Metrum Octave versus Eastern Electric DAC

Very interesting findings, guys. It sounds like the Dexa opamps really brought the EE DAC performance up significantly. Unfortunately I did not have them in my modified first gen dac to offer insight.

Yes the Metrum is definitely more laid back then the Sabre32 which I found could be slightly analytical at times, but also very exciting with the right material. Make no mistake the modded first gen dac was excellent!

I see the first gen minimaxes go cheaply these days--can the Dexa opamps fit in it to see what the fuss is about for myself in comparison to my Octave?

Ok after a full day of evaluating my minimax plus with burson\dexa opamps, with the PS Audio perfectwave mkII, I have come to an conclusion. The minimax with any tube\opamp configuration simply isn't in the same league. In fact after listening to the perfect wave all day, switching back I find the minimax to sound very generic and offensive. My wife wishes I hadn't made the comparison, because now I simply need to make the upgrade. Not to knock the minimax. It's excellent for the price. The perfectwave is 3x the cost, so this extra performance should be expected.

You may want to also consider the NAD M52 DAC. It's the equal of the PWD MK2, with differences mostly to do with synergy rather than anything else.

I recently sold my PWD MK2 to a local Audiogon member who has it paired with a Yamaha A-S2000 integrated stereo amp. It sounded better in his system and his Harbeths than it ever sounded in my system with NC400 mono blocks and Selah Tempesta speakers.

On the other hand, albeit after only a day of listening, my very recently acquired NAD M51 sounds better direct to the Hypex NC400s than the PWD MK2 did.

Highly recommend both the PWD MK2 and the M51.

the problem with all of the comments made about the minimax is the lack of specificity regarding what tube was used.

i owned the minimax. it was never offensive, and with the right tube, i preferred it to the ps audio power wave dac, which i own.

the reason i sold the minimax is that i have some cd players which i prefer.

i would like someone to explain, logically, how a solid state component can out perorm a tubed component, when the latter's sound is tube dependant, and can vary greatly with the tube selected.

i have always found the better tube dacs to exhibit more realistic timbre than solid state dacs.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll give the NAD a listen