Thanks for watching and your comment John!

Yeah I wanna see randy look at a may

I like your style

Which Holo DAC did you go with? I have a Decware on the way and am considering Forte IV or Cornwall IV for speakers.

@@mindhead1 I went with the May and I’m glad I did. My listening space is relatively small, so I opted for the Fortes over the Cornwalls. I’m now considering a Holo Serene or an LTA Microzotl.. not sure where I want to go with that :)

The Spring 3 is noted for very good low bass and no harshness. I don't know about the May.

You don't need to burn in discrete components, just leave it on for a stable temperature coefficient of the components benefitting the resistors' values

There's no such thing a burn-in, let alone for an electronic circuit, lol

Thanks Jeppe! Appreciate that!

Yeah there is an audible difference in detail as you move up to either the May or Spring 3. Thanks Ace!

Which streamers are best?

Just did a Lumin U2 demo with my Spring 2 KTE and it was incredible. Matched my NAD 50.2 with just a slight better resolution in the bass area with some top end sparkle that was pleasant …..not shrill. Agree on you comments. Streamer matching is critical for best sound

Verite closed is as speaker you can get in a HP. You also don't need to account for room acoustics when reviewing with cans. Furthermore you will get an obvious idea of staging and stereo imaging. While this won't be as impressive as a proper stereo set up, it's easy on a judges score card when A/B ing gear.

@@Maver1ck911 We can get a sense of imaging and soundstage when listening with headphones but that is valid within the context of headphones. It does not correlate to the imaging and soundstage when heard from stereo speakers in conventional setups. Rather than making a bad inference, it's better to make the judgement with the gear in an analogue of the actual system.

@@infn a flagship HP is a better tool than a poor room with non-optimal woofers with standing waves and highly reflective surfaces if you're reviewing gear 1:1. Every time. Reviewing a room is not useful to anyone. This is why there are gear reviews and there are system reviews done by those fortunate and dedicated enough to build a proper listening room.

@@Maver1ck911 It is not going to predict the imaging and soundstage on a stereo system. And you can't review a power amplifier with headphones either. Let alone speakers.

@@infn you're barking up the wrong tree. 🤣

Classic Rom.

I had a spring 1kte and turntable and moved the TT to the floor to fit the may kte in my rack. Not once since have I thought about putting the TT back.

Heck yeah!

Hi Gerard! I’m looking to get the Spring 3 KTE with pre also. One question: is there a delay in the sound that would cause sync issues with video sources like TV or such like? I heard that the Denafrips Ares 2 has that problem, and it would be a deal breaker for me.

No the PLL (phase locked loop) can take a few seconds to lock onto the signal, but there is no noticeable audio delay in my setup once it is locked and I use it also for TV/media consumption (Samsung TV with one connect box).

@@gerard3797 Awesome! Puts my mind at rest. I think it’s time for me to “pull the pin”! Thanks for your advice!

Hi Gerard! One more question: over a week ago I messaged the local Australian Holo Audio distributor to ask them if the preamp has any analogue inputs for eg a phono stage. Still no answer. I assume it doesn’t, but that is not a dealbreaker. Can you please confirm? Thanks again!

No it doesn’t have any analogue inputs. Basically it uses the stepped volume control from the Serene, but without all the analogue connections. Serene is the way to go if you also want that :)!

Thank you!

I chose not to buy the built-in preamp version. Instead, I bought a Creek passive preamp that works beautifully with Spring 3. I have also ordered a Tortuga passive preamp and hopefully it will sound even better.

I have no idea, reach out to Holo audio

Hard to say, I believe the node2i gets a well reviewed DAC. I think you have to know what difference you want to hear and base DAC options on that. In theory it should be better as it's a separate component. Poor Sonos connect is old now but I tried it's onboard DAC thinking it would be ok and laughed out loud to myself within 3-4 seconds of playing a test song. Really bad. I view DACS more as a sound tuning device than certain models being 'better' than another all in a neat logical price correlating line.

You need to have a dedicated listening room, treated with diffusion and absorption to hear any system at its full potential. Also, you need to have your speakers pulled out into the room. That said, you are attempting to compare a $600 streamer/ DAC combo against a dedicated $3k DAC. If you are asking this question you are not ready for what a true high end DAC can do. You have to understand that you need a system that that can resolve what a $3k DAC can do. Your speakers need to be within that price range as well. Also your amplifier. Also your room. Otherwise it really does not matter. However, yes! You will hear and see a difference. Is the difference $3k worth? That’s up to you to decide. I don’t have a dedicated room and I can’t pull out my speakers more then 2ft into the room but I hear and see a difference and I love it!

I would say heck yeah- the node 2i’s DAC is very underwhelming. Would be a huge step up (as long as your room isn’t totally poor, etc…)

I2S or USB sounded insane to me, either one was exceptional! Thanks Mike!

@@Newrecordday2013 I can't agree more in this. I have the Spring 3 and is a phenomenal dac. Best I've tied so far and I had the opportunity of trying many high en dacs in my system.

@@Newrecordday2013 Nice review! The Spring 3 you used in the shootout had the optional preamp installed or was dac only without preamp version? Thanks!

Here's the question. Would it be better to get the spring 3 without the preamp and buy a schitt Freya plus instead?

