Holo Audio May... Subjectively

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by bobmysterious, Mar 17, 2021.

  1. GoldenOne

    GoldenOne Friend

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  2. Zurvv

    Zurvv Acquaintance

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    Nice videos! Thanks for posting.
    Makes me question going with Rockna.
    Do you have any plans to look at the wavedream or wavelight?

    General question, aren't those power coils firing EMI directly up (and down)?
    Are we all foolish stacking stuff :)
     
  3. GoldenOne

    GoldenOne Friend

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    I'd love to try out the wavedream for sure.
    Wavelight I'll be honest doesn't really interest me too much given as atomicbob here said he preferred spring 2 to wavelight, let alone may.
    And then a few others elsewhere have said that the may is a clear step up from wavelight.

    So that one I'm not super interested in though would of course love to try it if the opportunity arose. But the wavedream is something I'm VERY keen to properly demo.
     
  4. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    @GoldenOne - I especially liked the comparison between Lvl 2 & KTE versions. This is the first time I've seen/read a direct comparison of the levels of the May or the Spring... very helpful when trying to decide if the upcharge to go up levels is worth it to the individual.

    Now if only someone would tackle the same for the Spring...
     
  5. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Yes toroids do emit up and down, but as explained in the video they are actually O-type (technically still toroidal from a mathematical standpoint) and wound with flat wire, both of which reduces the amount of magnetic fields and boogeyboogeys. Plus it's wrapped in a box which I'm sure is meant to contain everything. Also note that the feet give a fairly generous amount of lift between boxes, and field strength is inversely proportional to the distance squared (ie: it drops off very fast as you get further away). Considering the amount of overengineering what went into it, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. However, if you really do feel so inclined, the power umbilical cord is long enough to let you stack them on separate shelves or adjacent to each other for that extra -3* db on the already -140db measurements.

    *pulled that number from my nethers; I'm clearly lying.
     
  6. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    @GoldenOne - Others here have commented on Spring 2 vs May, but have you by any chance tried both? What are your thoughts?

    If you have, no rush. After listening to Spring 2 L2 more, I still suspect Spring 3 KTE is the right product for me over May L2, but it seems like everyone who's talked about the May has been pretty happy with it and it may be worth it for me to track one down for demo.

    So far, one minor complaint I do have with Spring2 L2 is that busy music does seem to get slightly congested/lost at times (NOS or OS modes). IMO Yggdrasil does not have this problem.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2021
  7. GoldenOne

    GoldenOne Friend

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    I've not personally no. A few people I know have and they all said may was a fairly big jump from spring 2 but I can't speak firsthand


    I am getting a spring 3 in for review though
     
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  8. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    I own Spring 2 KTE and Yggdrasil A2, on different systems, same amps and headphones (modulo tubes and ZMF woods). I've ended up upsampling 44.1 and 48 material 2x for the Spring 2 to reduce a slight smear I noticed between instruments. With that tweak, I feel that Spring 2 KTE wins my preferences for headphones vs Yggdrasil, but this is subjective since it would not be convenient to get the two DACs in the same place for more careful comparative listening. I'm tracking these May & Spring 3 discussions as I will have the opportunity to upgrade one of the systems later in the year.
     
  9. Puma Cat

    Puma Cat Friend

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    A buddy lent me his Holo Audio May DAC to listen to and burn in for him. It's been here about 10 days now and is sounding better every day. This is the Kitsune Tuned Edition model, with dual mono power supplies in the external power supply chassis.

    [​IMG]

    It's sounding pretty nice: clean, quiet, and neutral, but it's changing from time to time as it burns in. I've heard it needs approx. 500-600 hours to fully burn-in and I've probably only got about 80-100 hrs on it at the present time. At this point, as nice as it is, I still prefer my Lampizator Baltic-3 as it's more 3-dimensional, "fleshed-out", and organic-sounding, with superior imaging and soundstage. And, just as quiet. We'll see how things change as the Holo May burns in.
     

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