. Very fluid and crystal clear (= transparent) with the most non fatiguing sound I ever experienced. It has something very special to its sound.
 
Of course, if you're gonna listen to it from your noisy computer while watching youtube videos, you probably won't notice all the goodies 

 

[Gintaras]

Clemmaster, do not worry. Metrum Octave gives good run for the money to my Naim cdx2 on some material, forget DacMagic which is junk by high end standards and sounds so so and much less than Octave. Plus Octave has unique analogue like sound quality, never vocals sounded so realistic life like in my system, you know Naim is very capable player and if i am comparing it to Metrum this means Metrum is so good.

 

[zenpunk]

Unfortunately, that hasn't been my experience 

 
 

 

[Gintaras]

zenpunk, what you mean?

 

[zenpunk]

I just failed to find that analogue quality many people seem to enjoy from the Metrum.  
To my surprise,  volume matched  and fed the same digital signal I wasn't able to tell those four DACs apart when listening through the Topping Tp60 and HE-6.

 

[Clemmaster]

  I just failed to find that analogue quality many people seem to enjoy from the Metrum.  
To my surprise,  volume matched  and fed the same digital signal I wasn't able to tell those four DACs apart when listening through the Topping Tp60 and HE-6.

 
Why did you keep the Metrum then?
Did you try an other amp with the HE-6?

 

[zenpunk]

Sold the Metrum shortly after my experiment.
The Topping was the only SE amp I had at the time but it has an electronic relay for two sources so I could switch DACs seamlessly. I heard the HE-6 on numerous amps and would consider the Topping transparent but maybe not enough to show minute differences between DACs. 

 

[Clemmaster]

  Sold the Metrum shortly after my experiment.
The Topping was the only SE amp I had at the time but it has an electronic relay for two sources so I could switch DACs seamlessly. I heard the HE-6 on numerous amps and would consider the Topping transparent but maybe not enough to show minute differences between DACs. 

 
Good thing is: at least your wallet don't suffer 

.
As long as you enjoy the sound and you're not stuck into the endless upgrade (or side-grade) process, it's all good 

 

 

[complin]

So what was the source?
 
Quote:

  I just failed to find that analogue quality many people seem to enjoy from the Metrum.  
To my surprise,  volume matched  and fed the same digital signal I wasn't able to tell those four DACs apart when listening through the Topping Tp60 and HE-6.