The Chord Dave is like a an oversized woofer which the power amplifier can't keep up. It actually presents slightly more detail than the May, but cannot fully control it from being digitally harsh. The M-Scaler helps to resolve the problem, but still does not achieve it fully. The May might give 5% less detail than the Dave, but it presents all the detail that it has in a 100% controlled, non-fatiguing, analogue, musically engaging way... for about one third the price of the Dave+M-Scaler. This is not to knock Chord, which is clearly one of the best Dac producers in the market. I just think the May is going to go down in audiophile history as a landmark Dac. It is a Dac that is making people throw away their turntables, which is a sign that the humble Dac has finally come of age.

@@connorduke4619 I feel the closest profitable progression from May KTE is not Dave or Dave + MScaler, but MSB Discrete. It's MSB and dCS who offer the crown jewels of the DAC world and their Reference and Vivaldi models lead the way. You might want to watch Sajid's "Holo May L2 vs MSB Discrete DAC" review on Amplify Audio channel (and, by extension, his vid on dCS Vivaldi & Rossini).

@@Peace_Guard I like the top two MSB models, but the lower models are far from then IMO. A bit like Wilson loudspeakers where the budget models are fairly average. For budget Dacs I am happy to go with Musician Aquarius at this point - R2R ladders, shielded LPSU and OCXO clocks for just $3,200.

Not directly - no

@@Newrecordday2013 did you use a Spring 3 with the discrete preamp stage option when comparing May and Spring 3? Thanks!!

Also I think these are genuinely amazing pieces of technology and DACs on their own. Don't trust Zeos when he said he could not hear any difference even on super expensive amps. Bless him and I like the dude but I think he has hearing damage.

@@wabbasMEpern the review I think you're referring to is one of the saddest reviews I've ever watched.

I would like to get an answer to this as well.

I own the ares and have been trying to look into this more as well, since I hope to add a minidsp to time align my subs and mains. Using the ares, I'm concerned with reading things like "variable output delay". Although it seems like the value is under 2ms on average (if I remember correctly), it would still negate my efforts to achieve time alignment within the .00ms or whatever the minidsp is capable of. From what I've found, the "issue" is caused from the FIFO buffer so you could start your Google rabbit hole there. Basically, that first in first out buffer does not have a fixed latency. It just depends on the stream coming in and bits being decoded or handled or something like that. It's still murky to me but hopefully that can put you in the right direction. I did come across someone that benched the ares and took readings from multiple playback sessions and posted the min, max and average latency readings they got with the ares. I don't recall this being limited to USB. I assumed the FIFO buffer and variable latency was part of the overall architecture and independent of what digital input was used. Basically it happens on all of them

Good question I’m curious as well I don’t mind a fixed delay any feedback on this?

@@benjaminbrown5430 it's not fixed delay. Some DACs are, but the fifo buffer on the ares 2 will be variable, although I recall it being under 2-3ms on average. There was some more info online from someone that did tests to get the average

@@erics.4113 I'm considering other higher end r2r dacs for my purchase. I can deal with dealy but variable is a turn off. Is this unique to denafrips?

Same question. I have Frerot + Pow 1 at this time. I'd like to try Cyan 2 or Spring 3 KTE...

3

pretend it has a different name

This is the way it is for virtually everything. I spent almost $40,000 on a vehicle that I can't bring back to the dealer and get the newest upgrades....it's just the way it is. DACs are probably the worst though.... The technologies change every time you turn around.

What do you think defines state of the art?

@@Newrecordday2013 ones that ace measurements and do not alter the source one bit. The best dacs out there are the ones that sound like nothing. Thats SOTA.

I am in the same boat. Having never heard R2R and other DAC's at this price point, what are the differences from the top performing SMSL/Topping chip based contenders

@@adamjj85 distortion and noise can often please the human ears as it masks the rough edges of the original data. Remember the saying "you are not ready for the truth"? Yup, thats what happening here. Also, studies have shown that noise, yes NOISE, can enhance the perception of soundstage depth, which makes things worse. One is hi fidelity, the other is MY fidelity. Both are acceptable but never to be mixed up in a discussion.

​@@AbsoluteFidelity Hi mark, I had tried state of the arte dacs and even though they sound good the Spring 3 that I have has something else in regards to realism that is hard to explain. I had Matrix XSabrePro and XSabre 3 which are state of the art dacs in regards to measurements, and compared directly to the Spring 3. Immediately you hear the difference.

The spiring 2 I had is indeed the Kitsune Tuned edition.

@@Newrecordday2013 Great! Thanks for the answer. Did you ever get to hear a non kitsune one? It puzzles me kitsune being an after market mod why holo designer being this good and meticolous would go for a less correct sound in his standard model, but is almost impossible to find a direct comparison.

@@bernardstachman3507 I've been searching for the same answer. I don't need the fancier USB module, so the Spring 3 LVL 2 looks really appealing.

@@markhanna7504 did you find any answer to the kte vs standard?

@@PaoloCaminiti Nope. I just went and splurged on the KTE one. Fantastic piece of kit though, I gotta say. Replaced a Matrix Audio X-Sabre in the chain.

Yup. That’s what we did.

@@Newrecordday2013 🙃 teach me to be quick, will be watching this in full, later on today!

you don't want 30 feet of any interconnect between your pc and dac. put pc closer to dac and extend keyboard mouse and monitor.