[Sorrodje]

I think your mind is set

. Start saving up!

 
No. That's not so simple.  I read things herer or there about the fact the hex is "a league above" the Octave. I'd prefer to judge it by myself and I'm open to other opinions . One more point is that the Hex can't be used with both XLR and RCA  outputs if I'm not wrong. So I'm not so convinced
 
 

  I had the Quad and Hex for a while. They sound pretty similar. Hex is a bit cleaner and a touch less laid-back sounding. However, I believe the output transformers have their own effect on the sound, where as the Quad/Octave don't have that for the analog out. Some have said this gives the Quad/Octave more of a "direct" sound over the Hex, whatever that means. I was stupid and didn't do direct comparisons listening for that when I had them, though. Honestly, I know the Hex got a ton of praise from reviewers, but I'm not really sure it's worth the extra cost over the Octave unless you're looking for those extra features. It's just such a huge price jump...
 
Audio-GD doesn't make them anymore, as far as I know, but the NOS-1704 DAC they put out had some interesting traits as well. Similar NOS sound as the Metrums, but with a noticeably cleaner and more detailed/more resolving sound. A bit darker and more intimate, though.

 
Thks for the very precious Input mate.

 
I heard briefly an Auralic Ark mx+ and found some similarities with Metrum sound but I can't make my mind with only a few minutes of listening. 
 
 
I'm in a kind of dead-end with the DAC and my whole system. Obviously it sounds as good as i've always expected and I listen hours and hours of music with great pleasure but you know the game....

 
Purrin's hyped me with the Stratus but I'm not convinced without give it a try myself. For the DAC , I don't what could be a real upgrade.  I bought my Octave for 400€ and it was the more obvious upgrade  I heard in my system. The Sonett is more ... inconspicuous?  Octave & Sonett are Yin and Yang in my system. so i'm a bit reluctant to spend $$$$ for an hypothetic upgrade in my HD800 rig . Its only a HD800 after all and the budget for upgrade is close to a full stax rig. Moreover with the upgrade budget, Ic could build a extremely good complete system for HE-6 or LCD3 or whatsoever ... I'm in a crossroad.

 

[Stereolab42]

   
Its only a HD800 after all

 
Heh. Only on Head-Fi would one find this statement written about a $1500 pair of headphones!

 

[xxxfbsxxx]

NOS-1704 was more "tonally dense" correct? I suspect so because the NOS-1704 DAC seems like a M7 with two PCM1704s and no DSP (NOS) - where I ran the M7 in NOS mode. This is in comparison to your Quad (and I've heard the Octave too), but DACs seemed "lighter". Hard to explain or use words. I think you know what I mean.

I think its not correct,the nos1704 is based on sa1.32 which utilize pcm1704s in parallel, m7 uses them with push/pull circuit

 

[purrin]

But in comparison to Metrum?

 

[xxxfbsxxx]

  But in comparison to Metrum?

ops, i dont mean about the sound, only think even when you run the m7 in nos mode, its still not the same with nos1704 since the dac chips are used in different way

 

[arnaud]

   
No. That's not so simple.  I read things herer or there about the fact the hex is "a league above" the Octave. I'd prefer to judge it by myself and I'm open to other opinions . One more point is that the Hex can't be used with both XLR and RCA  outputs if I'm not wrong. So I'm not so convinced

 
Not discussed herein but I have high (unrealistic?) expectations for the Ygg... Maybe too rich for your blood but it would be a bargain in itself in regards to the usual suspects for discrete ladder dacs.

 

[zachchen1996]

   
Not discussed herein but I have high (unrealistic?) expectations for the Ygg

 
Same here, the anticipation is killing me.

 

[hans030390]

   
NOS-1704 was more "tonally dense" correct? I suspect so because the NOS-1704 DAC seems like a M7 with two PCM1704s and no DSP (NOS) - where I ran the M7 in NOS mode. This is in comparison to your Quad (and I've heard the Octave too), but DACs seemed "lighter". Hard to explain or use words. I think you know what I mean.

