Channel patron, Snow Rang3r, has pointed out that my database of pricing is out-of-date. The TT2 is now $5,995 instead of $5,500 as quoted in this video. The Yggy OG is also $2,595 rather than the $2,199 I had in the database which is the Less Is More version price. Apologies for two errors in a single video!! The good news is that my conclusions remain consistent despite these updated prices. The Yggy is still better value financially and sonically than the Spring and the TT2's amplifier is still way ahead of what's possible with the May KTE and a $500 amplifier.
There's definitely some truth to that and it depends on what people expect and value from headphones/speakers. I find that I consistently like the same DACs on my speaker setup that I like with my headphones
Nice review. Appreciate the no bull approach and that you clearly define differences that you observe between products. Having options that suit ones' taste and preference is a good thing and it's nice to kinow that even at this level, there are choices avaibable to suit a variety of tastes and budgets.
That's really well stated. There's rarely a right or wrong / good or bad in this hobby. It's all preferential and also depends on the other pieces in the system.
I appreciate you putting your opinion out there, we don’t always agree but I like to see how you view a product. I firmly believe at this level you have entered the space were ones physical ability to hear, personal preferences and gear matching plays a much bigger role in selecting components then is this a quality product.
I definitely agree that synergy and preferences are an important factor, particularly when comparing the May and TT2. I do believe the Spring is a bit overhyped, but it's still a lovely DAC for those that maybe specifically want a smoother, more mellow sound.
Thank you for the detailed review, it was quite enjoyable. I compared my DAVE + Hugo M Scaler with my friend’s Holo Audio May KTE and had a very similar experience. The May KTE is a wonderful DAC(second best DAC I’ve listened to) but the DAVE with the M Scaler edges it in detail retrieval without sounding harsh, while also providing a more holographic soundstage. We were listening to the STAX SR-009S powered by the Kevin Gilmore Grounded Grid electrostatic amplifier to compare the two DACs. The DAVE also provided slightly more bass response as well.
Sounds like a wonderful setup you tried. Thanks for sharing your experiences and confirming what I heard. It's always nice to know I'm not making this stuff up 🙂
Interesting review! I think at this level it really come down to personal preference... I'm owning TT2 and Spring 3 KTE at the moment, and I feel I enjoy Spring more than TT2, for that smoother sound :) I'm using Spring with Soloist 3xp / Feliks Euforia as headphone amp
@@PassionforSound I think I just feel TT2 a little bit dry, especially with the build in amp, I'm using ZMF Verite Closed or Arya Stealth version, which headphones you used in your review?
@@PassionforSound I think my feeling is really subjective, because as you know Spring is really huge in size, I can't put them side by side on my desk to do a AB test, I just use them in different room for different occasions... I will find some time to do a comparison again with the tracks you used in your review
I definitely agree that the TT2 can sound a bit drier. I did my testing with a mixture of the Elites, Susvaras and Verite Open (and maybe others). I can definitely understand people preferring the smoother tonality of the Spring, but I like the extra energy and detail from the TT2. Some of it could depend on musical tastes too.
@@PassionforSound Agree, I find myself enjoy Spring more on some old Chinese pop vocals, which mostly were not quite good recorded, and Spring is more forgiving for those tracks, but if I'm listening to classic music, I prefer TT2 for more detail
Another excellent review. I agree with the hype train analogy, it's funny how people develop polarising views and strong language regarding the performance of certain products. When you get the chance to listen to the product yourself and compare the SQ to your own experiences the hyped expectation is never met. Great DACs sound great, that's it. The actual audio differences between good hifi DACs, streamers etc is so subtle most of us would fail blind testing, yet the price differences are ridiculous. Anyone who uses language like 'night and day' and 'leaves it for dead' when comparing expensive DACs/streamers is someone you should not be listening to.
There's a lot of truth in this! There are some notable exceptions, but they're just that - exceptions. I think it's quite telling how quickly a lot of these "best DAC ever" type devices don't get talked about within 5-6 months of the initial hype.
@@PassionforSound True, and its funny how people talk up DACs they've never heard. I have a simple Eversolo A6, I use it for transport only into a Michi P5 preamp. The background is black ink, the vocals sublime and the instruments are 99.9% as good as I've heard on any system at any show (I have ATC's). Yet people say the A6 is 'night and day' to the master or the new wider model. Without even bothering to sample the other models I can tell you the difference would not be night and day and It would be very hard to tell the difference. A nice, neat data transfer with low jitter is what you want and all you need and the A6 achieves that very well. People lose their heads, you can't make it sound better with fancier equipment, it's just data.
I use to think the Hugo TT2 and the M-Scaler were outrageously expensive!! Thanks to you, I came to the realization that I could have easily afforded to buy the TT2 and the M-Scaler when I consider all the $ I spent/wasted riding hype trains over the years. For now I will have to be content with my HeadAmp GSX-Mini headphone amp and the Gustard X26 Pro DAC setup.
I have a Gustard X26 Pro as well. I'm very happy with the DAC. I was looking at Spring 3 because of all the talks about it. but had an eerie feeling which was addressed by Lachlan's video today. Great job Lachlan! Love your reviews, always!
@@SubjectE57 I'm tempted to jump on another possible hype train after watching Joshua Valour's recent review praising the new Abyss Diana TC. The Diana TC checks all my boxes. For now though I'm going to hold off until I watch/read more reviews.
Great Review! I have owned the Spring 3 Level 3 KTE for 3 months now, bought from Indie HiFi in Brisbane. Love it! If not for affordability (on my part) at the time I would not have hesitated in buying the MAY KTE.
Great review Lachlan! I own the spring KTE and love it paired it with soloist 3XP sparkos and supercharger. The “smoothness” from Holo and sparkos is a great synergy with the 1266 phi tc. I bought my spring used so got a good price for it.
If you're looking for future Dac suggestions from the Holo/Chord path here is a short list you may see as steps above: Berkeley Alpha Ref2 Lampizator Golden Gate 2 Totaldac d-1 Nagra HD Mola Mola Tambaqui Rockna Wavedream Waversa WVDac Aries Cerat Kassandra II Audio Note Dac 5 Aqua Formula hd rev 2
If you're looking for something in a similar tier as the May/Chord here is a short list: Berkeley Alpha Ref (OG) Lampizator Amber 3 Nagra Classic Waversa Dac3 mk2 Rockna Wavelight Aqua La Voce S3 Concert Fidelity Dac Sonnet Morpheus
Thanks Ace! I think the Spring would make good sense at secondhand prices or with more energetic headphones and I understand the 1266s to be a bit that way, but haven't heard them yet.
Musician draco $725 is a phenomenal entry to hear r2r DACs. Blows away the measure well bs from audioscience.(Got the dx7pro with sparkos 3602 opamp, which I thought was great but man once you hear r2r or tube you just can't go back to deltasigma dacs.).
I'm keen to try the Musician gear. I think Aoshida have them so I'll check in and see what's possible. I also agree that R2R is often preferable to delta sigma. Only Schiit Multibit and Chord DACs offer the same type of benefits IMO
Thank you for letting me know. It's taken a long time to get it where it is now and I'm happy with the results 🙂 I actually just added a print of one of my photos in that blank section of wall on the left so you'll see that in the videos coming soon too
@@PassionforSound. Of course. You’ve done a great job and I look forward to your extensive review of the DCA STEALTH once you get it of course to test. :)
I am expecting delivery of the holo cyan 2 tomorrow - it's NOS only and wayyyy less expensive. This will be my first r2r dac and to say I'm on tenterhooks in anticipation of finally getting my hands on it would be an understatement. I feel like I've got "detail retrieval" exhaustion from years of D/S dacs, so we shall see if having things a bit "smoothed over" is actually as good for me as I imagine it to be or not. My current dac is "hot" with 5v output, too, and it's annoying af in combination with my amp, even with its volume control. I also ordered a passive attenuator to see if this helps - it should but who knows?
@@PassionforSound thank you! So far I don't hate it :D It's only been a few hours but I've already had some "wow! are you kidding?!" good moments, some "huh???" odd moments, and some moments where I hear no difference to my old dac at all. The main quality that strikes me, though, is while it sounds overall brighter than my last dac, it's surprisingly easy to listen to. I would not call it smoothed over though - it just seems more refined and at ease - more "competent", like it doesn't need to push so hard? The dynamics and control with complex recordings is far and away the biggest improvement, so let's see if the few odd bits work themselves out with a few more hours of use (primarily nasal/buzzy/lost sounding vocals on a few older recordings - really weird effect)
This reviews should be done with both speakers and headphones as each has its own distinct quality when played back that makes it shine in a specific application. The reviewer definitely likes digital precision in his headphones. For me sound coming out from floor standing speakers can’t be replicated by headphones.
I make it pretty clear in my reviews that they're headphone based, Robe. I agree that using speakers can present a very different experience. I don't know if I agree about favouring digital precision through headphones so much as a realistic, lifelike sound with the right balance of attack, speed, harmonics and space.
I haven't, but I also probably wouldn't because the M-Scaler is limited on its output to non-Chord DACs. It needs the dual BNC setup to hit the highest sample rates so you're hobbling it somewhat when using with other DACs. Of course, for those with Chord DACs and others, that could.make sense, but not to use the M-Scaler only with a non-Chord DAC. Better to go for HQ Player with the Holo gear and that should reap excellent rewards.
I tried it. It wasn't anything exceptional. Hyped ? Yes a bit. Bad ? No. And I compared it on headphones. I'm sure on speakers the difference would be even more obvious in space and soundstage (comparing vs dave+mscaler) Holo sounds like a typical R2R non oversampling dac. A good one (very good), yes but nothing more.
@@PassionforSound I want to make it clear. I was testing May kitsune :), and still I think that it's a bit overhyped. Very dood dac but... I really want to try comparision on speakers, as I'm pretty sure that the difference would be stagering. Maybe someday
I do believe that speaker listening might make a significant difference with these, but I'm not setup to test that theory. Thanks for clarifying though!
My pleasure! It was possibly an over-correction of the hype at the time, but I still feel the same about them: May is excellent as a standalone DAC and Spring is still overpriced IMO.
Fair review I thought . I’ve got the kte May atm, and I slightly prefer it over the tt2 but it is close as to preference, as you rightly said. I do think the spring dac in a hifi makes lots of sense and disagree on your point on that dac, but I know you don’t deal with speakers, since in the U.K. at least one version of it - spring 3 level 2 sounds better than the Denafrips Pontus 2 for similar money imo.
There's definitely nothing wrong with the Spring. I just think the Yggy OG offers better value for money performance because they're on par or perhaps the Yggy is a bit better (this will be somewhat preferential) and it's cheaper
@@PassionforSound thanks Lachlan, I never got to try that one. One things for sure never discount Chinese at this quality, as some American and British people do.
Absolutely! Making judgements about products based on their origin is a mistake IMO. China have invested a huge amount in their manufacturing capabilities and often have better capabilities than other countries. Likewise, countries like the USA and UK have their fair share of crappy products too
Nice Review, but, I think you completely miss the main selling point of the Holo DACs, and that is to use them specifically with HQPlayer in NOS mode. I have yet to meet anyone who owns a HOLO and is not using HQPlayer. It is the combo of HQPlayer feeding the HOLO May which blows the doors off the TT2 +MScaler combo and directly competes with a DAVE+MScaler If you can still try it, upsample to DSD512 with poly-sinc-ext2 using the ASDM7ECv2 modulator. Those settings are stunningly good.
I've sent the Holo units back, but I think buying a product where you have to then use a specific piece of software (that's not free), and a piece of software with a very convoluted interface, has its own drawbacks. I'm not criticising the use of HQ Player, but reviewing the product not the potentially tweaked and maximum possible performance source chains. If I started down that path we'd have to start talking about similar tweaks for every other product too and that opens up WAY too many variables for a manageable length video. Not to mention that there are many people looking for a DAC to connect to a streaming device or transport where HQ Player might not be an option
@@PassionforSoundI agree with this. I do not want to spend £6K on a DAC, just to have to use HQP to make it sound best. It already should sound amazing for £6K!
You definitely have very different opinions from someone like GoldenSound. He really liked the Spring 3 and thought that the main differences in Sound is the May is just slightly faster. He definitely thought the Spring was better that the Schiit Yggdrasil
It's not uncommon for my opinions to differ from GS. It's a good idea to check out some other reviews of ours on products you're familiar with to decide which of us has similar tastes to you.
These were demo units that had been reviewed by at least one prior reviewer and likely listened to by Hugo from Indie HiFi as well. Which is to say that I don't know for certain, but there would have been plenty of time to get through the major changes of burn-in (if needed) because the majority of change happens early in the process.
@Robert M: I read from one commenter's post on another UA-cam audiophile review of the Holo Audio MAY that HIS experience with his MAY KTE DAC was such that it took him the better part of 900 (yes, NINE-HUNDRED) hours' worth of break-in-time before his MAY finally cleared the break-in goal posts and began sounding, to his ears, remarkably and sublimely MUSICAL, to the point where listening to music moved him to tears. His MAY had THAT much of an emotional impact on his listening experience. He very clearly stated that, when getting a MAY, we "have to GRIND OUR WAY through the lengthy break-in process" before we can truly begin to appreciate what the MAY can do. Here, copied/pasted, are his own words: Jeff Trimm9 months ago (edited) - in response to "THE KING IS CROWNED - HOLO AUDIO MAY DAC REVIEW" - on UA-cam by NEW RECORD DAY (Ron) "Fantastic review! I'm a new Holo May KTE owner, and I think you nailed it. One comment to current and prospective owners on burn-in: I bought a Holo May KTE and got it a few days before Christmas, 2020. It has been my personal experience that 500 hours is not sufficient for burn-in. At least in my experience, it took 900-1000 hours before the MAY's sound-stage, imaging and tone quality really opened up & started sounding truly beautiful and startlingly lifelike. Up until this point, I would get a day or two where it would seem to make a big improvement, only to regress in sound-stage, tonal and sound quality. There were a lot of ups and downs for me, and then starting around 900 hours or so, everything really started to gel in an incredible way. The transformation at this point has not been subtle. I can only say that whatever sound you hear and impressions you have of the Holo May KTE when listening to it when it has undergone fewer than 900-1000 hours of burn-in, is only a facsimile of what it will sound like after it has truly and finally broken in. You have to grind through the hours to get the payoff though. In my case, 39 days of 24x7 play. It seems insane to require that much break-in time, and YHMV (Your Hourage May Vary), but this has been my experience with my KTE edition with all of its upgraded caps and fuses inside it. When fully burned in, it is a truly magical and beautiful-sounding source with a realism that is startling, coupled with a lovely natural tone. Also, don’t skimp on the USB cable if USB is going to be your source. I’m running a Shunyata Sigma USB cable, and it is worth every penny. Also, per the review, the quality of the streamer, Ethernet cables, and even the network switch all have non-trivial impacts on the sound. I have a SotM switch/cabling running into an Auralic Aries G2. The resolution of the Holo May KTE is such as to make audible the positive impact of all of these up-stream upgrades. Anyway in summary, when getting this device brand-new from the factory, be sure you grind through the burn-in hours, potentially 1000 of them, to unlock the ultimate sound-capability of this beguiling DAC, at least in its KTE form. Don't pass judgment until after you have done the leg-work, and then be prepared to be gob-smacked. The transformation in those last 100 hours is magical." End of copied/pasted report.
I own both TT2 and M-Scaler and May L2. I have a different perception from you: I find the May to be more airy and spacious, more grainy, more "analogue" and the TT2 combo to be more punchy, detailed, but with a narrower soundstage and element separation. As you said though, at this level it's just a matter of personal preference...
Sometimes the terms we use to describe things can mean different things for different people (and there's no right or wrong). Glad you shared your impressions though because it might help others. For the record, I do think the May is an outstanding DAC!
This leads into the whole oversampling discussion. Obviously, he doesn't perfer NOS sound. Spring 3 has none, May is limited. I wonder why he didn't run either through the Mscaler in his review? Or perhaps why he didn't use hqplayer. This is why the holo products can go up to 1.5m taps as an input because quite frankly, oversampling should be done externally with a product desinged for it. The May only does it because of the AKM chips inside had that functionality, but it is marginal at best. Also realize, that the amps he is using aren't in the same category as these products so it's ability to highlight the diffrerences should be taken into account. I have questions about the Burson (love them) chain being. Perhaps trying it on other amps may show something else. He has AAS, forgot which one, looks like a Pendant(?) behind him. What is interesting is he is the first reviewer to really call out a huge difference between the Spring and the May. This is surprising, even to Kitsune which makes me think that there may be something else going on. Not to take anything away from the Yaggy. It is a good device, but like the Chord it has better oversampling built in than either of the Holo products and without taking that into consideration or adjusting for it, I understand his views, but depending on your setup your milage will varry. Personally, I would rather spend $250 for hqplayer than $5k for an mscaller, but that is just me.
Hi Roger, you're making a bunch of incorrect assumptions here. I tested the DACs using the Burson Soloist GT and Sparkos Labs Aries - both top tier headphone amps. The amp behind me is a Bottlehead Mainline, not an AAS amp - it's excellent, but not as good as the other two I mentioned. The reason I didn't test the Holo DACs with the M-Scaler is because it completely changes the cost of the system. As I showed on screen and discussed, due to the need to invest in an amp for the Holo DACs (not needed with the TT2), the cost of adding an M-Scaler takes it into a different category. It's also a non-ideal setup due to the limited output from the M-Scaler to non-Chord DACs. Finally, the same upsampling that will improve the Holo DACs will improve other DACs too like the TT2 for example. Suggesting that a DAC needs extreme upsampling to sound it's best basically means that people are forced to spend more than the list price to get the performance they're expecting. That's a drawback to me, particularly if the other options at the same price sound great with no added fuss or expense.
