Holo May Dac Level 3 in the House

[Northy]

Hello everyone, after waiting for four weeks, I was pleasantly surprised to get my shipment as the estimated wait time had been slated to be 6-7 weeks. I did not have a chance to hook it up as we had to embark on a road trip visiting some of the cities you folks live in such as Toledo, Cincinnati, Nashville, Indianapolis, Cleveland and the Finger Lakes area. Sorry @roberto, could not manage to drive all the way to Puerto Rico!!!!!

I have just hooked up the DAC but still have not had a chance for configuration, etc. But cannot wait for my first listen. Will definetly report back.

 

[roberto]

Northy, I am away from Puerto Rico, I am located at Costa Rica, Central America. Between Panama and Nicaragua.

I am using it without upsampling mode. Native sampling frequency is where the magic is, in my case. (also the majority of users like this too). When you turn the unit on, keep pressing the power button until you hear a click. Otherwise, the unit will not turn on.

Just play a regurar CD at 44.1KHz and have a listen. I am re-discovering all my CDs again.

Happy listening!

 

[Northy]

Northy, I am away from Puerto Rico, I am located at Costa Rica, Central America. Between Panama and Nicaragua.

I am using it without upsampling mode. Native sampling frequency is where the magic is, in my case. (also the majority of users like this too). When you turn the unit on, keep pressing the power button until you hear a click. Otherwise, the unit will not turn on.

Just play a regurar CD at 44.1KHz and have a listen. I am re-discovering all my CDs again.

Happy listening!

I am sorry @roberto, my geography is not that bad. Costa Rica is written under your profile photo. I do not know why my mind zeroed on Puerto Rico.

So I finally finalized the set-up and the Best of Diana Krall CD which happened to be in the universal player was played. Oh my...what a revelation.....all of a sudden I could hear the recording space, her voice so natural and the audience clapping startlingly vivid. And this is straight of the box....I can only imagine what it will sound like after 500 hours. I am glad that it is mating well with the Pass XP-22 preamp which also has its own power-supply chassis.

I have a little technical question for you guys. I have set the output format to Bitstream from the player. Have you experimented with PCM? I wonder if there are any pros and cons. I think the player is outputting PCM for SACD.

 

[roberto]

Northy, just kidding you regarding my physical location.

Well, I have good news for you. Your new Holo May Kte has two systems built in. One is a Delta Sigma for DSD and another R2R for PCM. Don't do upsampling, you will notice that there is a lot of digital garbage if you so. Just play native files and that's it! I never thought that I will be enjoying 44.1KHz as I am doing now.
Enjoy those fine tunes, as my dear friend from Australia says,
Happy listening!

 

[roberto]

Your Dac will display the sampling rate of what are you playing.

 

[Northy]

Northy, just kidding you regarding my physical location.

Well, I have good news for you. Your new Holo May Kte has two systems built in. One is a Delta Sigma for DSD and another R2R for PCM. Don't do upsampling, you will notice that there is a lot of digital garbage if you so. Just play native files and that's it! I never thought that I will be enjoying 44.1KHz as I am doing now.
Enjoy those fine tunes, as my dear friend from Australia says,
Happy listening!

Thanks @roberto, I know you were!!!! I am not a fan of over-sampling either but it is good to have that option. Between work, family responsibilities and just coming back from a vacation, I cannot find the time to sit on the couch and enjoy my new toy yet. I tried to connect the optical output of the TV to the DAC but it did not lock in. I have to investigate as the system is in the family room and we listen to TV through it. Oh well, hopefully I will do so in the coming long-weekend.

 

[Northy]

Your Dac will display the sampling rate of what are you playing.

Yes, I noticed that and the blue large display is so cool. Most DACs have no display with only dinky, microscopic LED lights - not a fan of that.

 

[wink]

I’ve heard great things of the Holo May kte DAC….I need to find a place to demo it. I just purchased a HiFi Rose RS150B streamer/ DAC a few months ago that startles me with its performance daily. Not looking to upgrade, but I love to check out the hot stuff on the market.
Congrats on your acquisition!
Dan

 

[roberto]

Thanks @roberto, I know you were!!!! I am not a fan of over-sampling either but it is good to have that option. Between work, family responsibilities and just coming back from a vacation, I cannot find the time to sit on the couch and enjoy my new toy yet. I tried to connect the optical output of the TV to the DAC but it did not lock in. I have to investigate as the system is in the family room and we listen to TV through it. Oh well, hopefully I will do so in the coming long-weekend.

