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Metrum Octave versus Eastern Electric DAC

I own an Eastern Electric DAC, the older one with volume control, no mods. Have any of you in the community compared these two units? Would I be better off doing the op amp upgrade, buy the newest EE with upgrades?

I have enjoyed the EE and like it well enough, but I am curious about the Metrum. I would like slightly more warmth, more fullness, a little more meat and bones, without losing any of the detail I now enjoy.
mikirob
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
i had the eastern electric dac (original version) and i have the ps audio dac.

the tube in the circuit colors the sound. the ps audio dac, depending upon digital cable can sound harsh.
njs
30 posts
 
I have the Eastern Electric DAC Plus with Dexa Discrete opamps but have not had the opportunity to compare it to the PS Audio PWD MKII.

With that said, I cannot foresee a time when I'd wish to replace the EE DAC Plus in its current iteration of configuration.

Pulling the tube and deploying the Dexa's delivers a sonic purity that renders all of my previous, numerous searches in the land of Dac's fruitless.
devilboy
1,176 posts
 
Eugene81: Forgive me if you've already mentioned this, but what USB/spdif converter are you using? I had the Mach2Music HiFace2 but ultimately returned it because I was getting "clicks and pops" during playback. According to the advice of some members, I was supposed to increase the buffer size. I've asked those members how this is done, but have yet to receive an answer.
bavmike
16 posts
 
I'm about to compare my minimax plus with Burson duals combined with Dexa singles with the PS Audio Perfectwave MKII tomorrow. I'll be running the PS Audio directly, and the Minimax through a transformer based passive preamp to a dual mono Hypex Ncore amp. Various highly revealing speakers will be used in the audition. I will post my impressions.
gregfisk
118 posts
 
Eugene81,

Your statement hits my feelings about the Havana on the head. I love the tonal qualities of the dac but I wish at times I had more detail in the music. The opamps take the detail up a notch but I find myself wanting for more. Thanks for the detailed comparison.
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