DAC8PRO review
I had the chance to be #1 in the French DAC8PRO tour, here’s my report.
DAC8PRO against OPPO SONICA in stereo
We had one listening session at a friend's place, in comparison with an Oppo Sonica streamer/DAC (around 1000€, so comparable in price and features with the upcoming DAC8 STEREO).
The full report in French is here
http://forum-hifi.fr/thread-2327-post-316543.html#pid316543 posted by my friend renan, I am alec_eiffel in this thread.
For non French speakers, in summary, I preferred the DAC8PRO, it was a little more « engaging » than the Oppo.
Not in the report : for 44.1kHz material, software upsampling in Roon to 192kHz linear phase / slow roll-off proved to give a slightly better performance than the DAC8 internal upsampling (which is not a surprise).
Multichannel test
I was very curious about how the DAC8 Pro would behave against my current DAC, Exasound E28 Mkii, fully balanced version. According to reports, the E28 is only marginally behind Exasound’s current flagship E38, retailing at 3500 USD. I bought my E28 last year second hand for 1500€.
Setup is as follows :
- Server PC : Roon Server + HQ Player : Intel Nuc8i3 under Windows 10 + Audiophile Optimizer
- Player PC : IntelNuc5i3 in fanless case, Windows Server 2012, Fidelizer 8.5 + Minorityclean 23, HQPlayer NAA, Exasound ASIO driver
- HDPlex 200 PSU powering PC Player (19V) and Exasound DAC (12V)
- bass1 channels : IMG Stageline 1000D
- bass 2 and highs : ClassDAudio SDS470
- mids : SMSL SA50
- pair of DIY open baffle 4 way speakers. Bass1 20-100Hz and Bass 2 20-220Hz are Eminence Alpha 15A. Mids 200-1500Hz PHL 2520. Highs AMT ESS V1 1500-20000Hz. Photo here :
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/fo...o-you-like-about-them/36032/225?u=alec_eiffel
- Roon Server takes care of room correction by HomeAudioFidelity, outputting to HQPlayer for upsampling and 8channel generation @384Hz (Exasound) or @192kHz (DAC8PRO). Upsampling filter is Closed Form 1M. Speaker filters have been designed with Rephase and are minimum phase except for 1500Hz cutoffs which are linear.
- Mostly DIY power, signal and speaker cables
It takes a bit of time to switch between DAC8PRO and E28 with all the cables, so I’ve only tried a couple of songs I know very very well : James Carter/Out of Nowhere, Melanie de Biasio/I am gonna leave you, Youn Sun Nah/Please don’t be sad.
On the Exasound I used HQPlayer DSP volume (DAC at 0dB) as it is much more convenient to adjust volume from Roon interface. For DAC8Pro i used the provided remote or central knob (didn’t want to take the risk of bugs/potentially damaging the system and my ears, with speaker sensitivity close to 100dB/1W/1m...).
Sound level was calibrated with my faithful UMIK-1 under REW.
In conclusion : the try was somehow frustrating
The two DACs were really really close. Even on songs I know very well, I could not hear a clear difference. Which means in both cases it was very good. Focusing on all the little details I know, it was impossible for me to isolate a pattern. So at the same time happy and frustrated, I was really not able to segregate the devices... Maybe with more time ? After all, both DACs share the same ESS chip and design philosophy (high end PS, balanced output...) so it makes sense that they « sound » close.
NB : I couldn’t try multichannel DSD as my server is not powerful enough to generate 8 channel DSD. Also the noise floor at OdB was identical with both DACs, which probably means the amplifiers noise dominates.
Drivers
MacOS : DAC is recognized under Coreaudio as expected without driver. It was impossible for me to play DSD. Stereo and multichannel PCM were fine, no clicks and pops. Anyway MacOS is not anymore recommended from my point of view for hifi audio streaming : OS is now too heavy and tough to optimize.
Linux : DietPi works well with both RoonBridge and HQPlayer NAA including DSD64 and 128. Same with Roopeee/Roon Bridge. This is good. Test platform were Allo USBridge and PI3B. There is one shortfall, and potentially a big one for those using DSP volume instead of DAC’s volume : there are occasional and very loud « pops » and « buzz » when changing sampling frequency and/or number of channels. ALSA doesn’t handle channel changes very well, I experienced that already with my DIYinHK multichannel board. Otherwise SQ is fantastic.
/edited/
Windows: i had some issues but finally was able to get all in order. The DAC8Pro deserves a good ASIO driver I hope one will be issued one day.
/end of edits/
Conclusion
The DAC8PRO is a great product. SQ is fantastic on the USB input when given a good source. It is very neutral, engaging. It plays in the same court as the Exasound multichannel players, retailing at 2-3 times the cost. The finish is solid, the HMI with the central rotary knob is very complete and well thought.
What I’d wish :
- in priority a good Windows driver for these in need (not yet available as standard I understand)
- no pops and clicks under Linux in multichannel or at least warn the user
- software controllable hardware volume
- display the number of channels streaming on the screen
Thanks a lot to Pavel for giving me the opportunity to test the DAC8PRO. I would definitely buy it against Exasound it I had to build a new multichannel system!
Good luck to Okto for the launch of the DAC8STEREO which probably has 100 times more market potential than the DAC8PRO - multichannel DAC/preamp are clearly a niche in the hifi market, at least given the small number of active threads on the matter in forums against stereo DACs threads... On the basis of what I heard in stereo with the DAC8PRO, the DAC8STEREO has in my view the potential to become a new reference in the 1000-1500€ price range.
DIsclaimer : I am in no way affiliated to Okto Research, just a passionate hobbyist!