Audio DAC giddiness

I’ve recently been comparing my Denafrips Venus II DAC with a Holo Audio Spring 2 KTE. Then I came across a Spring 3 KTE so I grabbed that to add to the fray. Well the Venus beat out the Spring 2 using i2s through my Hermes DDC…neither one was to my satisfaction over USB. Actually I was really digging the Spring 2 and left it in the system for about 10 days, but when I put the Venus back in it was like ‘wow’.

Well I got the Spring 3 today and just using the USB (I haven’t even tried the i2s yet) I’m like…well, giddy! And it’s only been playing for a few hours after being shipped.

I replaced the stock Red Nano fuse with the SR Purple I had in the Spring 2 and it is just way beyond expectations. The hype about that Holo Titanis USB interface is real.

I remember reading a post stating that Tim from Kitsune said the USB was the best input on the Spring 3 KTE and I’m beginning to believe it.
I’ll report back when I try the i2s but for now I am pretty giddy :^ )

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Rob

From my testing the USB on both the Spring 3 KTE and the May KTE sounds better than the I2s and at least on the Spring 3 I’m not so sure that the AES may not be better sounding than the I2S with the Jays CDT2 MK3 as the source.

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Yep…been there with I2S on my May KTE, and USB just sounds better. AES also sounds excellent when playing CD’s from my Nuprime CD Transport.

Enjoy!!

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I think Tim at Kitsune has USB figured out. The KTE SU-2 in my opinion is far superior to the Matrix.

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I tried the i2s out last night and it definitely isn’t as good. It may be subjective but I feel the USB input seems to have a much wider and deeper soundstage but I think it’s really the enhanced imaging that creates that illusion. With the i2s certain sounds are more centered and kind of on top of each other whereas with the USB certain sounds move to between center and the speakers so there is more separation of instruments/voices.

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It is interesting to know for Holo Spring 3 the i2s input is inferior to USB. I do not know why they even provide it since USB is a way more popular choice as an input/ output, while few transports or CD players have i2s outputs.

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Well, there’s certainly a market for a DAC with many input formats, and this one including HDMI/I2S may well have been a temptation to PS Audio transport owners.

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Since using the Rendu Signature SE’s USB output, Eve’s I2S apple is no longer a temptation.

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For sure this option will make the product more attractive. PSA states I2S connection is their preference because of its superiority, but other designs do not share the same philosophy. I found that interesting.

The only nitpick I have so far is that the tenor sax I listen to a lot has kind of a ‘blaring’ quality to it as opposed to the smooth and creamy sound I prefer and like the Venus/Hermes and Spring 2/Hermes combo delivered over i2s. I’m hoping it’s because neither the SR Purple nor Spring 3 KTE are fully broken in. The guy I bought the Spring 3 from thought it probably had around 400 hrs on it and my Purple probably has maybe 300 hrs.

Rob

Did you ever listen to the unit with their upgraded fuse in it? If not you might want to give it a try.

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Yeah, I listened first with the Red Nano and have swapped back and forth twice. The Purple has more ambience and presence but the Nano was a little smoother, but a little boring overall in comparison. If it doesn’t improve I may have to succumb to the M-1 madness :^ /

Oh SR Purple destroys Sonny Rollins compared to the AM M-1 Fuse if you didn’t read my post @davida seams to recall it.

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Which transport do you have? I had the CDT8-Pro for about a year, set up to convert to DSD 128, output via HDMI to my DAC’s I2S, and I thought it did a fabulous job.

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Hey robwilgus…

While waiting for a full burn in time to complete…while hard to do…wait to see
if the Purple doesn’t come around to a better sq place… before moving to M1…

As an example myself with a Purple in my pre…there are still moments here and there
that the Purple just seems a bit to spitty hashy overly sharp mid upper trebles in certain
instances…so I tell myself hold on buster…it will come around eventually…it not
the M1…
Have M1s in P15 qnd JC5

Happy trails friend

Best wishes

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CDT8-Pro. No upsampling, just 44.1 via AES. :+1:

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It’s a great transport. When I was in the market, I looked at it, the Cambridge and the Audiolab models, and picked the Nuprime. But as good as it was, when the PST went on sale last fall, the Nuprime became superfluous in my system, so I traded it a couple of weeks ago to The Music Room in a package deal that netted me a pair of REL subs. I was kind of sorry to see it go.

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Hello, I made this account because of this thread. I didn’t know at first that the Spring 2 Dac uses a fuse as I couldn’t find it on the pictures where the Kitsune Dac is open. Could you please tell me where exactly the fuse is located and what properties it must have? Is it a 250V 4A 5x20mm Slow Burn?

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Thank you the Spring 2 Dac supports a 5x20mm 2A Slow Blow right?