I was curious about R2R Dacs after trying out different mid level Dacs in my system such as Chord 2qute, Simaudio moon 380 dsd and Hegel HD25, I decided to buy the spring 3 Kte WO ever listening to it. The first 2 weeks with it were disapointing, but it does change quite a bit over time. I had to reposition my speakers and my acoustical settings. After 1 month of use I would say that it's the best Dac that I ever had in my system, it's detail retrieval is better than all of my previous Dacs, but Without it being in your face. The only Dac that I tried briefly in my system that was better is Metronome "le Dac", but it costs double and I'm not sure which is more enjoyable to listen to. Over all a great buy, but not my last Dac.
Another excellent objective review! As much as I've been enjoying the Bifrost 2, I've been wondering if moving to a higher end dac would be worthwhile. The Yiggy is the natural inclination since I love the BF2. I was interested in the Denafrips Pontus II, and was also looking at the Holo Spring 3. Your comments about the Spring 3 vs the Yiggy have really helped clear the muddy waters. Now I wonder which version of Yiggy is best......!
Glad you found it helpful! I'd have loved to compare all three Yggy flavours, but shipping costs, parts costs and COVID in general got in the way. In the upcoming Yggy OG review, I have compared the Bifrost 2 and Yggy in detail. Hopefully that's some help 🙂
Yes and no (not trying to be obtuse). The BF2 is incredibly good for the money. The Yggy is definitely better, but it's also huge. For me, if you have the space and the budget and you're looking for a DAC that can easily be endgame then go for the Yggy. It's not the best DAC I've heard, but it's really good enough that you could stop seeking more IMO
This review is excellent and also an honest effort put into making a fair comparisons but it is clearly a good example of personal preference. Contrast this review of the Holo May compared to the Chord Hugo TT2 to the review of the Holo May by Golden Sound who compared it against the Chord Dave a yet higher end DAC from Chord Audio and Golden Sound found the Holo May far more to his own personal taste all around. Both reviews well presented by two of who I consider some of the best and fairer audio equipment reviewers in UA-cam channels and they continue to be top reviewers in my own personal opinion…. But as they themselves often state on their reviews, it all comes down to personal preference…. so for anyone interested on selecting and purchasing from any of these DACS, we must take the conclusions of all these reviews with a grain of salt and just judge them as good and honest opinions. And is good to listen to a variety of opinions to help us arrive at the best possible solution for our own personal use specially if listening in person to the various equipment options is not possible.
100%! We can only ever discuss what we like and why (hopefully with comparisons for context). It's so important to get to know a reviewer's preferences and how they align with your own. For the record, I do think the May is a brilliant DAC.
This reviewer obviously likes DETAIL so I'm not surprised he preferred DACs that bring out details. R2R DACs are generally for people who prefer smoothness and overall musical enjoyment. When I hear music presented in a way that I can forget about instrument location/placement, specific details, etc. and just am able to enjoy and take in the music, that's the hallmark of a great DAC for me. But then, I'm not a reviewer so it is what it is, for me. I'm biased as I own the Spring 3 KTE but it really requires a long burn-in so not sure if the reviewer had a 'good' unit for comparison purposes. I've owned Chord products (Hugo 2) and they are ultra detail retrieval monsters; I hear sounds that I've never heard before on my recordings. But the overall sound was just not pleasing for me and sounded dry and not enjoyable. That's why I moved to R2R DACs and they sounded better for my ears. But then I also use a tubed headphone amp so perhaps I'm in the group of people who prefer a warm and rich sound vs. a more analytical sound.
The unit I had was a demo unit that had been in action for an extended period before I received it so burn-in isn't a factor. I think you're right though that I value detail and imaging accuracy when listening. I don't like overly dry or analytical sound, but I use my choice of amps and headphones to colour the sound to my tastes and I personally believe in having a DAC that is as neutral (not souless or analytical) as possible to then add the colouration after it. With all that said, what matters most is that you're enjoying your setup. It does sound like you enjoy a richer, smoother sound and it's great that you've identified that and that you're sticking to what you enjoy. Happy listening! 🙂
It depends more on what you're driving with it and what sound you're after. Pairing DACs and amps is less about the synergy between the two and more about the resultant sound you want from your system.
Your whole section about the tt2 sounding better than out of the soloist just kinda points to the soloist being a massive bottle neck for both dacs here....
Not really, Bob. The TT2 internal stage is better than almost any other HP amp you could think of because it doesn't rely on the transfer of signal via 2 pairs of connectors, 1 pair of cables and a whole lot of circuitry in an external amp - it's a short, simple path that produces astounding clarity and transparency. The Soloist GT and Sparkos Labs Aries are both amps that I used for the testing and are both world class headphone amps.
@@PassionforSound Yup it might have advantage in that, but external amps have their own power supplies unlike this dac that have 1 power supply for everything and this in theory can result in much weaker dynamics and transients that can result in anemic sound that everybody describes about Chord Internal amps. Mate, it seems you dont have your own opinion and you just biasedly gonna praise Chord stuff... If their amp idea would be so great, everyone would be make it something like that... Chord is apple in audiophile community and everything Rob Watts saying is a gospel and everybody else is wrong according to him and cult following. Maybe im wrong, but you give those vibes. Denafrips atleast is less bullshit of a company that will make as good product as possible while Chord will make product as cheap as possible to get higher margins possible.
I think you need to do some deeper research into the design decisions that Rob Watts has put into the TT2, Eternal. Everything has been considered to make it an outstanding all-in-one product. Between the super capacitors, the discrete analog output that separates the DAC and analog stages, the attention to noise floor and intermodulation distortion across the whole device make for an astonishing final product. That said, I'm always excited to find something better. As I said in this review, I actually wanted the May to be better - I was excited to take the next step, but it just didn't stack up to the same level even when using $2500-3000 USD amps
@@PassionforSound yes, but confirmation bias can be very strong... As i said: Rob Watts is not a genius, otherwise lot of people will be doing same stuff as he is doing... Why do you think Chord, Benchmark is using switched mode power supplies? Because those are much cheaper and require less costly enclosure! Separate amps also use a lot more space and also have much better wolume controls than digital controls used in dacs that bring noise up. There is nothing grounbreaking in Chord dacs except filters that create different sound signature...
You really need to do more research. The only piece of this I agree with (after extensive research and comparisons) is that the use of SMPSs is disappointing on some of their products (it's not relevant to the TT2).
My review was not intended to see how to squeeze the maximum performance put of these DACs, it was to compare them in similar setups to see what people could expect. Many people will not be using these in systems with HQ Player or an M-Scaler so taking time in an already long review to deep dive in upsampling doesn't make sense
Do we know where the Holo Audio units are built? Thanks for this review! Your mention of the Yggdrasil OG reminded me that there are 3 versions of the Yggdrasil - the Less is More, the More is Less, and the OG. Is there any chance you can compare these different versions?
I'm pretty sure they're made entirely in China, Neil. I had hoped to compare the multiple Yggy flavours but shipping costs and the challenges of the pandemic made that impossible so I worked with Schiit on just getting the model I was personally most interested in which is the OG
@@PassionforSound Thanks! For some reason, I thought Holo Audio was a US company. I like the Ares II, and I like the Bifrost 2 - I am a multibit DAC fan. Yes, this pandemic is making things complicated in many ways. I am pretty sure I would want one of the 20bit versions - but this is a hope/dream at this point.
Love this review. Head-fi needs to be renamed to Hype-fi. The only good thing is the excellent deals on the used marketplace thanks to these hype trains.
Glad you liked the review! I think Head-Fi and similar forums are great. The problem is filtering out the examples of new toy syndrome and also self-justification of purchases too.
Great review as always Lauchlan. You basically answered my question of whether or not I should sell my TT2 and M scaler to buy the May KTE. I think I'd prefer the detail over the slight bass bump and warmth of the May. Just curious, which filters did you try when listening with the TT2, was it mostly incisive? Wondering if filters 3 or 4 got similar results to the warmth of the May. Cheers.
Glad you liked the review! I only really use filter 1 for TT2 on its own or filter 2 when using the M-Scaler (both incisive). Filters 3 & 4 might provide a hint of smoothness, but they don't change the presentation of the sound enough to match the fullness of the May. I personally think you're making the right choice by keeping the TT2 (I really wanted to prefer the May just for something different) and I'd recommend getting the extra warmth/fullness further down the source chain with your amp or transducers because you can never regain that extra detail that the May loses compared to the TT2, but adding some richness is easy to do.
I'm not certain, but it is a demo unit that had been with another reviewer before me and likely had also been used by Hugo from Indie HiFi before he sent it out. I doubt it has any more significant improvement to show and it sounded excellent at it was.
Good comprehensive review. 👍. Thank you. The May KTE is Holo Audio’s flagship DAC. The Chord Dave is the their flagship. Then how good do you find the Dave. It would be interesting how you find the Denafrips Terminator plus😎👍
Great review, i recently bought a Spring 3 KTE, it sounds quite natrual to my ears. Few points i want to lay out: 1、Total production costs of a "ture discrete resistor ladder dac" is pretty high,higher than the chip based Schiit products;2、A true "NOS R2R" dac is hard to find at this price level, even Rockna uses its internal OS;3、I once heard the TT2, the sound is kind of "digital" to me. Anyway very honest review, keep fighting towards 20K subs!
Just need to mention one more point, about Spring 3 is lacking detail compare to schiit ygg, that is impossible to my understanding. The "more detail" you heard from YGG could be its harmonic distortion since the measurement of ygg show that(schiit does their own honest maesurement report), but lower THD doesn't mean it sounds bad.
Hi Max, they're very good points about the R2R being more expensive to produce. For me it is all about the sound quality produced and not the technology used which is why I favour the Yggy OG. There will also always be personal tastes and system synergy to consider so if you're enjoying the sound and you're happy, that's all that matters. 🙂
I tried OS and NOS (as I think I discussed in the video). I provided very high quality sources to all devices tested and, keep in mind, that the benefits gained by one DAC when fed a higher quality signal will also translate to other DACs receiving the same high quality signals. I didn't test with HQ Player partly for the reason above (same benefits apply to all devices so the differences remain), but also because that immediately limits the options for people using the DAC to being fed only from a computer.
@@PassionforSound I 'm happy to see if you make a vid about comparing yggy vs spring3 KTE(w/ HQplayer). Because it is on different league when you using it. Thank you for your response :)
You will be hard pressed finding an active pre-that’s class A that’s of this calibre at $600 anywhere This DAC is a true ladder DAC, they’re freaking expensive mate I did not have the same experience as you did during the review, it’s a freaking awesome DAC So we disagree there, LOL, but like yourself I can’t stand up sampling either sounds very unnatural The May is coming in for review in January so thoroughly intrigued to put it up against the other two dacs. Good luck on the way to the 20 K
No question about the pre-amp - it's brilliant. Add very true and the cost of the ladder DAC to produce properly. My question is why pay extra for a complex circuit that doesn't sound as good as another DAC (the Yggy OG)? You could buy the Yggy OG and a Soloist 3XP or Singxer SA-1 and have DAC, headphone amp and pre that together outperform and offer more functionality than the Spring. The May is a different story. It's killer and I think you'll love it. I do think the TT2 offers better sound and value with the pre-amp and headphone capabilities, but if someone just wants a DAC, the May would be a top recommendation from me.
@@PassionforSound I am curious did you use the TT2as the amplifier for both of these devices? I have heard the original Iggy and in my experience the spring three surpasses it. I do agree these DAC are huge LOL I personally don’t care for the essay1 it’s musical and a fantastic value, it is far too soft sounding for me if I was to take a subjective stance if you pass the spring with this exclusively I can see why you would think it’s soft, the amplifier will play a role to remember in the chain. Some of your observations I would agree on if it was about the spring 2, but your observations for Spring three found really surprising actually.
The TT2 can't amplify analog inputs, only its internal DAC. I used the Soloist GT and Sparkos Labs Aries, connected with AudioQuest Yukon XLR cables for each DAC. I went back after the review was released to my patrons and revisited the Spring to ensure I had been accurate and fair and I definitely stand by what I heard, but it's my own subjective experience so others can and will experience it differently, particularly if using speakers rather than headphones.
@@PassionforSound well that’s fair enough, this is audio after all Good work mate And good luck on the 20 K goal, hope you’ll get there soon about to me monetised here too it’s been a good few months
Thank you and congrats on your milestone! Hope you arrive there quickly and get greater growth once you hit monetised status (I think the algorithm prioritises monetised content, but don't hold me to that)
Great review! Any chance you could do a quick setup reveal before the review, i.e what source, cables, headphones. I can only assume you're using quality components but everything before and after the DAC can greatly affect the overall sound impressions in my opinion.
I'll see if can do something in the future. The challenge with it is that I don't only use one setup for testing. I'll generally use 2-3 headphones at a minimum and 2-3 amps for a DAC review like this one. I do use just one setup for my note taking part where I describe the comparisons, but that's just to illustrate what I've heard across multiple setups.
3 things need adding to the review : 1) KTE is fair bit more expensive than L2, which is the highest spec Holo Audio themselves offer. 2) Comparing TT2 with 768Khz upscaling via Mscaler is not really apples to apples. 3) Theres no mention of Mays internal upsamplig capabilities (which I don't find great but still) or the fact that May can take up to 1.5M upscaled input, which is a bit of a killer feature and something the TT2 or even Mscaler can't match. Other than that good review. I now want to try out the TT2 🤠 only managed to compare portable Hugo 2 with May and found Hugo 2 a bit shouty in the upper mids and not as clean, but TT2 is a better match obv.
Hi Kris, I didn't try to get into detail about the different levels and pricing because it then begs the question of how each level performs for the price and I'm not in a position to answer that question. The M-Scaler comparison was due to realising that by the time you purchase a May KTE with a suitable quality amp, you could nearly buy the TT2 and M-Scaler so I was demonstrating what you would get for your money. I definitely discussed the upsampling capabilities (in the section about the features and functions common to both Holo DACs) because I explained the PCM and DSD upsampling functions as well as the fact that it's really not worth using either. I've addressed in lots of other comments why I didn't go into depth about upsampling externally for the Holo DACs beyond testing and confirming that upsampling externally can improve the sound to a moderate degree (not night and day different)
@@PassionforSoundah sorry, I didn't register the OS / upsampling comparison in the sound section. The problem with mixing money / value / performance and drawing definitive conclusions like that is that you can for example get May L2, Hypsos + Oor, HQPlayer license and still be under the cost of TT2 with Mscaler and you can change amps etc. I get the point you're making but I don't think it's that clear cut 🤷 Reality is for the same money you can get a TT2 based stack or a May + amp based stack, and that's great that both options are amazing. I find upsampling to 1.5M a really signifficant change in quality, if it wasn't for upsampling May wouldn't be as good as it is for me. Also I only recently noticed that internal OS into DSD changes signifficantly depending on the sampling rate I feed it, and while I found it pretty usless at 44.1 it becomes a really interesting option at 1.5M.
At 1.5M you might actually be back to bypassing the OS circuit (not sure) As for all the other variables, imagine how long each review would get if I tried to cover all that. All valid points, but I have to draw the line at what I have available and/or the products that the majority of people are likely to have familiarity with.
@@PassionforSound it can still OS to DSD and that is changing the way it sounds, I would compare it with a filter selection type change on Chord dacs, on lower sample rates it sounds weak but I noticed the higher the input rate the better the DSD OS at least to my ears. Comparing effectively 5 pieces of intricate high end source gear in a short vid and trying to draw definitive conclusions on price to performance is quite a challenge, I agree. Guess what I’m trying to say is that there’s much more to it. Gear synergy comes into play as well as the ability to choose and change amps based on genre or headphones, tubes etc. It’s becoming a really complex equation very quickly. Adding to that that you could use HQPlayer with the TT2 to bring down the cost, and the fact that May can take twice the sample rate TT2 can, and the fact that you could also use Mscaler with May although max at 384K but still … this one video could pretty much be a series of 5 videos exploring all of the options etc the way I see it and some of the conclusions could’ve possibly end up being a bit less black and white … maybe 🤔
It's very difficult to decide what to include as not include in a review like this. I'd like to think this wasn't overly black and white though (other than being unimpressed with the Spring). I clearly explained that I see a place for the May in systems where a headphone amp or pre-amp aren't required and I agreed that it's an excellent DAC overall. I just felt that the TT2 is still better value and a slightly better performer. In my experience across many, many products, there's never a tweak you can make that will leap frog one product over another if the other product was preferable to start with - particularly if the same tweak can be applied to both products. Personal preference is absolutely a factor though so those who prefer the May to the TT2 can no doubt extract greater performance with upsampling, etc. and make the May even better still.
The BIG question I dare to ask (only now) is, what power cords were used with these DACs? I strongly suspect that the Spring was the one most affected by this important aspect...
I was using the stock power cords with all of these. I didn't have any high end power cables at that time. It's also worth noting that I would always match cables (power, interconnects, USB) when comparing devices. I have 2-3 of all my main cables for this reason
Maybe one more thing... Owners of those Holo DACs report that they need at least 500-600 hours of burn-in, before they fully reveal their sound. Some even mention 800-1000 hours without turning them off, so esentially more than a month of uninterrupted playing. Do you know, how old these ladies were before you got them?