I use it mostly on computer's based music. Of course that I have CD transports, I have two Bel Cantos, but basically I use it with Audirvana Studio Software and HQ Player by Signalyst.com. I have a lot of DSD music files too. A reason why I am most on computers music. While playing YouTube music it is also through the computer. I am subscribed and when you do that, the sound quality is much better. Now YouTube sounds good in my system. With Audirvana I have Qobuz streaming which has PCM files up to 192KHz native and acceptable sound quality.

 

[Northy]

I’ve heard great things of the Holo May kte DAC….I need to find a place to demo it. I just purchased a HiFi Rose RS150B streamer/ DAC a few months ago that startles me with its performance daily. Not looking to upgrade, but I love to check out the hot stuff on the market.
Congrats on your acquisition!
Dan

Thanks Dan @wink, and congrats on your HiFi Rose too....I contemplated buying a streamer/Dac myself. Aurliac is one of the good contenders in this space. But knowing myself, I knew I would be the victim of "upgraditis" soon and I would loose money. So I am taking it slow and buying components that I will live with for a long, long time. A streamer transport most likely from Aurliac will be my next purchase.

I am not sure if you will find a store to audition the May Dac as it is sold only online through Kitsune Hi Fi in North America.

 

[Northy]

I use it mostly on computer's based music. Of course that I have CD transports, I have two Bel Cantos, but basically I use it with Audirvana Studio Software and HQ Player by Signalyst.com. I have a lot of DSD music files too. A reason why I am most on computers music. While playing YouTube music it is also through the computer. I am subscribed and when you do that, the sound quality is much better. Now YouTube sounds good in my system. With Audirvana I have Qobuz streaming which has PCM files up to 192KHz native and acceptable sound quality.

Gracias Roberto for details on how you are feeding digital signals to the May. For now I will be spinning my CDs, and as I have indicated in another post, a dedicated streamer transport will be my next purchase.

 

[roberto]

I’ve heard great things of the Holo May kte DAC….I need to find a place to demo it. I just purchased a HiFi Rose RS150B streamer/ DAC a few months ago that startles me with its performance daily. Not looking to upgrade, but I love to check out the hot stuff on the market.
Congrats on your acquisition!
Dan

Hola Dan,
Well Holo does not has any distributor in the USA. You can buy it on line at Kitsune.com As far as I know, you must visit a friend who has one or trust on people who have them. I am coming from a Delta Siga based DAC, and it really to my ears the quality sound is good. The brand is Exasound. All I can say it this: the Holo May Kte belongs to another higher ligue. It is a double DAC, for PCM you have a R2R type and for DSD you have a Delta Sigma. It is built as mono too. Double power supplies, double everything. Take a look inside it here:



You can not do any comparison, it is unfair to do that. The separation of the musical instruments, the holographic stage, the timbre of the musical instruments and voices, and the harmonic texture, the size between the instruments are granted. My system never sound as it is now. I am rediscovering all my music again. I am very happy. On Stereophile Mag, this is the best measuring DAC so far in the test bench. Also it has a special PLL circuit to bring to almost nothing the jitter. I do know that there are many options out there with great sounding dacs too. What I paid and what I am hearing, this dac is unshakable.
I really love the sound quality!

 

[Big Dog RJ]

Good stuff Robbo mate! As your Aus friend says, enjoy those fine tunes!
Woof! RJ

 

[Northy]

I have to agree with @roberto. The solidity, build quality of this DAC is way above its price tag of $5,800 shipping included. I do not have many hours yet but boy, a few tunes that I have listened to through it have blown me away.

