Ok, so I hooked up the Holo Red to my DSDAC Mk1 through i2s (Mk2 still somewhere in the PSA warehouse with my name on it, expected maybe next week). Since some of you @vkennedy61 @Interested @magister0 and couple of others have asked for my impressions, here are my initial observations. I compared it against my excellent Lunin T2 streamer I’ve been using for the last few years. Overall sonically very similar. However I like the Holo better in these respects: Better clarity and decay. On the Christian McBride album For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver (Octave Records) the first track has the brass coming in all together in staccato, the sound is cleaner and the decay is tighter. Also I noticed that the brass blends better on the Holo with the rest of the music and on the Lumin it stands out more (not in a good way)—I hadn’t noticed that before when playing on the Lumin Tighter bass. Played the Toccata from Art of the HiFi - Bass (Octave) album. When the deep notes of the organ come in, the lumin is more muddy. Cleaner attack. Played David Bowie’s Let’s Dance where the drums come in, the attack is neater. Also the claves are cleaner and more subtle with I like. And lastly, I played a recent marvelous Bruckner Symphony 9 with Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra (Channel Classics recorded in DSD256). The first movement is labeled solemn and mysterious, I just listened for the mood and not specific sonic attributes. It was very close, but if I had to choose I’d pick the Holo. I think all the above differentiating characteristics combined together to create a subtly nicer sounding. All except the Bowie were played in native DSD256 with nothing in the signal path from source to the DS DAC. The Bowie was in 24/192 PCM. I haven’t tried USB yet. All this is on i2s. In summary, to be honest, there’s no reason for me to keep the Lumin. (Anyone want it? :grinning:) If someone already with a DSD Mk2 gets his or her Red first, looking forward to hearing their impressions.

[image] gd7288: Silent Angel Munich M1T I thought it had some sort of external power adapter?

Wall wart or optional LPS at additional cost.

The Silent Angel Munich M1T comes with a pretty decent external SMPS. Other LPS solutions are optional. Although USB on the M1T only goes to DSD256, compared with DSD1024 for the Holo Red, the big benefit for a PS Audio customer seems to be no requirement to decipher a cryptic manual to use I2S over HDMI. Just plug in an HDMI cable between the M1T and the PSA DAC. Though the M1T is limited to DSD128 over HDMI vs DSD512 Native and DSD256 DoP with the Red. Another big benefit for non-Roonies is that the M1T has its own app for streaming and can scan in NAS folders to its memory. Go for the 8GB model for big libraries. I would not actually call the Red a streamer. It can be used as an endpoint or as a DDC. So happens, that is all I need too given the lack of a PS Audio bridge for the MK2 DAC.

There’s now a more expensive version too. [image] Silent Angel Rhein Z1 V2 Silent Angel's Rhein Z1 V2is an entry-lux music server for audiophiles, and is designed with the intention of preserving the emotion and immediacy of a live or in studio musical performance! This high-performance music server is packed with... Price: USD 2,299.00

I guess the M1T doesn’t preserve the emotion and immediacy of the music? :thinking: :joy:

And if you see it reviewed by one of the “major” publications you will likely see a variation of the same statement in the review.

Made the switch tonight from AES to USB on the Red to see how it would go and in preparation for trying the MoOde software in place of the Red OS. MoOde only works with USB and I2S and the Aqua doesn’t have standard I2S. Turned both units off, swapped the cables, turned both units back on, into the setup screen to pick the Aqua driver and back playing in a couple of minutes. Nothing to it and the exact same procedure as with the Aries G1. Going into the setup screen is mandatory for USB as the default driver for the Red is the one for Holo DAC’s while on the G1 it would have been blank when not in use. Nothing tricky or confusing. If I switch back to any of the other outputs I won’t have to go back to the setup screen as the other outputs don’t have drivers.

Nano Network Transport Platinum V5. Another little-talked-about streamer is this Frenchman from 3D Lab: Nano Network Transport Platinum V5. Its outputs feature an AES, S/Pdif, TOS-LINK socket and an I2S socket (HDMI connector) which allows PCM output in native I2S 32-768 kHz or native DSD 22.4 MHz. Digital signals are completely reformatted and re-synced. the power supply is external to the main box to limit any noise interference. A second 3.3v and 5v 2-circuit power supply is placed in the main box as close as possible to the various circuits in order to limit noise as much as possible. The price is also interesting: around €2,000.

Very interesting! Although I’m already a little put off by what appears to be the “regular / platinum / signature” variations. To me that’s just a tiresome sales approach.

PS Audio

Holo Red impressions

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Holo Red impressions

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