Even though this review is two years old, it is right in target for me. I own a Yggy+ but the Holo Cyan 2 is being massively hyped right now, and I’ve never considered units from Holo before. I’m very curious to hear your opinion. After: I’m sticking with my Yggy, but I sure wish I had the scratch to spend $10,000 USD on each component in my system. I envy your experience of the TT2 + MScaler.
The same way I can properly live every day without passive speakers. A lot of people don't or can't have a full size speaker setup, but that doesn't mean they don't listen to music
Interesting review. I’ve been following reviews and forums for the Spring and the May for a few months and it seems that those who have committed to a May and own TT2 eventually move away from using the TT2 as their main after a few months. Another common theme in the forums is burn in. Most people love the sound of the Spring and May out of the box but after some burn in time ( or running time) they found that it opens up more and exposes more detail. It could be subjective but at least with my mid-fi gear burn in does help with some negative qualities I remember from initial impressions. A few people have suggested 1000 hrs for the May to open up (which assuming reasonable listening patterns) is 6-12 months, but the most common number I’ve seen is 200 hours. I’m not advocating that you can only review things that are fully burned in, and I know you do spend a fair amount of time reviewing a product so that you do let the electronics settle, but its something worth doing a follow up with older units. I think the main reason why people would prefer the Spring or May aside from that 3d space is the timbre from NOS. Most people say that it sounds very “natural”, like “real music”, like “analogue”. There are better DACs I’ve read about, the WaveDream, the Tambaqui. But they’re far more expensive . The Terminator II is probably on equal footing. Anyway, great review and I hope to see more high end DAC reviews.
Thanks for the thoughtful comments. I believe both of these DACs had already been fairly well used by the time they reached me. Probably not 1000 hours, but I'd also highly doubt the validity of those claims. Burn-in is definitely real, but in my experience the vast majority of any impact from burn-in will happen quite early with only subtle differences evolving after that. I agree that R2R and NOS are all about tonality which is why I do prefer these over most delta sigma DACs I've heard. They just don't stack up (to me at least) when compared to Schiit's Multibit approach or Chord's WTA filtering and high tap approach. I hope to review the Pontus and Terminator in the future 🤞🤞
@@PassionforSound Disclaimer: I ordered a May which will come in January, so I did quite a bit of research before the purchase. Also this is just an opinion based on the opinion of others. Some believe that the choice of amp can make a difference in the details of the May and Spring, using the Burson may not have the best synergy. That being said, some people on forums recommended even more expensive amps.
There's no doubt that system synergy is real and important, but I used multiple amps including the Soloist GT, Sparkos Labs Aries, Bottlehead Mainline and Elekit TU-8200R (modified). The reality is that it's often about personal tastes and preferences. A system synergy that I think is perfect may still not appeal to others and that's totally fine. If people say review X is wrong because they didn't use amp Y it's a bit misleading because it all comes back to personal preference which are inevitably variable from one person to the next
@@PassionforSound The burn-in in May is difference. It sounded great out of the box but the first 100 hours or so the sound change all over the place. Sometime its better sometime its worst. After about 200-300 hours it start to get stable and then continually improves. Now the more I listen to it the better its get. This is the only gear I have that do this to me and needed this much burn in. Even my tube amplifier burn in quicker than the May. If you look inside the May then its kind of make sense why it needed a lot of burn in. There seems to be a lot of power filtering and large capacitors inside. Holo May is also the only DAC I can think of that has 4 transformers. We do know that these can change the sound characteristics quite a bit as electricity is being passed through them.
Great video and review... as usual 🎉👍👏!! Viewing this Mar. 05, 2024 for first time. You got me thinking about the Yggi OG 🤔. Looking to upgrade from Gen 1 Topping D90. I have DDC Singer SU-2 using I2S... which I've enjoyed for many years! Yggi OG doesn't have I2S. Would it still be worth using my DDC with AES interface on Yggi OG?? Thanks much for any input / advice!!
Awesome review; detailed and clearly unbiased - thanks! FWIW, I own the May and Serene Pre both KTE (speaker system). IMO the May is a really good deal for the money but it is no giant killer as it has been hyped to be. It offers detail retrieval, imaging and separation like i have never experienced before (and that's the reason it's starting in my main system). However, overall it sounds ever so slightly shouty, with a some tendency towards unnatural sibilance. Furthermore, soundstage depth is unacceptably lacking for the price. Thankfully, these shortcomings were almost completely remedied by pairing it with a tube Pre. (Don't care much for the May - Serene combination!) Overall, I find the May to be very system dependant. I can think o several rigs that I have had in the past for which the May would not have worked at all. Thanks again for one of your finest reviews. Your content is Reference level!!!
Thank you, Juan! That's really interesting about your experiences with the May. I was very impressed with it on my system so it's great to see some other experiences that people can consider before making any purchases
Great review, nice insights! The ‘chain dependence’ though is spot on: in my system the Spring 3 - level 2 outperforms the Yggi LIM for sure in terms of overall balance and flow.. at my neighbor’s system it is a different experience: the Spring sounds dull and boring where the Yggdrasil opens up the music. That’s way you can never totally rely on reviews. Trust your ears 👍🏻
@@vincentvdvelde Thanks Vincent! Very interesting comment regarding the Spring and Yggi in different settings - and useful for those like me who live in places where auditioning is impossible and all sales are final. I am keeping the May because it's the best I have had, by far!, but ONLY after changing my preamp and rolling some good old tubes (and geting lucky, I guess). I will keep the Serene cooking in the rack for a few more months and give it another try. What a wonderful hobby or ours, isn't it...
I definitely agree that one review is never enough to make a good decision because system synergy and personal taste can definitely play a part when the differences are only minor. Glad you're enjoying the Spring!
@@BrentLeVasseurYou are absolutely right Brent. After lots of hours (lost count, just kept them going for weeks while at work ) all undesirable aspects went away, completely! At the same time, all good traits got even better. I cannot be happier with the May and the Serene now. In my experience as a bit of a gear head, I think they are an incredible value. M.y good old (and expensive) tube pre is now boxed up and stashed away for good. Thanks for your comment.
It's very hard to isolate the performance of particular inputs (at a subjective level) from the performance of the DACs. For me, both devices performed very well via USB using my setup which is a regular PC, JCat audio USB card and Curious Evolved USB cable
@@PassionforSound thanks, Please one more question. Saw you like the Curious Evolved which on my system was too bright for my ear. I have Verity CB and Atrium and looking to upgrade my system to the TT2/mscaler. To your ear how do the cans sound on the TT2 on the warmer setting. I love the TT 2/ mscaler potential in all respects and am only cautious about tone. I am getting encouraged to drive the 100+ miles to have a listening test. TIA
I love the TT2, but it is a very neutral sounding DAC and headphone amp so keep that in mind. What's your current source chain where the Curious Evolved was too bright?
@@PassionforSound thanks for the get back. My source is a zen mini with a separate linear power supply though a Final Touch Audio USB to a Phoenix through another FTA USB to an Auris D2D DAC through LessLoss RCAs to an Auris HA2 SE amp with a Mallard input tube and Telefunken power tubes all NOS dating to the ‘60s. The system also has a LessLoss 640x C-Mark firewall on the power inlet to the DAC. The FTAs, along with the Phoenix mitigated the sibilance and the LessLoss significantly reduced noise and enhanced clarity. All of course to my ear. What got my attention to the TT2/m was 1) your review 2) Moon audio in the USA, where I cut my teeth, so to speak, and who endorsed Chord from the beginning 3) my Mojo which is connected to an A&K and which sounds very musical to my ear and last 4) another audio analyst said his favorite combination of all his high end cans, including the Susvara, with the TT2/ mscaler is the Verity CB with the TT2 cross feed set at 2 and the warm filter setting. Also Drew at Moon audio has a video up where he prefers the TT2/ mscaler to the Dave ,alone, because of the warmth. So the stars seemed to align around the chord.
Spending more money on gear does not always mean better sound!! Unless you are willing to really spend big money and thousands of dollars more for that bump in performance. Then yes, it's better. The May KTE, Chord Hugo TT2 & M-Scaler, the Susvara will obviously sound better than less expensive stuff but you are going to be paying a high premium price to get there. Not worth the $$$ imo. I recently fell for the hype train with the Soekris DAC 2541(with built in amp) and thought it would be a big upgrade from my Bifrost 2 DAC. It's a fine DAC... But after doing some A/B testing with the DAC 2541 I just ended up loving the Bifrost 2 more for my use cases and needs with the BF2 sounding more impactful and delivering Bass in a much more pleasing way to my ears. It's all subjective this stuff... and what's really important is understanding what you are looking for when it comes to Audio Gear and Headphones. It's like putting a puzzle together through trial and error really as to what will satisfy you in your audio setup? Don't bother buying $3,000+ DACS if your setup isn't a TOTL setup that can take advantage of it. Look for some good bang for the buck with something like the Schiit products. I've tried many expensive HP's and Gear now and usually most of it is disappointing for the price tag. You end up expecting way more for the $$$. The hype train is real with a lot of things in the audio world. I've taken blind leaps of faith after doing tons of research and still ended up with many more disappointment's than home runs with Audio Gear and HP's
Very well said, JTB! I'm currently reviewing the DAVE and while I can appreciate it's performance, I'm not convinced it's a better fit for me than my current gear. I'm glad you've landed on something you're really happy with, but sorry for any lost money with the Soekris DAC
@@PassionforSound I got lucky with the Soekris DAC that I ordered through Mod House Audio. Ryan who runs the place where they also do the Argon Mods was a great guy and gave me a full refund. None of this15% restocking fee nonsense some places pull. I can see 5%.... but not 15%. And like with the DAVE for you... I ended up selling my TT2 & M-Scaler because it was just overkill for me and I really couldn't take advantage of it. So it's a live and learn process I guess. Problem is you learn the hard way and lose money in the process. That's why I think anyone getting into this hobby should try and figure out what they are going for. Like I said before, spending more on Gear and Headphones doesn't always mean better sound... or more importantly more music enjoyment. I've tried some expensive stuff and I just keep being reminded that my mid-fi stuff like the Bifrost 2 to the Jot 2 and LYR 3 could be fine for most. Although I do have the Burson Conductor 3X GT coming sometime this month I hope. But I already know I like the Burson sound so this purchase was not a leap of faith... and I feel this is a good value purchase. Where many purchases I've made in the past felt like I was overpaying for something type purchases. Again... live and learn!! 😉
So glad you didn't lose on the Soekris. Thanks for sharing your experiences with others to help them know that it's about what we enjoy, not what's most expensive or "best"
Good review and even for me the May did not made me fall off the chair when I listened to it first. Having said that, when comparing TT2 + external upsampler Mscaler, please consider this combo of Holo May + external upsampler HQplayer ($250) .. and only then being a fair comparison, the game is on :-) I found this combo did lost a bit of timber but was on steroids in terms of dynamics, impact, layering, resolution, clarity. Kindly let us know if you are able to compare. Cheers
Hi Ganesh, I can't make that comparison because the May was only on loan. However, I also didn't choose to explore the HQPlayer route because the TT2 was better to my ears without any upsampling so you could equally buy a TT2 and use HQPlayer to get even better results. I still think the May is a wonderful DAC and for those who don't need the pre-amp or headphone amp capability of the TT2, I'd always recommend the May as a great choice.
Got it, thanks. Also if you can get hold of Rockna wavelight DAC which is comparably priced then please share your thoughts on them as well, looking forward to that. According to the HQPlayer team, HQp works well only with certain DACs i.e. many Holo & TotalDAC models and few other DACs. I didn't ask the technicalities on why only certain DACs are recommended to be paired but this is a confirmed positioning from HQp team. I know it might sound bit unintuitive :-) but it seems to be the case. May out of the gate is good but does not live up to the hype considering my preference but when HQp adds to the mix then this completely extracts every bit of May's and the song's potential. Sorry, didn't mean to talk about an up-sampler in this DAC section but thought it is relevant to share it
Excellent review mate. Please do review the Musician Audio Aquarius if possible. They are in the same price range as the Spring 3. Thank you EDIT : It would be very interesting to see them compared.
R2R technology, including the May, apparently gives you a more realistic rendition of music with things like resonances, air around instruments and spatial placement being more life-like than Delta-Sigma. It could possibly be due to the high amount of digital processing involved in D/S DACs. In your opinion, is the Hugo TT2 able to compete with the May when it comes to these nuances or does it, in comparison, sound "flatter", more digital/processed and more synthetic?
I absolutely think the TT2 competes on those factors. "Traditional" DS designs using ESS, AKM, Cirrus Logic chips, etc. definitely fall short in those areas, but the TT2 (and all Chord DACs) are designed very differently despite technically being DS. I feel like the May produces a little more space perhaps, but the tonality, resonance and texture of the sounds are a little better from the TT2 so both are excellent and on par with (for me) the TT2 being slightly better due to having just that touch more accuracy on the tonality and texture/micro details
@@PassionforSound Thank you very much for your reply. I have been considering saving for a May but my issue with it would be that I wouldn't want to spend any more money on my set-up (that would be a huge expense on its own) and as you've rightly pointed out in your video, the May would require an amp alongside it that would be good enough not to hold it back... All of a sudden the TT2 looks like a better option, I just wasn't sure about how close these two products are to each other, i.e. if the May offers something that the Hugo's digital processing simply cannot match (some people claim the May is uncannily life-like). Also, there are people who claim that the May is even better than the Dave which would imply that the TT2 is not in the same league.
Having spent the time I did with the May and TT2 side-by-side, I really don't get the assertions that the May is somehow superior to the Dave when it only just matched the TT2 to my ears. It's possible that people aren't taking into account factors like system synergies (how well the DAC and amp suit each other sonically, which headphones are used, and even the interconnects used) so it's absolutely possible that an optimised May is better than a TT2 or Dave, but the reverse would also be true that an optimised TT2 will be better than a non-optimised May. Something else to consider is whether they are using headphones or speakers for their listening. I haven't tried the May with speakers so it's possible that alters things. Finally, as for the processing side of things, remember that it's ALL digital audio so both DACs are processing the data (and heavily). The May is often cited as sounding best with upsampled audio from HQ Player while the TT2 is doing much the same thing internally (although HQ Player is theoretically more powerful). Rob Watts' design of the Chord DACs is all about maximising the accuracy of the analog waveform - i.e. ensuring precise reconstruction from the samples to the sound. I think we sometimes feel like R2R DACs are somehow keeping things more analog, but the reality is that it all comes from a set of samples so the more precision and processing that goes into the reconstruction process, the better. I don't say this to suggest that the TT2 is automatically better in that regard so much as to say that when we're talking digital audio, more processing might actually be preferableand shouldn't be seen as a negative.
@@PassionforSoundIt's always a pleasure listening to and reading your opinions, but I must say it is doubly so now that I've spent a while on the Head-Fi forum where there are at least a few individuals who seem hell-bent on defending their preconceived notions of what's right and wrong in the audio world :) You're right about the consensus being that the May truly spreads its wings when used with the HQ Player. My understanding was that a truly NOS DAC like the May has less digital processing involved as it doesn't oversample by default and as such doesn't need to deal with as many issues as a D/S DAC (noise etc.). On top of that, because it has a natural high-frequency roll-off it inevitably produces a slightly different sound which is liked by some and perhaps for one reason or another sounds more realistic to some people (well, there's nothing particularly interesting about the roll-off but if the smaller amount of digital processing results in more life-like sound then I thought that this could be a game-changer). Following from that, I would think that an ideal situation would be a NOS DAC with oversampling via software such as HQ Player, because: 1. It gives you the option to experience NOS whenever you feel like it (unavailable on other types of DAC); 2. You get a more pure base sound which you then oversample with highly customisable software). As I've said, I've not experienced any of this so I have no idea how this theory translates into reality and whether all this hassle is worth it. Because of my limited budget, I am considering getting a TT2. My headphones are also easy to drive and this combo takes care of any potential questions like "Is my amp good enough?", "What if I used different interconnects?" :) I thought that I would first check with you, however, to see how big or small a potential gap is between these devices. To be fair, it would need to be pretty big for me to want to save so much more money to get a May AND an amplifier. Especially since it's possible to get a TT2 second-hand at a decent price. I have a D90 now and an Ares II - the Ares II makes me miss the D90's resolution and precision while the D90 lacks the "time domain" of the Ares and sounds a bit lifeless/soulless. Instead of being happy with both devices they have made it almost impossible for me to enjoy either of them, hehe, which just means that I've learnt somehing new and it's time for a vertical, as opposed to a horizontal, change. I hope that I won't be disappointed with what the TT2 brings to the table. :)
If you want a balance point between the D90 and Ares II (that's better than both), it's very hard to go wrong with the TT2. As you say, avoiding the issue of interconnects and DAC/amp synergy is a huge bonus too. Keep in mind that you can get the same HQ Player benefits with the TT2 as you can with the May (even though they process the incoming signal differently). The May has a slightly fuller, slower (not in a bad way) sound, but I can't imagine anyone being unhappy with either so I think you're making a great choice.
Ideally I'd have liked to know your impression of feeding the MAY KTE an upsampled feed when comparing to TT2 w mscaler .. Either feed MAY from m mscaler or via software (eg Audirvana, HQplayer etc). Late comment on this upload lol!, ... sorry as clearly too late to check. Just thought I'd share this comment as I did acquire a MAY KTE and do via Audirvana feed and upsampled feed and do notice a difference to detail retrieve and no loss in the richness of the sound. I do however use primarily for speaker vs headphones listening. Thx and love your videos!
