Sorrodje
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2012
- Posts
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- 932
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.