Holo Audio May DAC

@nquery

One other factor is that my amp is single ended and after some reading and talking to others about the Holo architecture and such, I am convinced that I am not getting the most out of the Holo May. The May actually only uses the output of one side of the R2R ladder for RCA outs, and Jeff Zhu even says the balanced outputs sound better.

The other change I made (and mentioned above) was to get a quality Balanced XLR to Single Ended RCA transformer (cinemags) and see if that improved the sonics on my SE amp. I think there is an incremental improvement but haven’t really A/B’ed it yet.

I read your comments on singled ended and only using one side of the May DAC. Did you notice any improvement? Maybe this is also why you experienced that the soundstage vs Lampizator is less holographic?

Also you said that the May is not very forgiving to lesser sources. I am using my system for both TV/streaming consumption as well as Tidal HiFi Music streaming. Would you say the Holo Audio product is not very suitable for TV, Youtube consumption? I am considering the new Spring 3, as dac/preamp in my system, but a little hesitant to order for it’s supposedly unforgiving nature.

@dvdboulet
Holo Audio just recently announced their new Spring 3, which apparently uses the exact same DAC module that is also used in the May DAC, albeit the May has two and is in dual mono, so the sound staging is improved a little on May. But tonally they are pretty close. Tim of Kitsune apparently says it is 95% of the May, according to this forum post: https://forum.hifiguides.com/t/holo-audio-may/22104/132

This seems to be an even better value proposition for people who cannot afford the May stack, especially with the optional preamp module for those looking for a decent preamp/volume control to start with as well. Also read what Jeff Zhu has to say about it, especially with respect to digital volume control as well:

Spring3 PLL is nearly the same design as our flagship dac, the May. The main difference between Spring3 and May is that May uses our latest technology and cost is no object, therefore has better components. For Spring3, it uses the latest technology as May. But the main goal is to get high performance at reasonable cost, and I believe we absolutely achieved this goal. Although it’s price is higher than Spring2. I think the performance/cost ratio is higher than Spring2. It’s not much behind May! The pre-amp module inside is a very decent way to control volume, really one of the best ways. I think the digital volume is terrible, especially for this level of DAC. So I never added digital volume control on Spring and May, only on Cyan which is our entry level product. Digital volume is very easy and has very low cost added, albeit compromised. The reason we don’t use it is that ‘free digital volume’ will lead customer to use it and not realize it is not ideal for use with our higher end dacs. I don’t want misguide the user to use our DAC is that way. I think they will be most pleased with our fully balanced, discrete analog volume control for a low optional upgrade price

Source: https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/spring-3-dac/

@eckie77
I didn’t notice a big initial difference with the Balanced to Single Ended transformer to be honest but I also haven’t done any A/B testing yet. I put it in and have left it there. I think that the reason that the Lampizator had a more “holographic” sound was due to spatial depth provided by the tube output stage. That is really the only thing I miss from it. But nothing to do with balanced/SE.

Thanks @eckie77,

very interesting about that analog pre-amp volume control as an option on the Spring 3. I'm curious why they don't offer a similar optional upgrade for the May? After all, if someone wants "their best" DAC, but also wants this feature, why make it only available on a lesser-model (if I understand the hierarchy of their somewhat confusing line of products). I totally get and agree with not providing a digital-volume control.

Thanks!

I think that Jeff Zhou’s comments are true in general, but the May (and likely Spring 3) are in fact ideal candidates for digital volume control under the right conditions. The May has a very high SNR which allows for a lot of extra headroom when doing digital attenuation. It also has a very low output impedance for driving an amplifier. But you need the proper dsp setup using HQPlayer or similar with a high upsampling rate + noise shaper and ideally an amplifier that’s not too hot (lower gain) so you can minimize attenuation. In my case, the pre-in input on my amp has a 10gb attenuator built in so I can play within the top 20db. And I am using HQP to upsample to 1536 PCM with proper noise shaper into the May and thus already doing headroom attenuation - adding an extra variable 5/10 db’s doesn’t hurt whatsoever. To my ears, this sounds better than the Alps volume control on my amp (via regular line-in). But again, this only works well under the right conditions. eg. this was something that was simply not even remotely possible with my Lampizator tube dac. See this thread/post from Jussi of HQPlayer - https://community.roonlabs.com/t/death-of-the-pre-amp-and-hqplayer-digital-gain/18992/17

Holo Audio May DAC Ordered.

Anyone using the IC ‘s and top USB cables offered on their web page?