Okto DAC8 Stereo Processor reviewed and measured

[Mike Rubin]

Back on sale today; limited to stock on hand; looks like this batch may already be sold out.  
 

I got an order in even though the email said they will have upgrades and new products “soon.”  Bird in hand, I figure.

[Mike Rubin]

Mine is supposed to arrive in the US in about a month. Considering that orders were supposed to be for products in inventory and that I got stung by LH Labs, indulge me my insecurities, but I am crossing my fingers until this DAC is in my equipment cabinet. 

 

Question for current owners: are you using the Raspberry Pi as your source?   If so, have you compared its sound quality to external renderers or other sources? I ask because the units for sale now do not include Pi's (due to worldwide shortage), but they can be retrofitted.

 

I have a Pi4 that runs either Volumio or Picoreplayer depending on the micro SD card.  I easily could swap it into the Okto.  

 

Does that even make sense?  

 

Sonore sells its products on the premise that the renderer always should be isolated from the server. To that end, they happily have sold me a few Rendus, including one that was more than I should have spent at the time. Since then, I have isolated the one in my main system by using an optical run.  I am skeptical that a Pi could best the Rendus, but would open the chassis to experiment if I had an inkling that it would be a better way to go. 

 

My Pi sounds just fine to my ears, but it's being used in a system with lesser resolution right now and I am not sure that I have a valid comparison with the Rendus as a result. 

[Mike Rubin]

31 minutes ago, firedog said:

I'd keep the Pi separate and try it with the Okto. See what you think. You may or may not hear a difference with a Rendu. Compare and let us know. After that put the Pi inside (is it plug and play?) and see if it makes a difference. 

I assume the Pi is plug and play, but it's a multipart job to install inside the case.  Probably not terribly time-consuming, but definitely would take long enough that A-B comparison can't happen. 

[Mike Rubin]

Here are installation instructions, per Okto email:

Yes, Raspberry Pi 4 Model B can be easily installed after purchase by following steps below:
1) Unplug the dac8 Stereo from mains
2) Remove top cover by unscrewing 7 Phillips screws
3) Remove press-fit plastic cover by pushing it inside
4) Unscrew the two M2.5 hex screws in the mounting posts
5) Insert the Raspberry's connectors into the cutouts in the dac8 Stereo's back panel and then gently press its 40-pin header into a mating header on the dac8 Stereo's input board
6) Secure the Raspberry by placing the 2 screws back into the mounting posts and tighten them lightly
7) Install a Wi-Fi adapter before plugging the unit in order to prevent the Raspberry from using its on-board radio
8) Install a USB cable between any of the Raspberry's USB ports and USB2 port of the dac8 Stereo's digital input board
9) Place an SD card with your preferred audio streaming software into the Raspberry Pi's card slot
10) Put the top cover back before plugging the unit back to mains
11) Follow the configuration steps described in the streaming software's documentation
12) Optional: navigate to Menu > Inputs and change the value of entry "Mains" to USB/Stream

 

Here is a page from the owner's manual, which is as close as I have come to finding a discussion of the unit's innards.

[Mike Rubin]

1 hour ago, stefano_mbp said:

NAA is a Network Audio Adapter for HQPlayer, call it an endpoint, ie something like a raspberry connected to the network (better if wired) to which you can connect your dac.

Speaking of the Okto it could be dac and NAA at the same time.

NAA is useful to have HQP running on a pc/Mac in another room (sometimes a pc/Mac running HQP can be too noisy to stay in the same room of your system).

 

This was what I was going to suggest if someone wants to use the Okto as an HQP endpoint. The installed Pi accepts any micro SD that one can throw at it, including the NAA OS from HQPlayer or RoPieee XL.  If I didn't already have a rendu that's better than a Pi, that's how I would run mine. 

[Mike Rubin]

FWIW, I have confirmed that a Pi using Ropieee XL works really well as an HQPlayer renderer when installed in an Okto DAC.  I received my DAC yesterday, the day after my Rendu went on the fritz, so I installed a spare Pi4 that I had.  Installation was easy enough (although a stripped screw made removal of the top more difficult than it needed to be), setting up the Pi as an NAA renderer took just a few minutes, and I was up and running pretty quickly.  On first impression, the sound is pretty glorious.

 

 I find it pretty astounding that the ASR guys insist, in effect if not explicitly, that two level-matched DACs should sound the same if they measure the same.  The Okto replaces the Topping D90, which I have been using in my main system for awhile, and it sounds quite different from it.  As lean as the Topping can be in my system, the Okto seems as lush, but the Okto seems woolier in the bass.  
 

