Yamamoto YDA 01 DAC

Got my Metrum Octave yesterday and compared it cold out of the box with my benchmark DAC1. The Octave is a glass of red wine, whereas the benchmark's more like a gin tonic. Soundstage opens up considerably vertically and horizontically but not so much in depth, bass is deeper (!) but less defined, sometimes even a bit one-note, midrange sounds lovely natural and voluminous, treble is still a bit nondescript like pink noise but that's very much exagerated from my side. Detail seems even better than from the benchmark which might be a function of the Metrums ability to reproduce timbres. The differences are certainly more pronounced than I anticipated.

Most importantly, it's already very enjoyable

Hope that helps

Staehli,
Thanks for the very early impressions. Cees said initial sound is bright,and it needs about 3 weeks to settle in.I`m still waiting for my delivery. How long was your waiting period?

I`m really looking forward to the natural tone and timbre that 6moons touted. It seems already you`ve noted high level detail/resolution, that`s encouraging.

Charles,
I ordered mine on the 8th of August.

The amount of resolution was unexpected but "more developped timbres" is probably the better description and this is the kind of "resolution", that was missing from the benchmark. Please keep in mind that we're comming from different directions: you from the Yamamoto, me from the benchmark, so your findings might be different.

I expect this to develop into a long thread so its a pitty, it runs under the Yamamoto lable.

8th of August! Darn, I ordered mine in mid July! Cees says he shipped mine 2 weeks ago, for some reason it has`nt cleared customs(sigh).

Yes, this has unintentionally become a Metrum Octave thread due probably due to my mentioning the Octave while answering a question about my Yamamoto. But really, someone interested in the Yammy will most likely be attracted to the Metrum.

Staehli I look forward to more of your impressions once the Metrum is fully broken-in.

Staehli,
Thanks for your initial impressions. I am looking to your detailed comparison to the benchmark. You may want to start a seperate thread for this.

I used to have Benchmark and replaced it with Rega DAC, which I like better. So I'll be curious to know how Octave compares to the benchmark.