Based on many people's suggestions, the May might sound a bit better with upsampler inputs, but the M-Scaler isn't the ideal source for this because it's severely limited when used with non-Chord DACs. The May is definitely an outstanding DAC whether you're using it with upsampled content or not so I think you can buy with confidence and then decide later if you prefer upsampling via Audirvana or just the bit-perfect output
So this is only review that find HOLO dacs not good for the price and doesnt reccomend it. Its really odd as everyone else prase them even measurements are godly especially MAY dac. I guess it may be down to subjective opinion that HOLO dacs are not good comapred to similar price HUGO or Yggi
I definitely really like the May and would recommend it for those who already have their preamp/headphone amp sorted. It was only the Spring that I felt didn't live up to the price when compared to the cheaper Schiit Yggy OG
Thanks Carlos! I didn't bother trying it because the M-Scaler provides predictable benefits regardless of the DAC you feed it into. I.e. better spatial details, more depth in the soundstage and a smoother but still detailed and textured sound.
It's good there are choices and everyone hears differently. I'm not sure where the comment about the srping3 hype comes from, if anything the May is the hype train as of late and for good reason. From all indications the spring3 and May are extremely close in overall signature and not what @passion for sound has described, odd. Maybe its HP use, which I don't use...ever. Large dedicated well sorted listening room with speakers is the only way I would evaluate IMHO. Thus far, these two latest Holo products in NOS mode using HQP to upsample to DSD 512 or PCM at 768 or 1.536MHz result in pretty fantastic outcomes and would be the opposite of this reviewers comments. Remarkable DACs. The chords are a completely different animal and the TT2 is def in the drier and more so analytical camp. Again good we all don't agree.
Scenario... I have the Arya Stealth. Bitcoin hit's 100k. I spend 10k to improve the Arya to the max. Order of what I value the most: 1 - Timbre or "accuracy" or "realism" 2 - Soundstage or "3D" or "holographic" 3 - Detail or "resolution" What system(s) do I go with?
And for 10 grand more one can hear the thoughts of a singer :))) Great review, thank you very very much! Yggy is back on my shopping list all of a sudden, hmmm...
Hey brother. Is the May and spring a bit less dynamic than the Yggy? That is are the May and spring a bit soft in attack? I think R2R discreet DACs are being a bit overhyped as the flavor of the last year or so. Some say the May and Spring are a bit of ‘ pipe and slippers’. Too soft and not energetic enough.
I feel like the Spring definitely fits this description in relation to the Yggy OG. The May has a better sense of energy to me and is a DAC that I really like. If not for the TT2, the May is what I would own. I definitely think the Spring was overhyped.
The Burson headphone amp is what degraded the May DAC, IMO. Also, you did not explain what the M-Scaler is, and can a similar device be used with the May DAC?
The Burson Soloist GT is on par or better than other amps at the same level (Ferrum Hypsos & Orr, Benchmark HPA4, Holo Bliss, etc.) so it wasn't a limiting factor. Even if it were a limiting factor, the TT2 would have been equally limited when comparing both DACs via the Soloist. I didn't explain the M-Scaler because I have a dedicated video doing that and need to keep videos to a watchable length. It's not really a product that works optimally with non-Chord products, but you can use HQPlayer to get similar results with the May.
@@PassionforSound looking forward to it. I really think we ought to work something out with Schiit about sending you those other two flavors as cards and letting you play around with them. The OG is really unique in its presentation, but the LIM is just so special in how it sound so "correct."
I can't compare it to a Gungnir unfortunately, but I will compare to Bifrost 2 which Jason Stoddard considers a mini Yggy (and with good reason it turns out)
I have 2 friends that own these DAC's. The May sounds way better than the Spring. It is smoother and less bright. It is also more musical. Both are the KTE models.
I bought a Holo May KTE .. has 230 hrs on it .. it’s in a system with Aries G2.1 , Hugo2 , Modright KWH225i Integrated Hybrid Amp,Boenicke W8se+ speakers . Less Loss Filters and cabling .. Lush ^3 USB and Intona Profesional USB cables And it is an awesome DAC ..soundstage is awesome
@@PassionforSound it is .. but i agree with you that my Hugo2 .. on some tracks i prefer .. so i will be looking for a Used TT .. or maybe a Dave .. but i have yet to hear a Mola Mola .. would love a direct comparison video .. of a chip based DAC .. for a system with a May .. to be a super detailed DAC
@@PassionforSound hi have you ever tried the Lush ^2 or ^3 USB cables .. i have had the ^ 2 in a past set up .. sold it to a friend when i no longer needed it .. have had the ^3 running since i got the May .. The Intona Professional version USB just showed up .. and while it cost double in price .. they are both going to be kept .. they are very different Lush is well Lush .. and Intona is really kinda freaking me out .. i have been going back and forth between the 2 for hours .. it needs some hours on it .. but this is a detail oriented cable top to bottom .. never heard anything this revealing
@Passion for Sound, please add your setup to the video description. What headphones did you use? First, thank you for your review! That said, I think it's a bit odd to pair a $5500 DAC with a $1000 amp. It would be interesting to hear what you think of the May with something like the LTA MZ3 or a DNA Stratus, or other amp in that class.
Hi Henrik, I don't test with just one setup which is why I don't list a setup - it would be too long and complex. Also, I tested these DACs with the Soloist GT (not the basic Soloist) and Sparkos Labs Aries so $2.5k and $3k amps as well as the Bottlehead Mainline and Elekit TU-8200R.
I wish the TT2 alone would do it for me, but after trying other dedicated class a amps, it’s clear it’s not beefy enough to make the Susvaras really sing. Have you ever tried the XLR outs from the TT2 into the Susvara? Supposedly that provides it more power but not sure if it helps at all in reality.
I did try the XLR outputs and felt that it made no noticeable difference. I agree that the Susvaras need a warmer/richer amp to be their best. TT2 is just too dry/neutral for the Susvaras IMO
Thanks for the informative review! Considering either Denfarips or Holo DAC now from Musician Draco. Just curious if the review was done with speakers or headphones as I saw one comment here saying this review was done via headphones?
This review was with headphones, but having tested with both, I've found that headphones and speakers reveal the same things about the products in the source chain and headphones actually provide greater insight about things like resolution and detail retrieval because they're not working to overcome the room acoustics.
OK if you can find a Mola Mola Tambaui used for about 9-10k that will best the TT2 and MScaler. The headphone amp in the Mola Mola however is horrifying lol. It is like an afterthought just to see if it's turned on not to listen to.
Unfortunately, it seems the fact that I didn't rave about their DACs made Holo Audio a bit grumpy so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a Bliss demo unit from the local distributor ☹️
sorry, could you share what was your suggestion to serve as a balanced output for the Spring 3 instead of its pre-amp option please? I couldn't catch it. thank you.
O-type are a toroidal transformer, just a different shape than the regular toroidal. Kind of like a straight six vs V6 engine - both are still 6-cylinder engines
Nice review. I did order a KTE Spring 3 a few weeks back during Black Friday sales and still currently waiting for it to arrive. I was looking for something different and not a Delta Sigma based DAC. I currently run a Chord Hugo 2 as my DAC through to various amps such as JDS Labs El Amp, Gustard H16, WA7 Fireflies and Sennheiser HDV820. Before making my decision I was testing between the Spring 3 KTE and the Chord TT2. Ended up with the Spring 3. Smooth and pleasing yet still spacious and impactful when needed. It was different which is what I was after. TT2 still had the Chord house sound just taken up to the next level. Next week I am hoping to try both the Soloist GT and GSX Mini. There is only a $100 difference between them here in NZ. Soloist does have extra features and probably a better volume control for the high output voltage of the Spring 3.
I have the Spring KTE for 3 months now, and after testing many high end dacs recently in my system, I can definitively say is the best dac I've heard so far including the May as well. I'm guessing this reviewer may have received a defective unit, because, is super resolving, the separation is simply amazing, and the sound balance is fantastic.
I'm very comfortable that it wasn't a defective product. It's more likely a question of the products used with the DACs and also whether you're using speakers or headphones. There are a number of R2R DACs which are incredibly popular with speaker users, but which I haven't particularly liked in my dedicated headphone system. Ultimately, if you're happy with what you've got, that's great and we might just have different tastes. To your point, Recce, it's great that you could try a few different DACs and choose the one that suited you most.
As you clearly stated, it must be the products used with the dac. Because I've tried many hi-end dacs lately and one of the strengths of the Spring 3 dac is separation and depth, as well as a very well balance natural sound.
Hi Lachlan. Nice review. Have you tried running your headphones out of the balanced outputs on the TT2? If you haven’t I suggest it. Just my 2cents about the May is that there’s people running it into Benchmark THX amps that are very flat and the warmth added by the May might be just benefiting them. Totally agree the TT2 is a fabulous dac and hope Chord make the Mojo2 a killer product. Keep up the great work.
Hi Glen, glad you're liking the channel! I tested the XLR outputs of the TT2 for the Susvara review and found no significant difference if using the same cable. You might actually find that the wire used for the twin XLR connections might be imparting the favourable qualities because (if I recall correctly) Rob Watts actually runs everything (including speakers) from the 6.3mm outputs because they're a more direct, simple signal path and therefore preferable. Personally I heard no noticeable difference when the same wire type was used for XLR and 6.3mm.
@@PassionforSoundhmm... I believe I read somewhere that chord doesnt believe in balanced designs. If you need balanced anything you dont have enough power for your (perfectly clean) single ended signal😂
Yep. Chord are among a number of companies who favour a good single ended amp design over balanced because it can create a simpler and more transparent signal path. For the record, I think it all comes down to each individual circuit as I've heard fantastic balanced designs too.
Hi Lachlan, I'm Khiem, your audiophile friend from Head-fi and Facebook. I have not heard the Spring KTE or the May, but I am currently using the Spring Lv2. One thing I noticed that was not covered in your review is that my Spring sounds SIGNIFICANTLY better when using the I2S input compared with other inputs. I'm not saying the I2S will transform the Spring into total different beast. Just a thing that I found out after 2 years living with my Spring and have tried it with various inputs/systems. Nevertheless, superb and informative review as always! Your feedback is spot on!
Hi Khiem, thanks for commenting and letting me know it's you! That's great info for others using / trying the Spring. Thanks for sharing that experience!
I think that if you are comparing May to Hugo TT2 with M-Scaler you should oversample May too (maybe you did that but it's not clearly stated in the video). That would be much more fair comparison. You could have used HQPlayer for that. It can go beyound M-Scaler capabilities thought so probably to be fair both DAC's should be oversampled by HQP.
I disagree, Kamil. There will be many users of the May that are not using it for computer audio where HQPlayer can be used. There'll then be more than are like me and don't like the excessive complexity of HQPlayer and don't want to wade through all the options to find the best possible sound. I compared these products running in their simplest state, plugged directly to USB from a PC or coaxial from a streamer. I did discuss in the video that feeding the Holo DACs an upsampled signal improves their sound so those who wish to pursue that route will know it's worthwhile, but it still didn't bring the May + Soloist GT / Sparkos Aries combination to the level of the TT2 with/without the M-Scaler (particularly with the M-Scaler) in terms of the subtleties of textural, timbral and spatial information (i.e. "hearing the room")
@@PassionforSound I agree in a way that I also don't like the complexity of HQP (I think that going through Roon may be easier). The problem for me is that you are upgrading the sound of one and it should be better because of that. Also more pricey - in my country (Poland) TT2 + M-Scaler is almost double the price of May lvl2 (I don't belive that KTE is worth it). That's why I think that more leveled out comparison would be better especially that HQP is also a cheaper and better solution (by better I mean that it can oversample beyound the M-Scaler my far). But yes, M-Scaler is more accessible in use option. For me I was suprised how much better Holo May sounded then Chord Qutest and D90 (I'm a DAC's scepticist ;) ). How much more lifelike, clear and present the music was. Like I was in the same room with the musicians. Now I can't hear my other DAC's because I know that I'm listening to recording vs the real performance that May gives me.
May is definitely way better than the Qutest - that's for sure. In relation to the TT2 and M-Scaler, they are made to go together and aren't that much more expensive than buying a May with a high quality headphone amp and/or pre-amp (which the TT2 already provides). As a pure DAC without taking into account the headphone amp or preamp capabilities of the TT2, the May is definitely better value.
@@PassionforSound with such a great deal of may fanatics explicetly liking it with hqp i personaly think it deserved at least a short test tbh. I am not someone that is likely to use hpq as im sure many others aren't, but I don't feel its quite fair to try and call out a hype train when the specific source the majority of them use isn't tested
I get where you're coming from, Bob, but if you have to buy extra software (HQP isn't free) and then also tweak and fiddle with complex settings just to get a product sounding its best, then it's no longer about the product and the review becomes a source chain comparison. If I applied the same level of optimisation to the Yggy and TT2 they would also likely improve so the gap would probably remain and we'd just be left with a longer, more complicated review. Not trying to be defensive - just sharing the thought processes behind the decision I made to stick with the products at their stock performance levels.
Glad you've been enjoying the channel. I provide details of all giveaways in the videos they're active in, but yes, it's normally open to all subscribers
Another Excellent review. Based on your recommendation I got the Chord Hugo TT2, and I’m smitten with it, but based on all the reviewers, I was just about to trade it in for the hollow audio combo, but after listening to this review, I decided to just save for the M Scaler. So, thank you so much!!
I recently picked up a holo spring 3 level 1 in the second hand market. The only dacs I have to compare it too are the bifrost 2/64 and the Burson composer. The Holo ( 2nd hand) at 2 x the price of the bifrost 2/64 is a steal in my opinion. It beats the 2/64 thoroughly imo in all areas except the bass where the 2/64 is just a touch tighter. It is definitely! worth 2 x the price but not 3.5 times ( normal retail price). If you can pick up one of these at a good price in the 2nd hand market I would definitely consider it. You have next to no chance picking up a good second hand yiggy in Australia.
Thank you for another great and thoughtful review. After reading / watching a number of excellent reviews about the Spring Dac I was ready to pull the trigger. However, after watching your review, your clear descriptions and your reasoning I decided to go with the Hugo TT2. While I obviously do not have the benefit of being able to compare the Spring to the TT2, I can say that I am extremely happy with my decision. The TT2 really is a marvel. It is versatile and can drive anything. I even enjoy the DCA Stealth with it, which I usually have connected to my tube amp. Thank you for your guidance with your excellent reviews.
I find it impossible to work in percentages with audio gear, particularly when the differences are as intangible as they are here. There's a realism and liveliness to the sound of the May that's not there in the Spring for me. It's a significant jump in the sense that I wouldn't buy a Spring, but it's absolutely buy a May.
The May is a top tier DAC so it will definitely scale along with better amps (and the Bliss might best the Soloist GT - I'm not sure). That said, other DACs like the TT2 will also scale with better amps so adding a different amp won't change things in any absolute ways. In short, May is definitely excellent and deserves to be considered alongside the other great DACs on the market, but I don't see it as definitively better than the equivalent competition regardless of the amp used.
Another great and professional review. I am awaiting my Denafrips Pontus II and stepping up from the Ares, and looking forward to your reviews on these products.
Channel patron, Snow Rang3r, has pointed out that my database of pricing is out-of-date. The TT2 is now $5,995 instead of $5,500 as quoted in this video. The Yggy OG is also $2,595 rather than the $2,199 I had in the database which is the Less Is More version price. Apologies for two errors in a single video!! The good news is that my conclusions remain consistent despite these updated prices. The Yggy is still better value financially and sonically than the Spring and the TT2's amplifier is still way ahead of what's possible with the May KTE and a $500 amplifier.
I would like to hear your opinion and comparsion of mola dac.
I'm keen to try the mola mola too!
I have the Yggy and TT2, Yggy cannot compare to TT2, sorry for saying that…
It's all a matter of personal preference so no apologies needed 🙂 and I do agree. Yggy is great, but TT2 is on a different level
There's definitely some truth to that and it depends on what people expect and value from headphones/speakers. I find that I consistently like the same DACs on my speaker setup that I like with my headphones
Passion, you have just saved me a lot of money. I almost bought the Spring 3 KTE until I saw your fantastic review. Thank you.
So glad I could help. To be clear, I think May is brilliant, but Spring is vastly overrated IMO.
@@PassionforSound Thank you.
Really like your ability and willingness to learn. Your honesty is also much appreciated.
Always have to keep an open mind 🙂
Great review. Detailed and straight forward!! One of the best review I watched on Spring 3 and May.
So glad you liked it!
Nice review. Appreciate the no bull approach and that you clearly define differences that you observe between products. Having options that suit ones' taste and preference is a good thing and it's nice to kinow that even at this level, there are choices avaibable to suit a variety of tastes and budgets.
That's really well stated. There's rarely a right or wrong / good or bad in this hobby. It's all preferential and also depends on the other pieces in the system.
@@PassionforSound Yep, it is about synergy and if that can be achieved then it;s an OMG, HC, WTFJH experience.
I have the May KTE and use i2s which really opens it up
It's a shame I didn't have a good I2S source to try at the time
I appreciate you putting your opinion out there, we don’t always agree but I like to see how you view a product. I firmly believe at this level you have entered the space were ones physical ability to hear, personal preferences and gear matching plays a much bigger role in selecting components then is this a quality product.
I definitely agree that synergy and preferences are an important factor, particularly when comparing the May and TT2.
I do believe the Spring is a bit overhyped, but it's still a lovely DAC for those that maybe specifically want a smoother, more mellow sound.
Thank you for the detailed review, it was quite enjoyable.
