HoloAudio Owners & Discussion Thread

[ICUToo]

Thanks, BlueOceanBoy.

In terms of absolute sound quality, which way would you go?

Happy to put up with a little fuss to make it work, I use Audirvãna after all

[Ehrmantraut]

Hard to say really. As you go up the food chain with all 4 manufacturers, there's definite SQ advantages but the apps and functionality generally remain the same. Lumin tends to put more in one box for the $$ compared to Auralic. Both use ESS in their DAC setups. Auralic has some fancy clock/upsampler boxes, nicer screens and arguably a better app. There's a similar story with Innuos and Antipodes. I feel Innuos has the better interface (more intuitive) and has the storage and ripper on board. Antipodes offers more modularity and is the better Roon interface. Innous "Sense" has good SQ, better than Roon but doesn't fully integrate Tidal. You pays your money and you takes your choice!

Once you get to Lumin X1, Auralic stack, Innous Statement and Antipodes K50 - you're in the stratosphere!

[ICUToo]

Thanks for the detailed reply, BlueOceanBoy.

I need a streamer / server- DAC duties currently ably served by the Holo Audio May KTE.

So I might look at the Innuos and Antipodes then. Thanks again

 

[Ehrmantraut]

11 minutes ago, ICUToo said:

Thanks for the detailed reply, BlueOceanBoy.

I need a streamer / server- DAC duties currently ably served by the Holo Audio May KTE.

So I might look at the Innuos and Antipodes then. Thanks again

 

For Innous, I would talk to Terry @GC HiFi. For Antipodes Hugo @Indie Hi-Fi

[GC Hifi]

14 hours ago, BlueOceanBoy said:

For Innous, I would talk to Terry @GC HiFi. For Antipodes Hugo @Indie Hi-Fi

 

Thank you for the referral Neil, for those that are interested in comparing various Streamer/Players before buying I actually stock three brands., so I have some experience in the various strengths of most of the models for each of these three brands.

 

Auralic

In no particular order, first up, Auralic, in fact I have in our demo stock a four stack, which is the Aries G2.1, Sirius Upscaler, Vega G2.1 DAC and Leo Master Clock, as far as I'm aware this is the only four-stack in Australia presently, this has to be heard to be appreciated/believed, the four stack definitely has its own sound signature and delivery.

 

Antipodes

Regarding Antipodes, I have the flagship K50 on demo, in general I usually use the K50 as the Roon core for the three rooms I stream music to. On top of that I also have as demo stock the S30/S20/S40/S60 stack, which is an impressive modular streaming/player system. The only thing I don't stock of Antipodes is the K30, but obviously I can get them. 

 

Innuous

Last but not least Innuous, in our demo stock I have the Zenith Mk3 along with the impressive Pheonix reclocker, this is a extremely good combination to say the least.  Actually in November Innuous are doing a demo special offer opportunity for those who demo an Innuous product which your local Innuous dealer can assist you with.

 

Melco

Additionally, I also have the Melco S100 ethernet switch, while I have limited experience with the other Melco models I can supply them for those who are specifically after one of the various high end Melco models. 

 

Again for anyone out there who can't get to hear all three brands together in the same system and wonder how they compare before deciding which direction to go feel free to pm me.

 

cheers,

Terry

[buddyev]

My Spring just arrived! 
It’s a very solid unit and very nicely finished. 
And, praise the lord, plug it in and it works immediately!!!

[buddyev]

Anyone know what  PLL is/does?

I'm feeding files via an Ultrarendu - should it be on or off?

[frankn]

Error correction circuit.  You might not need to use it.

Edited November 17, 2021 by frankn
Add

[U_J]

On 31/10/2021 at 12:30 PM, ICUToo said:

I didn't even notice that they were missing at first! That's what I found bizarre- different bass response when bass measurements out of DACs are all more-or-less perfect!?!?!?!

Yes David as I mentioned in an earlier post one of the unexpected things that shocked me about the May was its incredible bass performance, I was expecting a somewhat lazy "R2R" bass sound that some people report with R2R DACs  but the opposite is true with the May,  it is punchy, deep and full. As I mentioned it was like I had plugged in new Amps when I ran the May,  the Bass performance had improved so much.

I had previously owned the Auralic Vega and SMSL400 DAC's which have exceptional measured performance and neither comes close to the MAY not just in Bass but in every other area of sound, some people might struggle with the loss of that sizzling top end that you can get with chip DACs but after you listen to the MAY for a while you forget all about it as you get immersed into the music and that sizzle fades away as a distant memory of just an unreal hyperlit top end that is not real.

 

Sadly measurements ( which are important to understand if a DAC has been executed technically correctly ) just do tell you about the sound we are hearing, things like soundstage, depth, air holographic imaging, bass and very importantly timbre, we just do not seem to be able to glean this from the measurements we take.  If I look at the test results for the 3 DACs that I have owned nearly all measurements are identical and the May lags slightly in a number of the measurements yet is is so far superior in sound quality that even double blind test freddy would be able to tell the difference...

[U_J]

8 minutes ago, frankn said:

Error correction circuit.  You might not need to use it.

I believe that Holo Audio and the reviewers that tested aspects of the MAY recommend that the PLL be left on, you will find a review by Goldensound of reclockers and galvanic isolators that were tested that worked with certain products but made no improvement to the May because of it's superior clocking .

