Holo Audio: one of the best dacs ever? J Atkinson, H Reichert, S Deckert, M Lavorgna, GoldenSound, D Abramson and the Stereophile reviewers think so. Stereophile A+ and POY 2020

I see multiple post on DS MK2, can someone please tell me by when is this expected to come out?

Iā€™ve scanned this thread and I donā€™t see what the May brings to the party. What do the May enthusiasts feel theyā€™re getting above the PST, DSDā€“(Sunshine), DSD MK2? Not to mention aftermarket service.
Iā€™d like to be shown what Iā€™ve missed here.

3 Likes

Not to mention no one has heard the DS2, though some refer to it as if it were a known entity.

5 Likes

ā€¦nor the latest firmware for Sr. and Jr.

1 Like

Correct. Donā€™t knock it 'til youā€™ve tried it.

2 Likes

Thanks, @brett66

If this is what they are doing, than they are not using a resistor ladder to convert DSD data to analog as they claim, but rather incorporating typical 1-bit delta-sigma.

There is nothing wrong with this, but it is contrary to Hlolo Audioā€™s claim of converting native DSD by means of a resistor ladder. I question this assertion as a resistor ladder only works with multi-bit depth data. DSD is 1 bit.

Perhaps there is something I fundamentally do not understand.

In a nutshell. Itā€™s the non oversampling. NOS. In neither review did they upsample externally and still liked it a bunch.

JA - " Summing Up
The HoloAudio May (Level 3) is one of the best-sounding D/A processors I have tried."

HR - " In sum As the digital anchor in my ever-changing audio systems, the HoloAudio May DAC (Level 3 KTE) exhibited a force and gravity that exceeded even the mighty Mytek Manhattan II. It demonstrated a natural quietness that exceeded my former reference for natural quiet, the HoloAudio Spring. It exhibited a unique type of understated liveliness that exceeded the Yggdrasil and Chord Qutest. The Mayā€™s true-to-life demeanor made recorded music seem infinite and beautiful. Best of all, it made me feel good about our collective digital future. Bravo, Jeff Zhu."

2 Likes

still donā€™t get it. Can you/have you heard the difference?

1 Like

I owned the DS for 3 years. Iā€™ve now had the May for 2 weeks. I like them both. I like what Iā€™m hearing from the May more.

I was intrigued by the design and wanted to explore upsampling in HQP. This is not possible with the DS (well one could upsample to the max rate supported by each interface but the DS is still going to do what it does) or other upsampling dac that does not allow upsampling to be disabled i.e. NOS.

This is not a dac for those that want to only play CDs from a transport or files at 44.1kHz. It will do this of course but it would be leaving the true value unused. Despite only using 44.1kHz, both JA and Herb R liked it a lot. Both from a SQ perspective and measurement perspective.

3 Likes

Thanks for the articles.

It certainly is an intriguing beast.

3 posts were merged into an existing topic: PS Audio Forum Web Site Suggestions

Interesting and unfortunate. Regression is the worst isnā€™t it?

Iā€™ve noticed no changes on MacOS in Safari nor iPhone XR. In fact I was surprised when I saw the thread about forum changesā€¦

I kept my May DAC for almost one month.

2 Likes

Thanks, Bootzilla. Weā€™re a community and a family. Sure, families and communities can get out of control and sometimes need some course corrections, but overall, weā€™re delighted to host this wonderful group of people.

10 Likes

Ted regarding how decay is presented with the DS. Brett gives some examples of where he hears better decay reproduction on the May. Is decay reproduction something you have specifically listened for when trying to improve the DS SQ.

Do you have ideas of why a given device might produce more desirable decay characteristics over the DS.

Do you expect this aspect to be improved in the DS 2

"All 44.1kHz PCM upsampled to 1.411/1.536MHz 20-bit sinc-M lns15

Decay:
Applewood Road - The album. Feel the wood in the recording space.
London Grammar - Hey Now - somewhat artificial but I get it more with the May
Kasey Musgraves - Slow burn
Shawn Colvin - Killing the blues
Hannah Connolly - The right words
Emily Scott Robinson - Overalls
Belle & Sebastian - The State I am in

Juanita Stein - Forgiver - shows off attack

edit: I thought of another album that shows the ambience and space really well. Leonard Cohen - Various Positions. I feel like Iā€™m in the space while it was recorded. Everyone has a place in the ā€˜stageā€™; in time perhaps describes it more fully."

Decay production is a comes from faithful reproduction of the source in a quiet background. The DS Mk II will definitely show more of the sourceā€™s decay than the DS (better S/N, better transformers, quieter power supplies, probably cleaner math in the FPGA, ā€¦)

14 Likes

I was going to let this go on by, but rereading today find myself again wondering what this post means. Got the Latin bit, just unclear and curious as to how this thread led to this Conclusion.

5 Likes

Bubulae malum: Res ipsa loquitor. :grinning:

Two "u"s in Loquitur, yošŸ¤˜šŸ¼

:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

1 Like

@Phil takes umbrage with Tedā€™s post again explaining the measurements Stereophile published.

Ted reasonably stated,

Ted then patiently explained once again the interplay between resolution and noise, etc.

Phillipe quoted "As I thought I said clearly . . . " and posted:

Other members have already noted Tedā€™s nearly inexhaustible patience and willingness to repeatedly explain to us, the great unwashed. I am not alone in greatly appreciating his input, especially noting he is not a PS Audio employee and owes us nothing. His generosity is outstanding.

I do not think any of us understand Phillipeā€™s reaction and feel it is over the top, but he is entitled to his opinion.

14 Likes