I compared my DAVE + Hugo M Scaler with my friend’s Holo Audio May KTE and had a very similar experience. The May KTE is a wonderful DAC(second best DAC I’ve listened to) but the DAVE with the M Scaler edges it in detail retrieval without sounding harsh, while also providing a more holographic soundstage. We were listening to the STAX SR-009S powered by the Kevin Gilmore Grounded Grid electrostatic amplifier to compare the two DACs. The DAVE also provided slightly more bass response as well.
Sounds like a wonderful setup you tried. Thanks for sharing your experiences and confirming what I heard. It's always nice to know I'm not making this stuff up 🙂
Great review! All the best for the New Year.
Thanks Monty. You too!
Interesting review! I think at this level it really come down to personal preference... I'm owning TT2 and Spring 3 KTE at the moment, and I feel I enjoy Spring more than TT2, for that smoother sound :) I'm using Spring with Soloist 3xp / Feliks Euforia as headphone amp
That's really interesting, Alex. Do you find the TT2 too aggressive or something? Which headphones do you have?
@@PassionforSound I think I just feel TT2 a little bit dry, especially with the build in amp, I'm using ZMF Verite Closed or Arya Stealth version, which headphones you used in your review?
@@PassionforSound I think my feeling is really subjective, because as you know Spring is really huge in size, I can't put them side by side on my desk to do a AB test, I just use them in different room for different occasions... I will find some time to do a comparison again with the tracks you used in your review
I definitely agree that the TT2 can sound a bit drier. I did my testing with a mixture of the Elites, Susvaras and Verite Open (and maybe others). I can definitely understand people preferring the smoother tonality of the Spring, but I like the extra energy and detail from the TT2. Some of it could depend on musical tastes too.
@@PassionforSound Agree, I find myself enjoy Spring more on some old Chinese pop vocals, which mostly were not quite good recorded, and Spring is more forgiving for those tracks, but if I'm listening to classic music, I prefer TT2 for more detail
Another excellent review.
I agree with the hype train analogy, it's funny how people develop polarising views and strong language regarding the performance of certain products. When you get the chance to listen to the product yourself and compare the SQ to your own experiences the hyped expectation is never met. Great DACs sound great, that's it. The actual audio differences between good hifi DACs, streamers etc is so subtle most of us would fail blind testing, yet the price differences are ridiculous. Anyone who uses language like 'night and day' and 'leaves it for dead' when comparing expensive DACs/streamers is someone you should not be listening to.
There's a lot of truth in this! There are some notable exceptions, but they're just that - exceptions.
I think it's quite telling how quickly a lot of these "best DAC ever" type devices don't get talked about within 5-6 months of the initial hype.
@@PassionforSound True, and its funny how people talk up DACs they've never heard.
I have a simple Eversolo A6, I use it for transport only into a Michi P5 preamp.
The background is black ink, the vocals sublime and the instruments are 99.9% as good as I've heard on any system at any show (I have ATC's). Yet people say the A6 is 'night and day' to the master or the new wider model. Without even bothering to sample the other models I can tell you the difference would not be night and day and It would be very hard to tell the difference. A nice, neat data transfer with low jitter is what you want and all you need and the A6 achieves that very well.
People lose their heads, you can't make it sound better with fancier equipment, it's just data.
Yes, hyperbole is all too common in this hobby 🙂
I use to think the Hugo TT2 and the M-Scaler were outrageously expensive!! Thanks to you, I came to the realization that I could have easily afforded to buy the TT2 and the M-Scaler when I consider all the $ I spent/wasted riding hype trains over the years. For now I will have to be content with my HeadAmp GSX-Mini headphone amp and the Gustard X26 Pro DAC setup.
I have a Gustard X26 Pro as well. I'm very happy with the DAC. I was looking at Spring 3 because of all the talks about it. but had an eerie feeling which was addressed by Lachlan's video today. Great job Lachlan! Love your reviews, always!
Sounds like you've still got a great setup and part of this hobby is the journey to work out what we really love. 🙂
Apparently the X26 beifits from a good DDC. I understand your frustration with jumping on too many hype trains, it's all valuable experience though.
I'll be reviewing the SU-6 DDC in the coming months of that's of interest 🙂
@@SubjectE57 I'm tempted to jump on another possible hype train after watching Joshua Valour's recent review praising the new Abyss Diana TC. The Diana TC checks all my boxes. For now though I'm going to hold off until I watch/read more reviews.
Great Review! I have owned the Spring 3 Level 3 KTE for 3 months now, bought from Indie HiFi in Brisbane. Love it! If not for affordability
(on my part) at the time I would not have hesitated in buying the MAY KTE.
Glad you're enjoying your Spring!
I would’ve bought the May except for the price…so the spring is the next best thing….
Great review Lachlan! I own the spring KTE and love it paired it with soloist 3XP sparkos and supercharger. The “smoothness” from Holo and sparkos is a great synergy with the 1266 phi tc. I bought my spring used so got a good price for it.
If you're looking for future Dac suggestions from the Holo/Chord path here is a short list you may see as steps above:
Berkeley Alpha Ref2
Lampizator Golden Gate 2
Totaldac d-1
Nagra HD
Mola Mola Tambaqui
Rockna Wavedream
Waversa WVDac
Aries Cerat Kassandra II
Audio Note Dac 5
Aqua Formula hd rev 2
If you're looking for something in a similar tier as the May/Chord here is a short list:
Berkeley Alpha Ref (OG)
Lampizator Amber 3
Nagra Classic
Waversa Dac3 mk2
Rockna Wavelight
Aqua La Voce S3
Concert Fidelity Dac
Sonnet Morpheus
Thanks Ace! I think the Spring would make good sense at secondhand prices or with more energetic headphones and I understand the 1266s to be a bit that way, but haven't heard them yet.
@@PassionforSound yet at a certain point system synergy becomes as important as the component’s technical ability.
System synergy is definitely important when playing with multiple products at the same general level of performance for sure
Musician draco $725 is a phenomenal entry to hear r2r DACs. Blows away the measure well bs from audioscience.(Got the dx7pro with sparkos 3602 opamp, which I thought was great but man once you hear r2r or tube you just can't go back to deltasigma dacs.).
yeah - it would be great to see a Draco (and Pegasus) review on this channel. It is good that the Holo Audio hype train is tamed a bit too.
I'm keen to try the Musician gear. I think Aoshida have them so I'll check in and see what's possible.
I also agree that R2R is often preferable to delta sigma. Only Schiit Multibit and Chord DACs offer the same type of benefits IMO
As usual. A lot of wonderful information to allow amazing buying power for the audiophile. :)
So glad you found it useful 🙂
@@PassionforSound I did and I also wanted to say that I love the room you have for filming your videos. The lighting and setup is quite awesome. :)
Thank you for letting me know. It's taken a long time to get it where it is now and I'm happy with the results 🙂
I actually just added a print of one of my photos in that blank section of wall on the left so you'll see that in the videos coming soon too
@@PassionforSound. Of course. You’ve done a great job and I look forward to your extensive review of the DCA STEALTH once you get it of course to test. :)
It's times like these I am reminded that I'm very much a novice in this hobby. Very thorough review as always, good job 👍
No sweat and my pleasure 🙂🙂
35:55 - "Then the May still have a place" -- nice play on words lol
Completely accidental 😂
I am expecting delivery of the holo cyan 2 tomorrow - it's NOS only and wayyyy less expensive. This will be my first r2r dac and to say I'm on tenterhooks in anticipation of finally getting my hands on it would be an understatement. I feel like I've got "detail retrieval" exhaustion from years of D/S dacs, so we shall see if having things a bit "smoothed over" is actually as good for me as I imagine it to be or not.
My current dac is "hot" with 5v output, too, and it's annoying af in combination with my amp, even with its volume control. I also ordered a passive attenuator to see if this helps - it should but who knows?
I hope you love the Cyan 2!
@@PassionforSound thank you! So far I don't hate it :D It's only been a few hours but I've already had some "wow! are you kidding?!" good moments, some "huh???" odd moments, and some moments where I hear no difference to my old dac at all. The main quality that strikes me, though, is while it sounds overall brighter than my last dac, it's surprisingly easy to listen to. I would not call it smoothed over though - it just seems more refined and at ease - more "competent", like it doesn't need to push so hard? The dynamics and control with complex recordings is far and away the biggest improvement, so let's see if the few odd bits work themselves out with a few more hours of use (primarily nasal/buzzy/lost sounding vocals on a few older recordings - really weird effect)
This reviews should be done with both speakers and headphones as each has its own distinct quality when played back that makes it shine in a specific application. The reviewer definitely likes digital precision in his headphones. For me sound coming out from floor standing speakers can’t be replicated by headphones.
I make it pretty clear in my reviews that they're headphone based, Robe. I agree that using speakers can present a very different experience. I don't know if I agree about favouring digital precision through headphones so much as a realistic, lifelike sound with the right balance of attack, speed, harmonics and space.
Take a shot everytime he says YGGY.
giggity 😂😂😂
I wonder if anyone's tried the M Scaler with Holo Audio Spring or May DACs.
If so, what were your impressions? thx...
I haven't, but I also probably wouldn't because the M-Scaler is limited on its output to non-Chord DACs. It needs the dual BNC setup to hit the highest sample rates so you're hobbling it somewhat when using with other DACs. Of course, for those with Chord DACs and others, that could.make sense, but not to use the M-Scaler only with a non-Chord DAC.
Better to go for HQ Player with the Holo gear and that should reap excellent rewards.
I tried it. It wasn't anything exceptional. Hyped ? Yes a bit. Bad ? No.
And I compared it on headphones. I'm sure on speakers the difference would be even more obvious in space and soundstage (comparing vs dave+mscaler)
Holo sounds like a typical R2R non oversampling dac. A good one (very good), yes but nothing more.
I completely agree. The Spring is a nice DAC that's over-hyped. The May is an excellent DAC by any measure I think.
@@PassionforSound I want to make it clear. I was testing May kitsune :), and still I think that it's a bit overhyped. Very dood dac but...
I really want to try comparision on speakers, as I'm pretty sure that the difference would be stagering.
Maybe someday
I do believe that speaker listening might make a significant difference with these, but I'm not setup to test that theory.
Thanks for clarifying though!
Honest review.dont get that every day.well done.😅
My pleasure! It was possibly an over-correction of the hype at the time, but I still feel the same about them: May is excellent as a standalone DAC and Spring is still overpriced IMO.
Fair review I thought . I’ve got the kte May atm, and I slightly prefer it over the tt2 but it is close as to preference, as you rightly said. I do think the spring dac in a hifi makes lots of sense and disagree on your point on that dac, but I know you don’t deal with speakers, since in the U.K. at least one version of it - spring 3 level 2 sounds better than the Denafrips Pontus 2 for similar money imo.
There's definitely nothing wrong with the Spring. I just think the Yggy OG offers better value for money performance because they're on par or perhaps the Yggy is a bit better (this will be somewhat preferential) and it's cheaper
@@PassionforSound thanks Lachlan, I never got to try that one. One things for sure never discount Chinese at this quality, as some American and British people do.
Absolutely! Making judgements about products based on their origin is a mistake IMO. China have invested a huge amount in their manufacturing capabilities and often have better capabilities than other countries. Likewise, countries like the USA and UK have their fair share of crappy products too
Nice Review, but, I think you completely miss the main selling point of the Holo DACs, and that is to use them specifically with HQPlayer in NOS mode. I have yet to meet anyone who owns a HOLO and is not using HQPlayer. It is the combo of HQPlayer feeding the HOLO May which blows the doors off the TT2 +MScaler combo and directly competes with a DAVE+MScaler If you can still try it, upsample to DSD512 with poly-sinc-ext2 using the ASDM7ECv2 modulator. Those settings are stunningly good.
I've sent the Holo units back, but I think buying a product where you have to then use a specific piece of software (that's not free), and a piece of software with a very convoluted interface, has its own drawbacks. I'm not criticising the use of HQ Player, but reviewing the product not the potentially tweaked and maximum possible performance source chains. If I started down that path we'd have to start talking about similar tweaks for every other product too and that opens up WAY too many variables for a manageable length video. Not to mention that there are many people looking for a DAC to connect to a streaming device or transport where HQ Player might not be an option
@@PassionforSoundI agree with this. I do not want to spend £6K on a DAC, just to have to use HQP to make it sound best. It already should sound amazing for £6K!
You definitely have very different opinions from someone like GoldenSound. He really liked the Spring 3 and thought that the main differences in Sound is the May is just slightly faster. He definitely thought the Spring was better that the Schiit Yggdrasil
It's not uncommon for my opinions to differ from GS. It's a good idea to check out some other reviews of ours on products you're familiar with to decide which of us has similar tastes to you.
I’ve heard that the Spring requires a long burn in period like up to 400-500 hours!
How long did it burn in before you did your review?
These were demo units that had been reviewed by at least one prior reviewer and likely listened to by Hugo from Indie HiFi as well. Which is to say that I don't know for certain, but there would have been plenty of time to get through the major changes of burn-in (if needed) because the majority of change happens early in the process.
@Robert M: I read from one commenter's post on another UA-cam audiophile review of the Holo Audio MAY that HIS experience with his MAY KTE DAC was such that it took him the better part of 900 (yes, NINE-HUNDRED) hours' worth of break-in-time before his MAY finally cleared the break-in goal posts and began sounding, to his ears, remarkably and sublimely MUSICAL, to the point where listening to music moved him to tears. His MAY had THAT much of an emotional impact on his listening experience. He very clearly stated that, when getting a MAY, we "have to GRIND OUR WAY through the lengthy break-in process" before we can truly begin to appreciate what the MAY can do. Here, copied/pasted, are his own words:
Jeff Trimm9 months ago (edited) - in response to "THE KING IS CROWNED - HOLO AUDIO MAY DAC REVIEW" - on UA-cam by NEW RECORD DAY (Ron)
"Fantastic review! I'm a new Holo May KTE owner, and I think you nailed it. One comment to current and prospective owners on burn-in: I bought a Holo May KTE and got it a few days before Christmas, 2020. It has been my personal experience that 500 hours is not sufficient for burn-in. At least in my experience, it took 900-1000 hours before the MAY's sound-stage, imaging and tone quality really opened up & started sounding truly beautiful and startlingly lifelike. Up until this point, I would get a day or two where it would seem to make a big improvement, only to regress in sound-stage, tonal and sound quality. There were a lot of ups and downs for me, and then starting around 900 hours or so, everything really started to gel in an incredible way. The transformation at this point has not been subtle. I can only say that whatever sound you hear and impressions you have of the Holo May KTE when listening to it when it has undergone fewer than 900-1000 hours of burn-in, is only a facsimile of what it will sound like after it has truly and finally broken in. You have to grind through the hours to get the payoff though. In my case, 39 days of 24x7 play. It seems insane to require that much break-in time, and YHMV (Your Hourage May Vary), but this has been my experience with my KTE edition with all of its upgraded caps and fuses inside it. When fully burned in, it is a truly magical and beautiful-sounding source with a realism that is startling, coupled with a lovely natural tone. Also, don’t skimp on the USB cable if USB is going to be your source. I’m running a Shunyata Sigma USB cable, and it is worth every penny. Also, per the review, the quality of the streamer, Ethernet cables, and even the network switch all have non-trivial impacts on the sound. I have a SotM switch/cabling running into an Auralic Aries G2. The resolution of the Holo May KTE is such as to make audible the positive impact of all of these up-stream upgrades. Anyway in summary, when getting this device brand-new from the factory, be sure you grind through the burn-in hours, potentially 1000 of them, to unlock the ultimate sound-capability of this beguiling DAC, at least in its KTE form. Don't pass judgment until after you have done the leg-work, and then be prepared to be gob-smacked. The transformation in those last 100 hours is magical." End of copied/pasted report.
I own both TT2 and M-Scaler and May L2.
I have a different perception from you: I find the May to be more airy and spacious, more grainy, more "analogue" and the TT2 combo to be more punchy, detailed, but with a narrower soundstage and element separation.
As you said though, at this level it's just a matter of personal preference...
Sometimes the terms we use to describe things can mean different things for different people (and there's no right or wrong). Glad you shared your impressions though because it might help others.
For the record, I do think the May is an outstanding DAC!
This leads into the whole oversampling discussion. Obviously, he doesn't perfer NOS sound. Spring 3 has none, May is limited. I wonder why he didn't run either through the Mscaler in his review? Or perhaps why he didn't use hqplayer. This is why the holo products can go up to 1.5m taps as an input because quite frankly, oversampling should be done externally with a product desinged for it. The May only does it because of the AKM chips inside had that functionality, but it is marginal at best.
Also realize, that the amps he is using aren't in the same category as these products so it's ability to highlight the diffrerences should be taken into account. I have questions about the Burson (love them) chain being. Perhaps trying it on other amps may show something else. He has AAS, forgot which one, looks like a Pendant(?) behind him. What is interesting is he is the first reviewer to really call out a huge difference between the Spring and the May. This is surprising, even to Kitsune which makes me think that there may be something else going on. Not to take anything away from the Yaggy. It is a good device, but like the Chord it has better oversampling built in than either of the Holo products and without taking that into consideration or adjusting for it, I understand his views, but depending on your setup your milage will varry. Personally, I would rather spend $250 for hqplayer than $5k for an mscaller, but that is just me.
Hi Roger, you're making a bunch of incorrect assumptions here. I tested the DACs using the Burson Soloist GT and Sparkos Labs Aries - both top tier headphone amps. The amp behind me is a Bottlehead Mainline, not an AAS amp - it's excellent, but not as good as the other two I mentioned.
The reason I didn't test the Holo DACs with the M-Scaler is because it completely changes the cost of the system. As I showed on screen and discussed, due to the need to invest in an amp for the Holo DACs (not needed with the TT2), the cost of adding an M-Scaler takes it into a different category. It's also a non-ideal setup due to the limited output from the M-Scaler to non-Chord DACs.