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvu_doQfAI0

[buddyev]

thanks @frankn and @U_J . I do need to watch that Goldensound vid again .

[rocky500]

32 minutes ago, frankn said:

Error correction circuit.  You might not need to use it.

 

I have the Hollo Spring 3 Level 2 and was getting some sibilance and not quite liking the sound.

It seems to have helped turning off PLL for me.  

I do use a Singxer SU-6, so not sure if this is related to having it off.

Will have do some more testing.

With PLL off it does not sit there and try locking on to the signal but if you are using straight USB with PLL on, I don't think you get the trying to lock on when changing bitrates?

Edited November 17, 2021 by rocky500

[buddyev]

My Spring is sounding very nice. I am finding an issue with lack of volume with pcm files. dsd has plenty of volume but many of my quieter flac files need to be close to max volume.
if I convert the flac to dsd in Roon I get the volume back. 
This was never a problem with my Gieseler gross. 
I’m using a Primaluna evo 300 pre.

any thoughts?

[Mpr_65]

3 minutes ago, buddyev said:

I am finding an issue with lack of volume with pcm files.

I had the same issue. It’s reported elsewhere as well. https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/58090-holo-audio-may-dac/page/74/#comments

Only occurred using the USB input on the May. The other digital inputs on the May were fine. 
I fixed it by full factory reset of the source (Auralic Aries G 2.1) and Roon (fixed volume). I’m using an Apple Mac Book Pro as the Roon Core. 
This might work for you.

[buddyev]

Thanks for that, Marty.   I’ll reset the ultrarendu. 

[buddyev]

Brilliant. That fixed it. Thanks Marty.

[MattyW]

@Tobias it may be interesting to know of the Spring compares with the Abbas DAC 2.2SE?  

[Tobias]

14 minutes ago, MattyW said:

@Tobias it may be interesting to know of the Spring compares with the Abbas DAC 2.2SE?  

 

That would indeed be interesting. I’ll just have to wait for my Lumin to come back before I can make any comparison…

[Extreme_Boky]

I just used 16 of Black Gate NX Hi-Q 0.1uf 50v types in May DAC power supply unit.

Stunning, amazing, call it anything you want. Mind-blowing.

 

I also checked the price, the last price I found (eBay) was approximately US$100... each.

[acg]

@Extreme_Boky...photos?

[ICUToo]

1 hour ago, Extreme_Boky said:

I just used 16 of Black Gate NX Hi-Q 0.1uf 50v types in May DAC power supply unit.

Stunning, amazing, call it anything you want. Mind-blowing.

 

I also checked the price, the last price I found (eBay) was approximately US$100... each.

Love to hear the details of what you hear, E_B??

[Indie Hi-Fi]

For carity around the Gen2.1 USB module for use with AMD based sources (e.g. sonore products) here's the latest:

 

Gen2.0 is original. The new module is Gen2.1. The Gen2.1 module is included on all dacs shipped by Aug 20th 2021. It’s reason is to support AMD CPUs which had problems with DSD1024 and PCM1.536m on Gen2.0. Extremely high sample rates were still capable but the very top was not. This is now resolved for AMD CPUs in Gen2.1.

For May L2 and KTE plus Spring 3 KTE bought from May-Aug 2021 there is a free module upgrade but the replaced module must be returned after. For units bought before May 2021 then the Gen2.1 module is 100usd (and still need to return the replaced module). 

 

I'm yet to have them arrive but will sort you asap, just shoot me an email. 

[Ccollins]

On 14/08/2021 at 6:45 AM, Gambit 1870 said:

I found it interesting from the above videos, that according to the reviewer there was such a small difference (2% was his subjective view) between the level 2 and KTE. 

I tried looking for more comparisons quickly this morning, but not much luck. 

I have lusted after the May KTE for quite some time now, but after hearing that I'm wondering if I should just go the L2 and use the savings on a better streamer

I have exactly the same question

 

can anyone (by any chance) chime in with the differences of May Kte v L2?

 

Goldensound talks about a 2% difference with the KTE being a little snappier- that and silver cabling i probably do not need in my system, but then i read another repeated opinion on another forum in my googling and that member was a big advocate for Kte talking about a noticeable impact of an upgrade with more transparency, depth and all that other regular stuff one reads about on an audio hardware upgrade 

 

and then i read Jo at WIldism suggested that it  was not much of a change with just the three or four changes 

 

thanks in advance

[Indie Hi-Fi]

@Ccollins it's in that range of difference you've noted. True difference is somewhat system dependent though as some systems don't scale as well with the extra speed of the KTE. If the May was going to be the most expensive component in your system then i'd say go an L2, otherwise the KTE. 

 

Buuttt as it's still cyber monday you can get a KTE for the price of an L2  https://indiehifi.com.au/products/holo-may-dac

[Ccollins]

4 hours ago, Indie Hi-Fi said:

@Ccollins it's in that range of difference you've noted. True difference is somewhat system dependent though as some systems don't scale as well with the extra speed of the KTE. If the May was going to be the most expensive component in your system then i'd say go an L2, otherwise the KTE. 

 

Buuttt as it's still cyber monday you can get a KTE for the price of an L2  https://indiehifi.com.au/products/holo-may-dac

Thanks for that info Hugo - much appreciated