I will be interested n seeing if there are changes due to break-in and if the Rendu improves things when it’s back in the system. 

[Mike Rubin]

1 hour ago, skids929 said:

Hi Mike, curious to know your impressions now that you've had some time with the Okto now? 

 

I am interested in this DAC I reached out to see how long the wait will be from Pavel, waiting to hear back. Seems like a good overall here with this DAC. 

Skids, it takes a long time to break in and I don't listen an awful lot, so I think it still is coming into its own.

 

I like the DAC and it seems like good value for money, although it may be a bit 'threadbare" in the midrange compared to my old Wyred 4 Sound despite my initial impression that it was "lush."   The soundstage is huge.  High notes from shrill instruments like flutes and poorly-played-or-recorded violins are surprisingly listenable. I don't use the Pi as my primary source, but, when it isn't supply-constrained, it is a great, cheap backup source for when my sometimes temperamental Hqplayer isn't behaving or is unusable while taking forever with a library scan.

 

I can't imagine that anyone would dislike the DAC.  I just don't know how it compares to other things in its price range.

 

Unfortunately, though, my assessment isn't reliable because I did what you aren't supposed to do: make a bunch of system changes quickly, so it is difficult to pin down what affected what. I sold some LP's and went on a buying spree with the proceeds:  this DAC, an external clock for my etherregen, an LPS, and some new cables. 

 

With all that in place, my system never has sounded better, but, when the Okto went in first and had played a bit, my thought was that the midrange had gotten a bit recessed compared to what I had previously.  I don't think that characteristic has entirely gone away through the subsequent changes.

[Mike Rubin]

36 minutes ago, skids929 said:

 

 

Thanks Mike...I was thinking this would be a good off-the-desk DAC for my second system. Let me know if anything develops for you over time, appreciate the reply. 

You could do worse.  On the whole, I like it better than the Topping D90, which it doesn't sound like very much.  It is almost twice the price of the Topping, but I would rather have it.  

 

I will add this:  this morning, I A-B'ed the two USB inputs and the DAC can sound like two different beasts depending on how you feed it.  The Pi side sounds very good and it would be a very fine daily driver if I made it my main system.  The other side, however, keeps sounding better and better as I improve the source: Sablon ethernet cable to etherregen (powered by Uptone Ultracap 1.2 and clocked with AfterDark Emperor Signature powered by AfterDark LPS) to Sonore Signature Rendu SE sounds, as you would expect at the much higher price, infinitely better in every single way. 

 

I guess my point is that the DAC definitely reveals differences in what you feed it. 

 

Did you hear what the lead time is on them now? 

[Mike Rubin]

13 minutes ago, skids929 said:

 

 

Haven't heard back yet. Will keep it posted here, if I hear at all. Im on the fence with just getting an all in one like the Uniti Atom and calling it a day but this DAC is intriguing at the price. I've heard all the chord stuff and I generally dislike it so won't go that route. 

You can simulate the Atom with the Okto if you can find a Pi 4 somewhere out there, but I suspect the Atom always will sound better.  The Pi is an amazing piece of hardware for what it can accomplish but it can be bettered if you spend more. 

[Mike Rubin]

As Tom suggests, my firmware update experience was not good.  I at first was not successful no matter which of the several recommended methods I tried to use, so I was added to the waiting list of owners on the hardware update dongle waiting list.

 

While waiting, I read a suggestion at another website that I update using a computer other than the one in my system.  I tried that and this time I was successful. The good news is that I have liked the update's interface changes and the handshake with my streamer has become more reliable. 

 

The bad news is that I now have the dreaded loud pop when switching into DSD playback mode, or at the end of a DSD session, or both. Because I like to use HQPlayer Embedded OS to upsample everything to DSD, I have to put up with the pops. The workaround has been to upsample using PCM. Okto is aware of the issue and says it will solve it in the next firmware update, but that update seemingly has been delayed. (Communication has not been Okto's long suit, but, when I have heard from the company, the quality of the English language command has been impeccable.) 

 

I await the next firmware update. In the meantime, I have no complaint beyond the popping issue, which is a challenge for any DAC designer to design around.  

 

The only DACs to which I have compared this one are the original AKM Topping D90 and the Wyred 4 Sound 10th Anniversary.  To my ears, it is less clinical than the former and more comparable to the latter, which costs three times as much and is slightly "warmer." . (The readers at ASR would consider my conclusions after comparison to be insane, but that is what I think.)