Finally, the same upsampling that will improve the Holo DACs will improve other DACs too like the TT2 for example. Suggesting that a DAC needs extreme upsampling to sound it's best basically means that people are forced to spend more than the list price to get the performance they're expecting. That's a drawback to me, particularly if the other options at the same price sound great with no added fuss or expense.
Hi Marco, I tried both. Which would you say do you prefer?
@@simonprice2923 the tt2 is gaaaaawn 😜 that says it all.
I was curious about R2R Dacs after trying out different mid level Dacs in my system such as Chord 2qute, Simaudio moon 380 dsd and Hegel HD25, I decided to buy the spring 3 Kte WO ever listening to it.
The first 2 weeks with it were disapointing, but it does change quite a bit over time.
I had to reposition my speakers and my acoustical settings.
After 1 month of use I would say that it's the best Dac that I ever had in my system, it's detail retrieval is better than all of my previous Dacs, but Without it being in your face.
The only Dac that I tried briefly in my system that was better is Metronome "le Dac", but it costs double and I'm not sure which is more enjoyable to listen to.
Over all a great buy, but not my last Dac.
Glad you're enjoying the Spring! Thanks for sharing your experiences
Another excellent objective review! As much as I've been enjoying the Bifrost 2, I've been wondering if moving to a higher end dac would be worthwhile. The Yiggy is the natural inclination since I love the BF2. I was interested in the Denafrips Pontus II, and was also looking at the Holo Spring 3. Your comments about the Spring 3 vs the Yiggy have really helped clear the muddy waters. Now I wonder which version of Yiggy is best......!
Glad you found it helpful! I'd have loved to compare all three Yggy flavours, but shipping costs, parts costs and COVID in general got in the way. In the upcoming Yggy OG review, I have compared the Bifrost 2 and Yggy in detail. Hopefully that's some help 🙂
@@PassionforSound Yes, very helpful, thanks! Looking forward to your comparison of the BF2 and Yiggy. When will you be releasing that review?
It's up on UA-cam, currently available to patrons only, but not long until it is released into the wild (about 1-2 weeks away IIRC)
@@PassionforSound The waiting is the hardest part! In a nutshell, would you say the difference in cost to go with the Yggy is well worth it?
Yes and no (not trying to be obtuse). The BF2 is incredibly good for the money. The Yggy is definitely better, but it's also huge. For me, if you have the space and the budget and you're looking for a DAC that can easily be endgame then go for the Yggy. It's not the best DAC I've heard, but it's really good enough that you could stop seeking more IMO
This review is excellent and also an honest effort put into making a fair comparisons but it is clearly a good example of personal preference. Contrast this review of the Holo May compared to the Chord Hugo TT2 to the review of the Holo May by Golden Sound who compared it against the Chord Dave a yet higher end DAC from Chord Audio and Golden Sound found the Holo May far more to his own personal taste all around. Both reviews well presented by two of who I consider some of the best and fairer audio equipment reviewers in UA-cam channels and they continue to be top reviewers in my own personal opinion….
But as they themselves often state on their reviews, it all comes down to personal preference…. so for anyone interested on selecting and purchasing from any of these DACS, we must take the conclusions of all these reviews with a grain of salt and just judge them as good and honest opinions. And is good to listen to a variety of opinions to help us arrive at the best possible solution for our own personal use specially if listening in person to the various equipment options is not possible.
100%! We can only ever discuss what we like and why (hopefully with comparisons for context). It's so important to get to know a reviewer's preferences and how they align with your own.
For the record, I do think the May is a brilliant DAC.
great comparison 👍
Thank you 🙂
This reviewer obviously likes DETAIL so I'm not surprised he preferred DACs that bring out details. R2R DACs are generally for people who prefer smoothness and overall musical enjoyment. When I hear music presented in a way that I can forget about instrument location/placement, specific details, etc. and just am able to enjoy and take in the music, that's the hallmark of a great DAC for me. But then, I'm not a reviewer so it is what it is, for me.
I'm biased as I own the Spring 3 KTE but it really requires a long burn-in so not sure if the reviewer had a 'good' unit for comparison purposes. I've owned Chord products (Hugo 2) and they are ultra detail retrieval monsters; I hear sounds that I've never heard before on my recordings. But the overall sound was just not pleasing for me and sounded dry and not enjoyable. That's why I moved to R2R DACs and they sounded better for my ears. But then I also use a tubed headphone amp so perhaps I'm in the group of people who prefer a warm and rich sound vs. a more analytical sound.
The unit I had was a demo unit that had been in action for an extended period before I received it so burn-in isn't a factor. I think you're right though that I value detail and imaging accuracy when listening. I don't like overly dry or analytical sound, but I use my choice of amps and headphones to colour the sound to my tastes and I personally believe in having a DAC that is as neutral (not souless or analytical) as possible to then add the colouration after it.
With all that said, what matters most is that you're enjoying your setup. It does sound like you enjoy a richer, smoother sound and it's great that you've identified that and that you're sticking to what you enjoy. Happy listening! 🙂
How these dacs compare with HoloAudio Cyan 2 ?
I haven't tried the Cyan 2 - sorry
Really hope you will get your hands on Cyan 2 :)
It's unlikely as I can't get access to Holo Audio gear without buying it secondhand
great review as always, i'm wondering what amp you think is good with yggdrasil?
It depends more on what you're driving with it and what sound you're after. Pairing DACs and amps is less about the synergy between the two and more about the resultant sound you want from your system.
Thank you for answering one more question is there a difference between Yggdrasil+ and Yggdrasil og? @@PassionforSound
The Yggy+ is the new version with the more modular chassis. You can buy the OG, LIM and MIB versions within the Plus platform.
thank you so much I really appreciate your time and effort you put on this channel keep it up mate@@PassionforSound
My pleasure. Happy listening!
Hey hey . Got a question for you .. will you take the R26 gustard or the new gustard x30 over spring 3 ?
Yes to the R26. I'm yet to hear the X30
Your whole section about the tt2 sounding better than out of the soloist just kinda points to the soloist being a massive bottle neck for both dacs here....
Not really, Bob. The TT2 internal stage is better than almost any other HP amp you could think of because it doesn't rely on the transfer of signal via 2 pairs of connectors, 1 pair of cables and a whole lot of circuitry in an external amp - it's a short, simple path that produces astounding clarity and transparency.
The Soloist GT and Sparkos Labs Aries are both amps that I used for the testing and are both world class headphone amps.
@@PassionforSound Yup it might have advantage in that, but external amps have their own power supplies unlike this dac that have 1 power supply for everything and this in theory can result in much weaker dynamics and transients that can result in anemic sound that everybody describes about Chord Internal amps.
Mate, it seems you dont have your own opinion and you just biasedly gonna praise Chord stuff... If their amp idea would be so great, everyone would be make it something like that...
Chord is apple in audiophile community and everything Rob Watts saying is a gospel and everybody else is wrong according to him and cult following.
Maybe im wrong, but you give those vibes.
Denafrips atleast is less bullshit of a company that will make as good product as possible while Chord will make product as cheap as possible to get higher margins possible.
I think you need to do some deeper research into the design decisions that Rob Watts has put into the TT2, Eternal. Everything has been considered to make it an outstanding all-in-one product. Between the super capacitors, the discrete analog output that separates the DAC and analog stages, the attention to noise floor and intermodulation distortion across the whole device make for an astonishing final product.
That said, I'm always excited to find something better. As I said in this review, I actually wanted the May to be better - I was excited to take the next step, but it just didn't stack up to the same level even when using $2500-3000 USD amps
@@PassionforSound yes, but confirmation bias can be very strong... As i said: Rob Watts is not a genius, otherwise lot of people will be doing same stuff as he is doing...
Why do you think Chord, Benchmark is using switched mode power supplies? Because those are much cheaper and require less costly enclosure!
Separate amps also use a lot more space and also have much better wolume controls than digital controls used in dacs that bring noise up.
There is nothing grounbreaking in Chord dacs except filters that create different sound signature...
You really need to do more research. The only piece of this I agree with (after extensive research and comparisons) is that the use of SMPSs is disappointing on some of their products (it's not relevant to the TT2).
Did you try either of these DACs with HQPlayer?
I didn't, but I did feed them both using the very good upsampling from the Volumio Primo and it does improve the sound (as discussed in the video)
@@PassionforSound If you didn't use HQPlayer or at least the M scaler i don't think the upsampling can be qualified as very good.
My review was not intended to see how to squeeze the maximum performance put of these DACs, it was to compare them in similar setups to see what people could expect. Many people will not be using these in systems with HQ Player or an M-Scaler so taking time in an already long review to deep dive in upsampling doesn't make sense
Do we know where the Holo Audio units are built?
Thanks for this review! Your mention of the Yggdrasil OG reminded me that there are 3 versions of the Yggdrasil - the Less is More, the More is Less, and the OG. Is there any chance you can compare these different versions?
I'm pretty sure they're made entirely in China, Neil.
I had hoped to compare the multiple Yggy flavours but shipping costs and the challenges of the pandemic made that impossible so I worked with Schiit on just getting the model I was personally most interested in which is the OG
@@PassionforSound Thanks! For some reason, I thought Holo Audio was a US company. I like the Ares II, and I like the Bifrost 2 - I am a multibit DAC fan.
Yes, this pandemic is making things complicated in many ways. I am pretty sure I would want one of the 20bit versions - but this is a hope/dream at this point.
Love this review. Head-fi needs to be renamed to Hype-fi. The only good thing is the excellent deals on the used marketplace thanks to these hype trains.
Glad you liked the review! I think Head-Fi and similar forums are great. The problem is filtering out the examples of new toy syndrome and also self-justification of purchases too.
Great review as always Lauchlan. You basically answered my question of whether or not I should sell my TT2 and M scaler to buy the May KTE. I think I'd prefer the detail over the slight bass bump and warmth of the May. Just curious, which filters did you try when listening with the TT2, was it mostly incisive? Wondering if filters 3 or 4 got similar results to the warmth of the May. Cheers.
Glad you liked the review! I only really use filter 1 for TT2 on its own or filter 2 when using the M-Scaler (both incisive). Filters 3 & 4 might provide a hint of smoothness, but they don't change the presentation of the sound enough to match the fullness of the May. I personally think you're making the right choice by keeping the TT2 (I really wanted to prefer the May just for something different) and I'd recommend getting the extra warmth/fullness further down the source chain with your amp or transducers because you can never regain that extra detail that the May loses compared to the TT2, but adding some richness is easy to do.
@@PassionforSound awesome thanks. Were you using the stock BNC cables? I'm thinking of trying out Moon Audios black dragon BNC cables
I was using the Wave High Fidelity BNC cables. I haven't tried the Moon Audio Cables.
@@PassionforSound serious stuff. Worthy upgrade to stock bnc would you say? Or would it be better to invest in a LPSU
Both are worthy upgrades, but I'd probably go for the BNC cables first
Lachlan I have read a lot about the May needing a LOT of running in. Any idea how much running in (ie burn in) the unit has had?
I'm not certain, but it is a demo unit that had been with another reviewer before me and likely had also been used by Hugo from Indie HiFi before he sent it out. I doubt it has any more significant improvement to show and it sounded excellent at it was.
Great review, the Spring 3 KTE is about 2700 USD brand new in Hong Kong here from local dealer. At that price does your recommendation change? thanks
No, I'd still buy the Schiit Yggy OG if you can get it for the same money or less. The Spring really didn't impress me. (The May did)
@@PassionforSound thanks! Hugo tt2 is 10% cheaper than May KTE here and takes up way less space. Would you recommend getting Hugo Tt2 instead?
100%. The May is great, but the TT2 is a sightly better DAC IMO and is also a top notch headphone amp and pre-amp
Good comprehensive review. 👍. Thank you. The May KTE is Holo Audio’s flagship DAC. The Chord Dave is the their flagship. Then how good do you find the Dave. It would be interesting how you find the Denafrips Terminator plus😎👍
I'm keen to try the Dave properly (I've only used it at shows) and the Terminator too. Hopefully in 2022 I'll get the chance
Great review, i recently bought a Spring 3 KTE, it sounds quite natrual to my ears. Few points i want to lay out: 1、Total production costs of a "ture discrete resistor ladder dac" is pretty high,higher than the chip based Schiit products;2、A true "NOS R2R" dac is hard to find at this price level, even Rockna uses its internal OS;3、I once heard the TT2, the sound is kind of "digital" to me. Anyway very honest review, keep fighting towards 20K subs!
Just need to mention one more point, about Spring 3 is lacking detail compare to schiit ygg, that is impossible to my understanding. The "more detail" you heard from YGG could be its harmonic distortion since the measurement of ygg show that(schiit does their own honest maesurement report), but lower THD doesn't mean it sounds bad.
Hi Max, they're very good points about the R2R being more expensive to produce. For me it is all about the sound quality produced and not the technology used which is why I favour the Yggy OG.
There will also always be personal tastes and system synergy to consider so if you're enjoying the sound and you're happy, that's all that matters. 🙂
@@maxjiang9663 THD is not a 100% related to what information you hear. There are a lot more variables at play than a simple number.
I'm curious what settings do you use.. also curious to know how spring3 KTE is going on when HQ player used or properly high quality source used.
I tried OS and NOS (as I think I discussed in the video). I provided very high quality sources to all devices tested and, keep in mind, that the benefits gained by one DAC when fed a higher quality signal will also translate to other DACs receiving the same high quality signals. I didn't test with HQ Player partly for the reason above (same benefits apply to all devices so the differences remain), but also because that immediately limits the options for people using the DAC to being fed only from a computer.
@@PassionforSound I 'm happy to see if you make a vid about comparing yggy vs spring3 KTE(w/ HQplayer).
Because it is on different league when you using it.
Thank you for your response :)
I don't own the Spring so I can't do that - sorry
You will be hard pressed finding an active pre-that’s class A that’s of this calibre at $600 anywhere
This DAC is a true ladder DAC, they’re freaking expensive mate
I did not have the same experience as you did during the review, it’s a freaking awesome DAC
So we disagree there, LOL, but like yourself I can’t stand up sampling either sounds very unnatural
The May is coming in for review in January so thoroughly intrigued to put it up against the other two dacs. Good luck on the way to the 20 K
No question about the pre-amp - it's brilliant. Add very true and the cost of the ladder DAC to produce properly. My question is why pay extra for a complex circuit that doesn't sound as good as another DAC (the Yggy OG)?
You could buy the Yggy OG and a Soloist 3XP or Singxer SA-1 and have DAC, headphone amp and pre that together outperform and offer more functionality than the Spring.
The May is a different story. It's killer and I think you'll love it. I do think the TT2 offers better sound and value with the pre-amp and headphone capabilities, but if someone just wants a DAC, the May would be a top recommendation from me.
@@PassionforSound I am curious did you use the TT2as the amplifier for both of these devices?
I have heard the original Iggy and in my experience the spring three surpasses it. I do agree these DAC are huge LOL
I personally don’t care for the essay1 it’s musical and a fantastic value, it is far too soft sounding for me if I was to take a subjective stance
if you pass the spring with this exclusively I can see why you would think it’s soft, the amplifier will play a role to remember in the chain.
Some of your observations I would agree on if it was about the spring 2, but your observations for Spring three found really surprising actually.
The TT2 can't amplify analog inputs, only its internal DAC.
I used the Soloist GT and Sparkos Labs Aries, connected with AudioQuest Yukon XLR cables for each DAC.
I went back after the review was released to my patrons and revisited the Spring to ensure I had been accurate and fair and I definitely stand by what I heard, but it's my own subjective experience so others can and will experience it differently, particularly if using speakers rather than headphones.
@@PassionforSound well that’s fair enough, this is audio after all
Good work mate
And good luck on the 20 K goal, hope you’ll get there soon about to me monetised here too it’s been a good few months
Thank you and congrats on your milestone! Hope you arrive there quickly and get greater growth once you hit monetised status (I think the algorithm prioritises monetised content, but don't hold me to that)
Great review! Any chance you could do a quick setup reveal before the review, i.e what source, cables, headphones. I can only assume you're using quality components but everything before and after the DAC can greatly affect the overall sound impressions in my opinion.
I'll see if can do something in the future. The challenge with it is that I don't only use one setup for testing. I'll generally use 2-3 headphones at a minimum and 2-3 amps for a DAC review like this one. I do use just one setup for my note taking part where I describe the comparisons, but that's just to illustrate what I've heard across multiple setups.
3 things need adding to the review :
1) KTE is fair bit more expensive than L2, which is the highest spec Holo Audio themselves offer.
2) Comparing TT2 with 768Khz upscaling via Mscaler is not really apples to apples.
3) Theres no mention of Mays internal upsamplig capabilities (which I don't find great but still) or the fact that May can take up to 1.5M upscaled input, which is a bit of a killer feature and something the TT2 or even Mscaler can't match.
Other than that good review. I now want to try out the TT2 🤠 only managed to compare portable Hugo 2 with May and found Hugo 2 a bit shouty in the upper mids and not as clean, but TT2 is a better match obv.
Hi Kris, I didn't try to get into detail about the different levels and pricing because it then begs the question of how each level performs for the price and I'm not in a position to answer that question.
The M-Scaler comparison was due to realising that by the time you purchase a May KTE with a suitable quality amp, you could nearly buy the TT2 and M-Scaler so I was demonstrating what you would get for your money.
