Holo Audio May DAC

George, agreed that you know the basic character after a day or two. 

That said, I've had two experiences that have convinced me that electrical break in is real and can take a full week or so. 

I had a Pass Labs xa30.5 and decided to get their int30a integrated with the same exact amplifier circuit. Two days into listening (48 hours of play time) it still sounded worse than the original amp. I was told they would sound identical after a week by renohifi and they were correct.

I also built my own First Watt f4. Eventually I decided to build new boards with the highest quality parts available and when I excitedly powered up they sounded way worse. That remained true for a couple days. After a week of 24h/day play it became the significant upgrade I'd planned for. 

Termi vs Termi +. Had them both in my house side-by-side.  I so badly wanted to like the plus better.  Latest model, oven controlled clock, has  to be better right??? I kept the Termi.  The plus was great, a slight, very slight, bit more “drive” behind it. Almost like digital equalization slightly tweaked. I didn’t find the change necessary or better, just different. Also, when listening to very delicate detailed highs (“My Foolish Harp” Isabelle Olivier) the Plus couldn’t quite match the  delicacy of the Termi.  Forced my wife to listen too (yeah, I know) she also preferred the terminator over the plus.  Tried both with and without the Gaia.  The Gaia provided a barely discernible improvement to both—kept it. Toying with trying the May but with no trial period, and being extremely satisfied  with Termi I just can’t bring myself to do it...Yet. 

Roon Nucleus+. Mark Levinson pre and monos. B&W 802D3s

@73max, how many hours on both? With such a close sound and the Plus not handling delicacy as well as the standard, sounds like just a break-in thing. When I had a Termi, delicacy and final details is what took the time... Not saying your observations are not true, just aways a chance with something ‘new’. Especially since they’re so close. 

I would love to A/B the May against the Audio Mirror. I have the original Kitsune edition Holo Audio and nearly pulled the trigger on a Audio Mirror but someone snatched it up before I could grab it. Anyone with experience with the two, please chime in.

@falconquest I have both in my system (see my system page for more information) right now.

The May is extremely clean and extended with great tonality across the frequency range. It paints an amazingly tall and wide picture across my soundstage.  The AM-T3SE is a little less even handed, but provides more body and "meat on the bones." It shrinks the soundstage more between the speakers, but also draws more depth and 3-dimensionality. It's obvious to me that both are superb dacs. 

I'm maybe talking myself into a conspiracy theory, but for people who track the distortion profiles of their electronics, it does kinda feel like a classic 2nd (depth and warmth) vs 3rd (clarity and details) harmonic dominance difference. A lot of good information on that from Nelson Pass in this link if anyone wants to put themselves in the weeds with me (https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/the-pass-h2-harmonic-generator/).  

It's feeling like I'll probably put the May up for sale soon. I think the "demo" has kind of solidified for me that I prefer 2nd harmonic distortion profiles and am going to exclusively shop for them in the future.  This also fits with my experienced preference for First Watt f4s (and Coincident 300b SETs) over Atma-sphere M60s and a Pass Labs XA25.

Anyway, I can let people in here know if/when I do. Feel free to PM me if you're interested and want to talk about it before I release to the general public.