HoloAudio STREAMER is out now

I have both the Holo Audio Red and the Mercury V2. I think they are both good value for the money. I am using the I2S output directly into a Denafrips Pontus II. 

The default software on the Red is horrendous; I have installed RopieeeXL on both devices, since I use Roon or Roon + HQPlayer to feed them. Very stable, no problems.

One thing to be aware of is the Red has a top speed of 768k PCM on the I2S output, where the Mercury V2 tops out at 192k PCM. This is not an issue if you are not playing with HQPlayer's upsampling or filters. 

Both units compare favorably to what I was previously using (Roon to RPI4 / RopieeeXL to USB in of Iris DDC to I2S of Pontus). I'm on an extended business trip, but when I get back I plan to also evaluate the output of the Red's USB into the Iris, to compare the I2S from there to the Red's native I2S (basically a quality check on its I2S vs the Iris).

I currently use both units, with the Red using the NAA functionality of RopieeeXL for streaming Qobuz through the Pontus, and the Mercury set up separately for Spotify, Airplay, etc. going into a Schiit Modi Mulitbit.

@bhvf

Can someone who has a Red answer me this? Can it be used as an NAA using HQPlayer then Airplay or Spotify connect without rebooting. In other words, do you boot into NAA then, to do anything else, you need to boot into "regular" mode? Thanks.

I have the Red. As mentioned above, I’ve installed RopieeeXL instead of the stock software, as I think RopieeeXL is more stable and intuitive. This supports NAA. However, the one thing I find annoying about NAA is that, once HQPlayer has grabbed the device, it will not release it. So you will not be able to grab the device for, say, Spotify; even Roon can’t grab it for regular Roon play (i.e., not through HQP). You can have another player (RPI4, etc.) to switch to in the HQP interface, which then will release NAA on the Red (switching from NAA1 to NAA2 will release NAA1, which can then be used with Spotify). But this is a PITA. My solution was to have a different streamer and DAC for Spotify or Airplay, as mentioned above, and to leave the Red locked into NAA mode. Not ideal from a cost perspective, but I had the spare items around, and changing my preamp from Aux1 to Aux2 sure beats going to the HQP web page to release the device...

@sfgak Thanks for the info. That answers my question and allows me to cross the Red off my list.

@bhvf From what I’m reading, you may need to cross NAA off your list entirely. See, for example:

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/ropieeexl-hqplayer-naa-interferes-with-airplay-shairport-output/206696/6

Per the discussion:

... as Jussi specified in another forum (AS), as long as the device is selected as active NAA (see attached screenshot) it won’t be available for anything else.
But there is no need to reboot or power cycle anything, you just need to select another NAA device and the other one will be released and will be available for other inputs.
If no other NAA device are available then you need to shutdown HQPlayer.

So this needing to select another NAA device appears to be a "feature" of the NAA protocol itself, which if true, means no device will do what you want... Having to go to the HQPlayer web page every time you want to switch inputs makes HQPlayer seriously less attractive. If I didn’t have a spare Mercury V2 and Schiit DAC (for Airplay and Spotify), I most likely would have dropped HQPlayer.

Slightly off-topic, my take on HQPlayer is that it isn’t life changing, just different. Any upsampling / dithering algorithms -- whether in HQPlayer or the DAC hardware itself -- color the sound. It’s all a question of what you prefer your coloration to be, and HQPlayer gives you more choices, some of which I like, some of which I don’t (note: I’m not converting PCM to DSD, so can’t comment on that functionality).

@sfgak Interesting. I currently use a micro-PC as an NAA and a Yamaha WXC-50 for Spotify and Airplay. My DAC has tons of inputs so it works if I’m the only one using it. The problem is if a family member wants to listen to something that I wasn’t listening to last. They need to figure out which input to choose. I also don’t disagree with your HQPlayer take. Sometimes I prefer the Yamaha via optical coax. I do have a pretty good DAC in the T+A DAC 200. I borrowed my dealer’s Innuos Zen and liked it better than the NAA on pretty much everything. It can actually work as an NAA but when you choose that you can’t do anything else. It also didn’t sound as good as my MicroPC NAA or using the Innuos Sense app. I should just get a Pulse or Pulsar. I hate this hobby. Lol.