I definitely discussed the upsampling capabilities (in the section about the features and functions common to both Holo DACs) because I explained the PCM and DSD upsampling functions as well as the fact that it's really not worth using either.
I've addressed in lots of other comments why I didn't go into depth about upsampling externally for the Holo DACs beyond testing and confirming that upsampling externally can improve the sound to a moderate degree (not night and day different)
@@PassionforSoundah sorry, I didn't register the OS / upsampling comparison in the sound section. The problem with mixing money / value / performance and drawing definitive conclusions like that is that you can for example get May L2, Hypsos + Oor, HQPlayer license and still be under the cost of TT2 with Mscaler and you can change amps etc. I get the point you're making but I don't think it's that clear cut 🤷 Reality is for the same money you can get a TT2 based stack or a May + amp based stack, and that's great that both options are amazing. I find upsampling to 1.5M a really signifficant change in quality, if it wasn't for upsampling May wouldn't be as good as it is for me. Also I only recently noticed that internal OS into DSD changes signifficantly depending on the sampling rate I feed it, and while I found it pretty usless at 44.1 it becomes a really interesting option at 1.5M.
At 1.5M you might actually be back to bypassing the OS circuit (not sure)
As for all the other variables, imagine how long each review would get if I tried to cover all that. All valid points, but I have to draw the line at what I have available and/or the products that the majority of people are likely to have familiarity with.
@@PassionforSound it can still OS to DSD and that is changing the way it sounds, I would compare it with a filter selection type change on Chord dacs, on lower sample rates it sounds weak but I noticed the higher the input rate the better the DSD OS at least to my ears.
Comparing effectively 5 pieces of intricate high end source gear in a short vid and trying to draw definitive conclusions on price to performance is quite a challenge, I agree. Guess what I’m trying to say is that there’s much more to it. Gear synergy comes into play as well as the ability to choose and change amps based on genre or headphones, tubes etc. It’s becoming a really complex equation very quickly. Adding to that that you could use HQPlayer with the TT2 to bring down the cost, and the fact that May can take twice the sample rate TT2 can, and the fact that you could also use Mscaler with May although max at 384K but still … this one video could pretty much be a series of 5 videos exploring all of the options etc the way I see it and some of the conclusions could’ve possibly end up being a bit less black and white … maybe 🤔
It's very difficult to decide what to include as not include in a review like this. I'd like to think this wasn't overly black and white though (other than being unimpressed with the Spring). I clearly explained that I see a place for the May in systems where a headphone amp or pre-amp aren't required and I agreed that it's an excellent DAC overall. I just felt that the TT2 is still better value and a slightly better performer. In my experience across many, many products, there's never a tweak you can make that will leap frog one product over another if the other product was preferable to start with - particularly if the same tweak can be applied to both products. Personal preference is absolutely a factor though so those who prefer the May to the TT2 can no doubt extract greater performance with upsampling, etc. and make the May even better still.
How would you compare the above to the Bricasti M3h? (which I have and think is fantastic; so I am curious how it compares)
I haven't heard the Bricasti to comment - sorry!
Nice review mate.. subscribed -
Got the spring3 kte
Glad you liked the review! Thanks for the sub!
The BIG question I dare to ask (only now) is, what power cords were used with these DACs? I strongly suspect that the Spring was the one most affected by this important aspect...
I was using the stock power cords with all of these. I didn't have any high end power cables at that time. It's also worth noting that I would always match cables (power, interconnects, USB) when comparing devices. I have 2-3 of all my main cables for this reason
Maybe one more thing... Owners of those Holo DACs report that they need at least 500-600 hours of burn-in, before they fully reveal their sound. Some even mention 800-1000 hours without turning them off, so esentially more than a month of uninterrupted playing. Do you know, how old these ladies were before you got them?
I don't know exactly. All I know is that they were demo units that had been with at least one other reviewer before me
Even though this review is two years old, it is right in target for me. I own a Yggy+ but the Holo Cyan 2 is being massively hyped right now, and I’ve never considered units from Holo before. I’m very curious to hear your opinion.
After: I’m sticking with my Yggy, but I sure wish I had the scratch to spend $10,000 USD on each component in my system. I envy your experience of the TT2 + MScaler.
The Yggy+ is brilliant! I'm yet to hear a Cyan 2, but I doubt it will surpass the Yggy so much as maybe match it. Enjoy!
What I don't understand is how can you do a proper review of a high end dac without passive speakers?
The same way I can properly live every day without passive speakers. A lot of people don't or can't have a full size speaker setup, but that doesn't mean they don't listen to music
Interesting review. I’ve been following reviews and forums for the Spring and the May for a few months and it seems that those who have committed to a May and own TT2 eventually move away from using the TT2 as their main after a few months.
Another common theme in the forums is burn in. Most people love the sound of the Spring and May out of the box but after some burn in time ( or running time) they found that it opens up more and exposes more detail. It could be subjective but at least with my mid-fi gear burn in does help with some negative qualities I remember from initial impressions.
A few people have suggested 1000 hrs for the May to open up (which assuming reasonable listening patterns) is 6-12 months, but the most common number I’ve seen is 200 hours. I’m not advocating that you can only review things that are fully burned in, and I know you do spend a fair amount of time reviewing a product so that you do let the electronics settle, but its something worth doing a follow up with older units.
I think the main reason why people would prefer the Spring or May aside from that 3d space is the timbre from NOS. Most people say that it sounds very “natural”, like “real music”, like “analogue”.
There are better DACs I’ve read about, the WaveDream, the Tambaqui. But they’re far more expensive . The Terminator II is probably on equal footing.
Anyway, great review and I hope to see more high end DAC reviews.
Thanks for the thoughtful comments. I believe both of these DACs had already been fairly well used by the time they reached me. Probably not 1000 hours, but I'd also highly doubt the validity of those claims. Burn-in is definitely real, but in my experience the vast majority of any impact from burn-in will happen quite early with only subtle differences evolving after that.
I agree that R2R and NOS are all about tonality which is why I do prefer these over most delta sigma DACs I've heard. They just don't stack up (to me at least) when compared to Schiit's Multibit approach or Chord's WTA filtering and high tap approach.
I hope to review the Pontus and Terminator in the future 🤞🤞
@@PassionforSound Disclaimer: I ordered a May which will come in January, so I did quite a bit of research before the purchase. Also this is just an opinion based on the opinion of others.
Some believe that the choice of amp can make a difference in the details of the May and Spring, using the Burson may not have the best synergy. That being said, some people on forums recommended even more expensive amps.
There's no doubt that system synergy is real and important, but I used multiple amps including the Soloist GT, Sparkos Labs Aries, Bottlehead Mainline and Elekit TU-8200R (modified).
The reality is that it's often about personal tastes and preferences. A system synergy that I think is perfect may still not appeal to others and that's totally fine. If people say review X is wrong because they didn't use amp Y it's a bit misleading because it all comes back to personal preference which are inevitably variable from one person to the next
@@PassionforSound The burn-in in May is difference. It sounded great out of the box but the first 100 hours or so the sound change all over the place. Sometime its better sometime its worst. After about 200-300 hours it start to get stable and then continually improves. Now the more I listen to it the better its get. This is the only gear I have that do this to me and needed this much burn in. Even my tube amplifier burn in quicker than the May.
If you look inside the May then its kind of make sense why it needed a lot of burn in. There seems to be a lot of power filtering and large capacitors inside. Holo May is also the only DAC I can think of that has 4 transformers. We do know that these can change the sound characteristics quite a bit as electricity is being passed through them.
All fair points, but I believe these units were well used before arriving with me.
Great video and review... as usual 🎉👍👏!! Viewing this Mar. 05, 2024 for first time. You got me thinking about the Yggi OG 🤔. Looking to upgrade from Gen 1 Topping D90. I have DDC Singer SU-2 using I2S... which I've enjoyed for many years! Yggi OG doesn't have I2S. Would it still be worth using my DDC with AES interface on Yggi OG?? Thanks much for any input / advice!!
The Yggy OG is great and responds really well via the AES input from a DDC (I use the SU-6)
Awesome review; detailed and clearly unbiased - thanks!
FWIW, I own the May and Serene Pre both KTE (speaker system). IMO the May is a really good deal for the money but it is no giant killer as it has been hyped to be.
It offers detail retrieval, imaging and separation like i have never experienced before (and that's the reason it's starting in my main system). However, overall it sounds ever so slightly shouty, with a some tendency towards unnatural sibilance. Furthermore, soundstage depth is unacceptably lacking for the price. Thankfully, these shortcomings were almost completely remedied by pairing it with a tube Pre. (Don't care much for the May - Serene combination!)
Overall, I find the May to be very system dependant. I can think o several rigs that I have had in the past for which the May would not have worked at all.
Thanks again for one of your finest reviews. Your content is Reference level!!!
Thank you, Juan!
That's really interesting about your experiences with the May. I was very impressed with it on my system so it's great to see some other experiences that people can consider before making any purchases
Great review, nice insights!
The ‘chain dependence’ though is spot on: in my system the Spring 3 - level 2 outperforms the Yggi LIM for sure in terms of overall balance and flow.. at my neighbor’s system it is a different experience: the Spring sounds dull and boring where the Yggdrasil opens up the music. That’s way you can never totally rely on reviews. Trust your ears 👍🏻
@@vincentvdvelde Thanks Vincent! Very interesting comment regarding the Spring and Yggi in different settings - and useful for those like me who live in places where auditioning is impossible and all sales are final.
I am keeping the May because it's the best I have had, by far!, but ONLY after changing my preamp and rolling some good old tubes (and geting lucky, I guess).
I will keep the Serene cooking in the rack for a few more months and give it another try. What a wonderful hobby or ours, isn't it...
I definitely agree that one review is never enough to make a good decision because system synergy and personal taste can definitely play a part when the differences are only minor. Glad you're enjoying the Spring!
@@BrentLeVasseurYou are absolutely right Brent. After lots of hours (lost count, just kept them going for weeks while at work ) all undesirable aspects went away, completely! At the same time, all good traits got even better. I cannot be happier with the May and the Serene now. In my experience as a bit of a gear head, I think they are an incredible value. M.y good old (and expensive) tube pre is now boxed up and stashed away for good. Thanks for your comment.
Great review. Please, how do the USB connections compare between the May and TT2?
It's very hard to isolate the performance of particular inputs (at a subjective level) from the performance of the DACs. For me, both devices performed very well via USB using my setup which is a regular PC, JCat audio USB card and Curious Evolved USB cable
@@PassionforSound thanks, Please one more question. Saw you like the Curious Evolved which on my system was too bright for my ear. I have Verity CB and Atrium and looking to upgrade my system to the TT2/mscaler. To your ear how do the cans sound on the TT2 on the warmer setting. I love the TT 2/ mscaler potential in all respects and am only cautious about tone. I am getting encouraged to drive the 100+ miles to have a listening test. TIA
I love the TT2, but it is a very neutral sounding DAC and headphone amp so keep that in mind. What's your current source chain where the Curious Evolved was too bright?
@@PassionforSound thanks for the get back. My source is a zen mini with a separate linear power supply though a Final Touch Audio USB to a Phoenix through another FTA USB to an Auris D2D DAC through LessLoss RCAs to an Auris HA2 SE amp with a Mallard input tube and Telefunken power tubes all NOS dating to the ‘60s. The system also has a LessLoss 640x C-Mark firewall on the power inlet to the DAC. The FTAs, along with the Phoenix mitigated the sibilance and the LessLoss significantly reduced noise and enhanced clarity. All of course to my ear.
What got my attention to the TT2/m was 1) your review 2) Moon audio in the USA, where I cut my teeth, so to speak, and who endorsed Chord from the beginning 3) my Mojo which is connected to an A&K and which sounds very musical to my ear and last 4) another audio analyst said his favorite combination of all his high end cans, including the Susvara, with the TT2/ mscaler is the Verity CB with the TT2 cross feed set at 2 and the warm filter setting. Also Drew at Moon audio has a video up where he prefers the TT2/ mscaler to the Dave ,alone, because of the warmth. So the stars seemed to align around the chord.
PS I mostly Ron burned CDs on the Zen therefore my great interest in the mscaler.
Spending more money on gear does not always mean better sound!! Unless you are willing to really spend big money and thousands of dollars more for that bump in performance. Then yes, it's better. The May KTE, Chord Hugo TT2 & M-Scaler, the Susvara will obviously sound better than less expensive stuff but you are going to be paying a high premium price to get there. Not worth the $$$ imo. I recently fell for the hype train with the Soekris DAC 2541(with built in amp) and thought it would be a big upgrade from my Bifrost 2 DAC. It's a fine DAC... But after doing some A/B testing with the DAC 2541 I just ended up loving the Bifrost 2 more for my use cases and needs with the BF2 sounding more impactful and delivering Bass in a much more pleasing way to my ears. It's all subjective this stuff... and what's really important is understanding what you are looking for when it comes to Audio Gear and Headphones. It's like putting a puzzle together through trial and error really as to what will satisfy you in your audio setup? Don't bother buying $3,000+ DACS if your setup isn't a TOTL setup that can take advantage of it. Look for some good bang for the buck with something like the Schiit products. I've tried many expensive HP's and Gear now and usually most of it is disappointing for the price tag. You end up expecting way more for the $$$. The hype train is real with a lot of things in the audio world. I've taken blind leaps of faith after doing tons of research and still ended up with many more disappointment's than home runs with Audio Gear and HP's
Very well said, JTB! I'm currently reviewing the DAVE and while I can appreciate it's performance, I'm not convinced it's a better fit for me than my current gear.
I'm glad you've landed on something you're really happy with, but sorry for any lost money with the Soekris DAC
@@PassionforSound I got lucky with the Soekris DAC that I ordered through Mod House Audio. Ryan who runs the place where they also do the Argon Mods was a great guy and gave me a full refund. None of this15% restocking fee nonsense some places pull. I can see 5%.... but not 15%. And like with the DAVE for you... I ended up selling my TT2 & M-Scaler because it was just overkill for me and I really couldn't take advantage of it. So it's a live and learn process I guess. Problem is you learn the hard way and lose money in the process. That's why I think anyone getting into this hobby should try and figure out what they are going for. Like I said before, spending more on Gear and Headphones doesn't always mean better sound... or more importantly more music enjoyment. I've tried some expensive stuff and I just keep being reminded that my mid-fi stuff like the Bifrost 2 to the Jot 2 and LYR 3 could be fine for most. Although I do have the Burson Conductor 3X GT coming sometime this month I hope. But I already know I like the Burson sound so this purchase was not a leap of faith... and I feel this is a good value purchase. Where many purchases I've made in the past felt like I was overpaying for something type purchases. Again... live and learn!! 😉
So glad you didn't lose on the Soekris. Thanks for sharing your experiences with others to help them know that it's about what we enjoy, not what's most expensive or "best"
Good review and even for me the May did not made me fall off the chair when I listened to it first. Having said that, when comparing TT2 + external upsampler Mscaler, please consider this combo of Holo May + external upsampler HQplayer ($250) .. and only then being a fair comparison, the game is on :-) I found this combo did lost a bit of timber but was on steroids in terms of dynamics, impact, layering, resolution, clarity. Kindly let us know if you are able to compare. Cheers
Hi Ganesh, I can't make that comparison because the May was only on loan. However, I also didn't choose to explore the HQPlayer route because the TT2 was better to my ears without any upsampling so you could equally buy a TT2 and use HQPlayer to get even better results. I still think the May is a wonderful DAC and for those who don't need the pre-amp or headphone amp capability of the TT2, I'd always recommend the May as a great choice.
Got it, thanks. Also if you can get hold of Rockna wavelight DAC which is comparably priced then please share your thoughts on them as well, looking forward to that. According to the HQPlayer team, HQp works well only with certain DACs i.e. many Holo & TotalDAC models and few other DACs. I didn't ask the technicalities on why only certain DACs are recommended to be paired but this is a confirmed positioning from HQp team. I know it might sound bit unintuitive :-) but it seems to be the case. May out of the gate is good but does not live up to the hype considering my preference but when HQp adds to the mix then this completely extracts every bit of May's and the song's potential. Sorry, didn't mean to talk about an up-sampler in this DAC section but thought it is relevant to share it
No problems at all! All conversation is welcome anywhere 🙂🙂
Excellent review mate. Please do review the Musician Audio Aquarius if possible. They are in the same price range as the Spring 3.
Thank you
EDIT : It would be very interesting to see them compared.
I'm keen to try the Musician DACs so I'll see what I can do
@@PassionforSound thank you 😄
R2R technology, including the May, apparently gives you a more realistic rendition of music with things like resonances, air around instruments and spatial placement being more life-like than Delta-Sigma. It could possibly be due to the high amount of digital processing involved in D/S DACs. In your opinion, is the Hugo TT2 able to compete with the May when it comes to these nuances or does it, in comparison, sound "flatter", more digital/processed and more synthetic?
I absolutely think the TT2 competes on those factors. "Traditional" DS designs using ESS, AKM, Cirrus Logic chips, etc. definitely fall short in those areas, but the TT2 (and all Chord DACs) are designed very differently despite technically being DS. I feel like the May produces a little more space perhaps, but the tonality, resonance and texture of the sounds are a little better from the TT2 so both are excellent and on par with (for me) the TT2 being slightly better due to having just that touch more accuracy on the tonality and texture/micro details
@@PassionforSound Thank you very much for your reply. I have been considering saving for a May but my issue with it would be that I wouldn't want to spend any more money on my set-up (that would be a huge expense on its own) and as you've rightly pointed out in your video, the May would require an amp alongside it that would be good enough not to hold it back... All of a sudden the TT2 looks like a better option, I just wasn't sure about how close these two products are to each other, i.e. if the May offers something that the Hugo's digital processing simply cannot match (some people claim the May is uncannily life-like). Also, there are people who claim that the May is even better than the Dave which would imply that the TT2 is not in the same league.
