OK, I just finished reading this short, 23-page thread, which is certainly one of my favorites, here on Head-Fi - I enjoyed reading it, immensely.
Dan Lavry checked out on page 13, but I have to hand it to him for how well he explained "the facts" across many posts - taking the time to teach us a LOT about how DACs work, while doing a really good job of controlling his frustration. His passion and conviction are admirable, to be sure. I believe him when he says NOS DACs don't measure well, and I even trust his explanations for why they fail to measure well. In almost the same breath, I can nevertheless say that I'm really looking forward to the Metrum Octave MkII NOS DAC that's due to arrive, tomorrow.
I'm in the camp that says, if it sounds good to my ears, I don't care how it measures -and- my ears like some warmth and coloration, I confess. Give me my Audeze LCD-2 rev.1 fed by a neutral, transparent signal or my HD800 fed by a warm and ever so slightly fuzzy signal - that's what I like - and I really don't care if I get the "imperfections" I seek from the recordings that find their way to my favorites playlist, from my DAC, my amp, my headphones, or from some combination of these actors. I might have a champagne wallet and beer taste, but I know what I like. No measurements necessary.
From all the great subjective reviews I've read, I'm really looking forward to trying the Octave MkII in the following chain. I'll soon find out if this DAC can take the HD800 where I want it to go, despite the neutral and transparent personality of both the amp and headphone:
FiiO X5 coaxial out > Metrum Octave MkII > OPPO HA-1 balanced out > unmodified HD800
Mike