 
Not sure how the NOS-1704 compares to the M7 without DSP/oversampling. I'd be really curious to compare! xxxfbsxxx brought up a good point about the NOS-1704's design as well which is worth consideration (though, really, you'd need to compare side by side subjectively).
 
I'm pretty sure I know what you mean about the Metrums being a bit "lighter" and the NOS-1704 being more "tonally dense." I think that's a good comparison. The NOS1704 still sounded a bit more artificial to my ears than the Metrum, but the extra detail and resolving ability was more noticeable than that still.
 
I know the Metrums are too smooth and not resolving enough for some, but there's something about the way they convey music that sounds more engaging and real to me than perhaps any other DAC I've heard. I noticed this on a particular track with a soft, but powerful, guitar solo...NOS1704 was less smoothed over and had better detail, but the Metrum gave me a better sense of having the guy playing right in front of me. Better emotion...just felt like I could "feel" the guy playing in front of me, I dunno. Really, really hard to explain in words. Guess I just like what I like!

 

[Currawong]

 

  I had the Quad and Hex for a while. They sound pretty similar. Hex is a bit cleaner and a touch less laid-back sounding. However, I believe the output transformers have their own effect on the sound, where as the Quad/Octave don't have that for the analog out. Some have said this gives the Quad/Octave more of a "direct" sound over the Hex, whatever that means. I was stupid and didn't do direct comparisons listening for that when I had them, though. Honestly, I know the Hex got a ton of praise from reviewers, but I'm not really sure it's worth the extra cost over the Octave unless you're looking for those extra features. It's just such a huge price jump...
 
Audio-GD doesn't make them anymore, as far as I know, but the NOS-1704 DAC they put out had some interesting traits as well. Similar NOS sound as the Metrums, but with a noticeably cleaner and more detailed/more resolving sound. A bit darker and more intimate, though.

 
NOS-1704 was more "tonally dense" correct? I suspect so because the NOS-1704 DAC seems like a M7 with two PCM1704s and no DSP (NOS) - where I ran the M7 in NOS mode. This is in comparison to your Quad (and I've heard the Octave too), but DACs seemed "lighter". Hard to explain or use words. I think you know what I mean.

 
Hans described it about right. It was based on another or an older model DAC without the DSP and a bit of tweaking to get the PCM1704s working well in NOS mode. If you didn't know it was NOS, you wouldn't guess it IMO. It is a touch more smooth or more forgiving than the M7, which seemed with the USB32 to have a small touch of -- I don't know... hardness? -- but at the expense of soundstage. It does a good job of sounding smooth and reasonably detailed whether it is fed 44.1 or 192. It's a very "I want to listen and enjoy without thinking about the equipment" kind of DAC.

 

[estreeter]

@purrin, I think you overestimate some of your more slavish disciples. 
 

 

[Sorrodje]

   
Not discussed herein but I have high (unrealistic?) expectations for the Ygg... Maybe too rich for your blood but it would be a bargain in itself in regards to the usual suspects for discrete ladder dacs.

 
Yes ... I forgot the Hex because it can't work both with XLR and RCA .. Yggdrasil/Ragnarok seems very promising for who want to build a  complete living room ( or audio room ) system for both speakers & headphones. I'm really interested in Schiit work on these new babies but I've not enough space for such a system right now...  My HD800 rig is a desktop rig.

 

[purrin]

  @purrin, I think you overestimate some of your more slavish disciples. 
 

 
LMAO. Hahaha. That's EXACTLY how I feel.

 

[hans030390]

If you like the Octave and are on the MK1 version, I'd say consider the MK2 (uses newer boards, supposedly good USB implementation), find something outside the Metrum line, or wait for a new product like the Yggy. I really liked the Hex, but given what you can get the Quad and Octave for, it's a pretty risky jump in price for a pretty similar sound, IMO.

 

[kphfrail]

   
LMAO. Hahaha. That's EXACTLY how I feel.

From today onward, you will be known as The Messiah. All hail to The Messiah!

 

[BournePerfect]