Digital Processor Reviews

Okto Research dac8 PRO D/A processor Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Eight-channel, digital-to-analog converter with volume control, 2 × 2.42" OLED display, 7 PCM reconstruction filters. Digital inputs: USB input and output, 8 AES/EBU. Outputs: 8 balanced (XLR) analog; headphone on ¼" stereo jack; stereo AES/EBU. PCM sample rates supported: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, and 192kHz via AES/EBU and USB. Maximum input word-length: up to 32 bits depending on input. Maximum output voltage at 0dBFS; 4.1V RMS at main and headphone outputs. Frequency response: not specified. Dynamic range: 125dB. THD+N: –119dB ref. 0dBFS; Channel separation: not specified. Measured output impedance: 400 ohms (main), 0.5 ohm (headphone). Power consumption: 15W.
Dimensions: 17.55" (446mm) W × 7.2" (183mm) D × 2" (50mm) H (including feet). Weight: 10lb (4.5kg).
Finish: Black, silver.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 34, Firmware v1.3.
Price: €989 (equivalent to $1169 at the time of writing). Sold direct, with 30-day return policy. Warranty: 2 years.
Manufacturer: Okto Research s.r.o., U Druhe baterie 785/15, 16200 Prague, Czech Republic. Web: www.oktoresearch.com.

COMMENTS
tonykaz's picture
Submitted by tonykaz on November 30, 2020 - 7:08am

Thank you for helping to educate me. Immediately I searched for useful definition for "ad seriatim". hmm Dam, it seems legal but useful for describing the endless stream of Audio Gear making their way thru my curious ownership.

and Magritte, who I presume is the surrealistic painter.

Cheap, cheap, cheap!!!

Isn't this piece of gear a 'give-away' considering today's state of affairs in High-End? Perhaps this quoted price is about as logical as a Magritte piece of art. hmm.

Thank you for including us in your fascinating journey into the world immersive sound. We have an IMAX theatre nearby, I wonder what gear they use.

Someone referred to you as Dr.Kal, are you a medical man?

Tony in Venice

JRT's picture
Submitted by JRT on December 5, 2020 - 8:11pm

I have been looking forward to Kal's review (report?) of the Okto Research dac8 PRO multichannel D/A processor since it was briefly discussed here many months ago.

Also happy to see Jim Austin relaxing rules in this case that would have otherwise barred such review (report?).

I am a subscriber, and will look forward to John's measurements.

Stay well.

JRT's picture
Submitted by JRT on December 8, 2020 - 8:49pm

I did not see any mention of that on the product webpage at Okto's website, or in the manual downloaded from the link provided there.

Could you please explain a litle about how a second unit would be slaved to the first, the interconnection, etc.?

Kal Rubinson's picture
Submitted by Kal Rubinson on December 9, 2020 - 6:59am

Sure. Feed the AES/EBU output of the first DAC (in pure USB mode) to the AES/EBU Input 1 (Channels 1-2) of the second DAC and put the second DAC into "USB/AES" mode. You can daisy-chain additional DAC8s from the second one, if needed. In this arrangement, the link conveys the synch but you may have to sacrifice on pair of channels on each of the DAC8s except for the first one. That means the following DAC8s are, effectively, DAC6s.

The remaining job is to have your source component recognize the individual DAC8s and send the proper signals to each. You are most likely to achieve this with a Mac and JRiver since MacOS allows you to aggregate multiple USB devices into a single "virtual" multichannel device which JRiver recognizes as such.

There is a thread about this on ASR and I will append a link to it when I can. It is not simple "plug-and-play."

JRT's picture
Submitted by JRT on December 9, 2020 - 8:31am

...

dualazmak's picture
Submitted by dualazmak on December 11, 2020 - 5:20am

Kal, very happy to find your nice introduction of DAC8PRO here in Stereophile after you helped me a lot on DAC8PRO at the ASR thread!

Just for Stereophile audio enthu friends' reference, I am intensively building my multichannel multi-amplifier audio system using DAC8PRO and software crossover EKIO on Windows 10 PC.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/multi-channel-multi-amplifier-audio-system-using-software-crossover-and-multichannel-dac.12489/

If this kind of citation would not be suitable/feasible here, please delete the above link without hesitation.

MhtLion's picture
Submitted by MhtLion on February 16, 2021 - 7:18am

I believe this processor can be used as 2 channel only DAC, right?

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