 

[wink]

Hola Dan,
Well Holo does not has any distributor in the USA. You can buy it on line at Kitsune.com As far as I know, you must visit a friend who has one or trust on people who have them. I am coming from a Delta Siga based DAC, and it really to my ears the quality sound is good. The brand is Exasound. All I can say it this: the Holo May Kte belongs to another higher ligue. It is a double DAC, for PCM you have a R2R type and for DSD you have a Delta Sigma. It is built as mono too. Double power supplies, double everything. Take a look inside it here:



You can not do any comparison, it is unfair to do that. The separation of the musical instruments, the holographic stage, the timbre of the musical instruments and voices, and the harmonic texture, the size between the instruments are granted. My system never sound as it is now. I am rediscovering all my music again. I am very happy. On Stereophile Mag, this is the best measuring DAC so far in the test bench. Also it has a special PLL circuit to bring to almost nothing the jitter. I do know that there are many options out there with great sounding dacs too. What I paid and what I am hearing, this dac is unshakable.
I really love the sound quality!

The lack of brick and mortar hi-end audio stores makes it extremely difficult to hear new equipment. Now you have to purchase the piece you’re wanting to demo in order to determine if you like it in your system. I just went through that when I narrowed my streamer/DAC decision down to Lumin T2 or the Hifi Rose…I finally decided on the Rose. Unfortunately had to buy it first to demo it…
Perhaps I’ll run across the Holo May in someone’s system or at an audio show one day, but for now the incredible DAC in the Rose has taken me off the market.
Dan

 

[Northy]

The lack of brick and mortar hi-end audio stores makes it extremely difficult to hear new equipment. Now you have to purchase the piece you’re wanting to demo in order to determine if you like it in your system. I just went through that when I narrowed my streamer/DAC decision down to Lumin T2 or the Hifi Rose…I finally decided on the Rose. Unfortunately had to buy it first to demo it…
Perhaps I’ll run across the Holo May in someone’s system or at an audio show one day, but for now the incredible DAC in the Rose has taken me off the market.
Dan

@wink , I know it has come to that end. The record companies are partially to blame as they issue lots of over-processed, basement-made junk music. The poor kids nowadays have no idea as how music should be recorded and listened to. They think the louder, the better. As a result, they are missing to appreciate the value of hearing well-recorded music on something other than a sound bar. I can ramble on for hours.

Please tell us about your Rose Dac. I researched Lumin when I was finalizing my decision and read some mixed reviews but had to go with the Holo.

 

[wink]

@wink , I know it has come to that end. The record companies are partially to blame as they issue lots of over-processed, basement-made junk music. The poor kids nowadays have no idea as how music should be recorded and listened to. They think the louder, the better. As a result, they are missing to appreciate the value of hearing well-recorded music on something other than a sound bar. I can ramble on for hours.

Please tell us about your Rose Dac. I researched Lumin when I was finalizing my decision and read some mixed reviews but had to go with the Holo.

https://eng.hifirose.com/rs150

 

[Robert D]

@wink , I know it has come to that end. The record companies are partially to blame as they issue lots of over-processed, basement-made junk music. The poor kids nowadays have no idea as how music should be recorded and listened to. They think the louder, the better. As a result, they are missing to appreciate the value of hearing well-recorded music on something other than a sound bar. I can ramble on for hours.

Please tell us about your Rose Dac. I researched Lumin when I was finalizing my decision and read some mixed reviews but had to go with the Holo.

Its pretty crazy how some older recordings sound better than the brand new digital music recordings. Everytime I listen to some Fleetwood Mac I am taken back by the fidelity of the recordings. Its as if todays recoding artists are no longer able to do it. I know that cant be the case?

 

[roberto]

Its pretty crazy how some older recordings sound better than the brand new digital music recordings. Everytime I listen to some Fleetwood Mac I am taken back by the fidelity of the recordings. Its as if todays recoding artists are no longer able to do it. I know that cant be the case?

I don't want to enter into a debate, but I think that there are good analogue recordings and also there bad analogue recordings. Same thing for digital. In now days there are fine digital recordings, what this video and tel me what do you think:



Happy listening!

 

[Northy]

I don't want to enter into a debate, but I think that there are good analogue recordings and also there bad analogue recordings. Same thing for digital. In now days there are fine digital recordings, what this video and tel me what do you think:



Happy listening!

This is a great recording, thanks for the link @roberto. Look at the space between the players. you can feel the treated room breathing....far cry from a "producer" with a fancy software and computer putting a track together.