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Okto DAC 8 Stereo (Shout-out)

I know this DAC made a buzz via a Stereophile A+ rating a couple years back, and I can’t say how many times I casually checked if they were back in stock for purchase. A couple of weeks ago I happened to check and they were. 
 

Previously I had read the lead times were up to 8 weeks for a build, but happy to report it arrived in just over a week to the states. Great communication and service from the Okto team. Unfortunately couldn’t get one with streaming on-board due to R-Pi shortages. 
 

Seems well built, nice screen, and overall a smaller chassis than I thought. Hopefully won’t miss lack of single ended outputs. A note you can use this as a preamp and order to custom output voltage to match your power amp.

My initial impressions are as follows: This is the most transparent DAC I have ever heard, previously owning Denafrips Terminator, Holo Spring, Sonnet Morpheus, Aqua La Scala, PS audio PW DSD and others of lesser renown and quality. . The instrument separation is quite good, a wide and deep stage, and an almost eerily clarity that lacks any glassy edginess that sabre DAC based designs seem to be known for. Although I owned a HIFI rose and loved it. 
 

Anyways, kudos to Okto and a heads up they are in stock. Great performance and a very affordable price!

 

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poketacez
poketacez OP
21 posts
 

@shooter41 My understanding is they do need additional time for custom output voltage adjustments. I got mine standard and it still took a couple days to send me tracking info.

 

It's a good feeling supporting small businesses! Hope you like it. 

ricco275
55 posts
 

I have owned the dac8 stereo and I was truly amazed. Previously I had mytek Brooklyn bridge and Merason Frerot. The Okto was another level. Big and wide soundstage, clean, pure, transparent and detailed yet not analytical nor cold. I have sold it because I needed SE. I now have spring 3 kte and sometimes thinking to get an Okto again. They are very different so not possible to direct compare. Considering the MSB discrete and the T+A 200 too.

mahler123
3,037 posts
 

Isn’t this the DAC that KR uses in his occasional multichannel reviews in Sterephile?

raysmtb1's avatar
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raysmtb1
792 posts
 

I’ve had Berkeley2 , PS audio, Macintosh 2, Mcintosh 1, mite h, lumen, Bricasti, Cambridge, Meitner, space tech. blue balls and marantz. This is all been in the past two years and I’ve kept every one for between 2 to 4 months. I got to know them all well. My second favorite would be the space tech third favorite would be the Berkeley, and, like I said, nothing beats the OCTO . I have so

yyzsantabarbara
4,485 posts
 

How is the quality of the Raspberry streamer option? Was it difficult to flash the microSD card with a streamer software? How do you connect the card to a computer to do the flash?

I am guessing the USB input is the best streaming option with an external streamer.

I think I am going to order this DAC and forget about the more expensive DAC I had in mind. That dual XLR output is something I was looking for a long time in a DAC. I can connect my headphone amp and 2-channel preamp at the same time to a single DAC using XLR instead of RCA + XLR.

 

 

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