Having spent the time I did with the May and TT2 side-by-side, I really don't get the assertions that the May is somehow superior to the Dave when it only just matched the TT2 to my ears.
It's possible that people aren't taking into account factors like system synergies (how well the DAC and amp suit each other sonically, which headphones are used, and even the interconnects used) so it's absolutely possible that an optimised May is better than a TT2 or Dave, but the reverse would also be true that an optimised TT2 will be better than a non-optimised May.
Something else to consider is whether they are using headphones or speakers for their listening. I haven't tried the May with speakers so it's possible that alters things.
Finally, as for the processing side of things, remember that it's ALL digital audio so both DACs are processing the data (and heavily). The May is often cited as sounding best with upsampled audio from HQ Player while the TT2 is doing much the same thing internally (although HQ Player is theoretically more powerful). Rob Watts' design of the Chord DACs is all about maximising the accuracy of the analog waveform - i.e. ensuring precise reconstruction from the samples to the sound. I think we sometimes feel like R2R DACs are somehow keeping things more analog, but the reality is that it all comes from a set of samples so the more precision and processing that goes into the reconstruction process, the better. I don't say this to suggest that the TT2 is automatically better in that regard so much as to say that when we're talking digital audio, more processing might actually be preferableand shouldn't be seen as a negative.
@@PassionforSoundIt's always a pleasure listening to and reading your opinions, but I must say it is doubly so now that I've spent a while on the Head-Fi forum where there are at least a few individuals who seem hell-bent on defending their preconceived notions of what's right and wrong in the audio world :)
You're right about the consensus being that the May truly spreads its wings when used with the HQ Player.
My understanding was that a truly NOS DAC like the May has less digital processing involved as it doesn't oversample by default and as such doesn't need to deal with as many issues as a D/S DAC (noise etc.). On top of that, because it has a natural high-frequency roll-off it inevitably produces a slightly different sound which is liked by some and perhaps for one reason or another sounds more realistic to some people (well, there's nothing particularly interesting about the roll-off but if the smaller amount of digital processing results in more life-like sound then I thought that this could be a game-changer).
Following from that, I would think that an ideal situation would be a NOS DAC with oversampling via software such as HQ Player, because: 1. It gives you the option to experience NOS whenever you feel like it (unavailable on other types of DAC); 2. You get a more pure base sound which you then oversample with highly customisable software).
As I've said, I've not experienced any of this so I have no idea how this theory translates into reality and whether all this hassle is worth it.
Because of my limited budget, I am considering getting a TT2. My headphones are also easy to drive and this combo takes care of any potential questions like "Is my amp good enough?", "What if I used different interconnects?" :)
I thought that I would first check with you, however, to see how big or small a potential gap is between these devices. To be fair, it would need to be pretty big for me to want to save so much more money to get a May AND an amplifier. Especially since it's possible to get a TT2 second-hand at a decent price.
I have a D90 now and an Ares II - the Ares II makes me miss the D90's resolution and precision while the D90 lacks the "time domain" of the Ares and sounds a bit lifeless/soulless. Instead of being happy with both devices they have made it almost impossible for me to enjoy either of them, hehe, which just means that I've learnt somehing new and it's time for a vertical, as opposed to a horizontal, change. I hope that I won't be disappointed with what the TT2 brings to the table. :)
If you want a balance point between the D90 and Ares II (that's better than both), it's very hard to go wrong with the TT2. As you say, avoiding the issue of interconnects and DAC/amp synergy is a huge bonus too.
Keep in mind that you can get the same HQ Player benefits with the TT2 as you can with the May (even though they process the incoming signal differently).
The May has a slightly fuller, slower (not in a bad way) sound, but I can't imagine anyone being unhappy with either so I think you're making a great choice.
Ideally I'd have liked to know your impression of feeding the MAY KTE an upsampled feed when comparing to TT2 w mscaler .. Either feed MAY from m mscaler or via software (eg Audirvana, HQplayer etc). Late comment on this upload lol!, ... sorry as clearly too late to check. Just thought I'd share this comment as I did acquire a MAY KTE and do via Audirvana feed and upsampled feed and do notice a difference to detail retrieve and no loss in the richness of the sound. I do however use primarily for speaker vs headphones listening.
Thx and love your videos!
Based on many people's suggestions, the May might sound a bit better with upsampler inputs, but the M-Scaler isn't the ideal source for this because it's severely limited when used with non-Chord DACs.
The May is definitely an outstanding DAC whether you're using it with upsampled content or not so I think you can buy with confidence and then decide later if you prefer upsampling via Audirvana or just the bit-perfect output
So this is only review that find HOLO dacs not good for the price and doesnt reccomend it. Its really odd as everyone else prase them even measurements are godly especially MAY dac.
I guess it may be down to subjective opinion that HOLO dacs are not good comapred to similar price HUGO or Yggi
I definitely really like the May and would recommend it for those who already have their preamp/headphone amp sorted. It was only the Spring that I felt didn't live up to the price when compared to the cheaper Schiit Yggy OG
Great review!! What about the May plus the M-Scaler? How does that sound?
Thanks Carlos! I didn't bother trying it because the M-Scaler provides predictable benefits regardless of the DAC you feed it into. I.e. better spatial details, more depth in the soundstage and a smoother but still detailed and textured sound.
It's good there are choices and everyone hears differently. I'm not sure where the comment about the srping3 hype comes from, if anything the May is the hype train as of late and for good reason. From all indications the spring3 and May are extremely close in overall signature and not what @passion for sound has described, odd. Maybe its HP use, which I don't use...ever. Large dedicated well sorted listening room with speakers is the only way I would evaluate IMHO. Thus far, these two latest Holo products in NOS mode using HQP to upsample to DSD 512 or PCM at 768 or 1.536MHz result in pretty fantastic outcomes and would be the opposite of this reviewers comments. Remarkable DACs. The chords are a completely different animal and the TT2 is def in the drier and more so analytical camp. Again good we all don't agree.
I expect speaker listening might provide a very different experience
Scenario...
I have the Arya Stealth.
Bitcoin hit's 100k.
I spend 10k to improve the Arya to the max.
Order of what I value the most:
1 - Timbre or "accuracy" or "realism"
2 - Soundstage or "3D" or "holographic"
3 - Detail or "resolution"
What system(s) do I go with?
Chord TT2 and M-Scaler. If you have any money left, a nice pure copper litz cable. Done 🙂
And for 10 grand more one can hear the thoughts of a singer :))) Great review, thank you very very much! Yggy is back on my shopping list all of a sudden, hmmm...
Haha. Now that would be interesting - a digital to analog and psychic converter.
Hey brother. Is the May and spring a bit less dynamic than the Yggy? That is are the May and spring a bit soft in attack?
I think R2R discreet DACs are being a bit overhyped as the flavor of the last year or so.
Some say the May and Spring are a bit of ‘ pipe and slippers’. Too soft and not energetic enough.
I feel like the Spring definitely fits this description in relation to the Yggy OG. The May has a better sense of energy to me and is a DAC that I really like. If not for the TT2, the May is what I would own. I definitely think the Spring was overhyped.
which do you find the better dac between the Holo May KTE Level 3 or Denafrips Terminator 2?
I haven't tried the Terminator 2 - sorry!
The Burson headphone amp is what degraded the May DAC, IMO. Also, you did not explain what the M-Scaler is, and can a similar device be used with the May DAC?
The Burson Soloist GT is on par or better than other amps at the same level (Ferrum Hypsos & Orr, Benchmark HPA4, Holo Bliss, etc.) so it wasn't a limiting factor. Even if it were a limiting factor, the TT2 would have been equally limited when comparing both DACs via the Soloist.
I didn't explain the M-Scaler because I have a dedicated video doing that and need to keep videos to a watchable length. It's not really a product that works optimally with non-Chord products, but you can use HQPlayer to get similar results with the May.
Think you'll eventually check out the Yggy LiM?
It's unlikely I'll get the LIM or MIL because I've got the OG. I'm actually just finishing the dedicated OG review now.
@@PassionforSound looking forward to it. I really think we ought to work something out with Schiit about sending you those other two flavors as cards and letting you play around with them. The OG is really unique in its presentation, but the LIM is just so special in how it sound so "correct."
I'd love to do that. I can maybe chat to them about sending the PCBs only if that's possible to save of shipping and parts cost...
Can’t wait to view your Yggdrasil review. Hope you can compare it to the Gungnir.
I can't compare it to a Gungnir unfortunately, but I will compare to Bifrost 2 which Jason Stoddard considers a mini Yggy (and with good reason it turns out)
I have 2 friends that own these DAC's. The May sounds way better than the Spring. It is smoother and less bright. It is also more musical. Both are the KTE models.
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Larry. That's a perfect summary of what I heard too.
I bought a Holo May KTE .. has 230 hrs on it .. it’s in a system with Aries G2.1 , Hugo2 , Modright KWH225i Integrated Hybrid Amp,Boenicke W8se+ speakers . Less Loss Filters and cabling .. Lush ^3 USB and Intona Profesional USB cables
And it is an awesome DAC ..soundstage is awesome
Sounds like a great setup. The May KTE is a brilliant DAC.
@@PassionforSound it is .. but i agree with you that my Hugo2 .. on some tracks i prefer .. so i will be looking for a Used TT .. or maybe a Dave .. but i have yet to hear a Mola Mola .. would love a direct comparison video .. of a chip based DAC .. for a system with a May .. to be a super detailed DAC
I'd love to try a Mola Mola too. Maybe on 2022...
@@PassionforSound hi have you ever tried the Lush ^2 or ^3 USB cables .. i have had the ^ 2 in a past set up .. sold it to a friend when i no longer needed it .. have had the ^3 running since i got the May .. The Intona Professional version USB just showed up .. and while it cost double in price .. they are both going to be kept .. they are very different Lush is well Lush .. and Intona is really kinda freaking me out .. i have been going back and forth between the 2 for hours .. it needs some hours on it .. but this is a detail oriented cable top to bottom .. never heard anything this revealing
Thanks for letting me know about them..I haven't heard of those before so I will check them out if I get the chance
@Passion for Sound, please add your setup to the video description. What headphones did you use? First, thank you for your review! That said, I think it's a bit odd to pair a $5500 DAC with a $1000 amp. It would be interesting to hear what you think of the May with something like the LTA MZ3 or a DNA Stratus, or other amp in that class.
Hi Henrik, I don't test with just one setup which is why I don't list a setup - it would be too long and complex. Also, I tested these DACs with the Soloist GT (not the basic Soloist) and Sparkos Labs Aries so $2.5k and $3k amps as well as the Bottlehead Mainline and Elekit TU-8200R.
@@PassionforSound Thanks for the clarification.
I wish the TT2 alone would do it for me, but after trying other dedicated class a amps, it’s clear it’s not beefy enough to make the Susvaras really sing. Have you ever tried the XLR outs from the TT2 into the Susvara? Supposedly that provides it more power but not sure if it helps at all in reality.
I did try the XLR outputs and felt that it made no noticeable difference. I agree that the Susvaras need a warmer/richer amp to be their best. TT2 is just too dry/neutral for the Susvaras IMO
Thanks for the informative review! Considering either Denfarips or Holo DAC now from Musician Draco.
Just curious if the review was done with speakers or headphones as I saw one comment here saying this review was done via headphones?
This review was with headphones, but having tested with both, I've found that headphones and speakers reveal the same things about the products in the source chain and headphones actually provide greater insight about things like resolution and detail retrieval because they're not working to overcome the room acoustics.
OK if you can find a Mola Mola Tambaui used for about 9-10k that will best the TT2 and MScaler. The headphone amp in the Mola Mola however is horrifying lol. It is like an afterthought just to see if it's turned on not to listen to.
I'd love to try one and compare. I just don't have 10k to spare 🙁
Hi, great review as always! Any plans on doing a review on the Holo Bliss headphone amplifier?
Unfortunately, it seems the fact that I didn't rave about their DACs made Holo Audio a bit grumpy so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a Bliss demo unit from the local distributor ☹️
Great review , have you heard merason frerot Dac? What are your thoughts? Looking for Dac in 1500-2000 range
Glad you liked the review. I haven't heard the Merason Frerot - sorry.
sorry, could you share what was your suggestion to serve as a balanced output for the Spring 3 instead of its pre-amp option please? I couldn't catch it. thank you.
I don't recall, David, but it was likely a Singxer SA-1, Burson Soloist 3XP or similar
9:55 - I'm fairly sure the May DAC uses Otype flat wire transformers, not Toroidals.
O-type are a toroidal transformer, just a different shape than the regular toroidal. Kind of like a straight six vs V6 engine - both are still 6-cylinder engines
Nice review. I did order a KTE Spring 3 a few weeks back during Black Friday sales and still currently waiting for it to arrive. I was looking for something different and not a Delta Sigma based DAC. I currently run a Chord Hugo 2 as my DAC through to various amps such as JDS Labs El Amp, Gustard H16, WA7 Fireflies and Sennheiser HDV820. Before making my decision I was testing between the Spring 3 KTE and the Chord TT2. Ended up with the Spring 3. Smooth and pleasing yet still spacious and impactful when needed. It was different which is what I was after. TT2 still had the Chord house sound just taken up to the next level. Next week I am hoping to try both the Soloist GT and GSX Mini. There is only a $100 difference between them here in NZ. Soloist does have extra features and probably a better volume control for the high output voltage of the Spring 3.
I have the Spring KTE for 3 months now, and after testing many high end dacs recently in my system, I can definitively say is the best dac I've heard so far including the May as well. I'm guessing this reviewer may have received a defective unit, because, is super resolving, the separation is simply amazing, and the sound balance is fantastic.
I'm very comfortable that it wasn't a defective product. It's more likely a question of the products used with the DACs and also whether you're using speakers or headphones. There are a number of R2R DACs which are incredibly popular with speaker users, but which I haven't particularly liked in my dedicated headphone system.
Ultimately, if you're happy with what you've got, that's great and we might just have different tastes.
To your point, Recce, it's great that you could try a few different DACs and choose the one that suited you most.
As you clearly stated, it must be the products used with the dac. Because I've tried many hi-end dacs lately and one of the strengths of the Spring 3 dac is separation and depth, as well as a very well balance natural sound.
Were you using speakers or headphones, Nicolas? I believe the speaker experience might be very different
Looking forward to some model train reviews!
Haha. That's Passion for Steam 🤣
Hi Lachlan.
Nice review.
Have you tried running your headphones out of the balanced outputs on the TT2?
If you haven’t I suggest it.
Just my 2cents about the May is that there’s people running it into Benchmark THX amps that are very flat and the warmth added by the May might be just benefiting them.
Totally agree the TT2 is a fabulous dac and hope Chord make the Mojo2 a killer product.
Keep up the great work.
Hi Glen, glad you're liking the channel! I tested the XLR outputs of the TT2 for the Susvara review and found no significant difference if using the same cable. You might actually find that the wire used for the twin XLR connections might be imparting the favourable qualities because (if I recall correctly) Rob Watts actually runs everything (including speakers) from the 6.3mm outputs because they're a more direct, simple signal path and therefore preferable. Personally I heard no noticeable difference when the same wire type was used for XLR and 6.3mm.
@@PassionforSoundhmm... I believe I read somewhere that chord doesnt believe in balanced designs.
If you need balanced anything you dont have enough power for your (perfectly clean) single ended signal😂
Yep. Chord are among a number of companies who favour a good single ended amp design over balanced because it can create a simpler and more transparent signal path. For the record, I think it all comes down to each individual circuit as I've heard fantastic balanced designs too.
Hi Lachlan, I'm Khiem, your audiophile friend from Head-fi and Facebook. I have not heard the Spring KTE or the May, but I am currently using the Spring Lv2. One thing I noticed that was not covered in your review is that my Spring sounds SIGNIFICANTLY better when using the I2S input compared with other inputs.
I'm not saying the I2S will transform the Spring into total different beast. Just a thing that I found out after 2 years living with my Spring and have tried it with various inputs/systems.
Nevertheless, superb and informative review as always! Your feedback is spot on!
Hi Khiem, thanks for commenting and letting me know it's you! That's great info for others using / trying the Spring. Thanks for sharing that experience!
You need to get the very latest USB module. That makes a huge difference in how the USB input sounds.
I think that if you are comparing May to Hugo TT2 with M-Scaler you should oversample May too (maybe you did that but it's not clearly stated in the video). That would be much more fair comparison. You could have used HQPlayer for that. It can go beyound M-Scaler capabilities thought so probably to be fair both DAC's should be oversampled by HQP.
I disagree, Kamil. There will be many users of the May that are not using it for computer audio where HQPlayer can be used. There'll then be more than are like me and don't like the excessive complexity of HQPlayer and don't want to wade through all the options to find the best possible sound. I compared these products running in their simplest state, plugged directly to USB from a PC or coaxial from a streamer.
I did discuss in the video that feeding the Holo DACs an upsampled signal improves their sound so those who wish to pursue that route will know it's worthwhile, but it still didn't bring the May + Soloist GT / Sparkos Aries combination to the level of the TT2 with/without the M-Scaler (particularly with the M-Scaler) in terms of the subtleties of textural, timbral and spatial information (i.e. "hearing the room")
@@PassionforSound I agree in a way that I also don't like the complexity of HQP (I think that going through Roon may be easier). The problem for me is that you are upgrading the sound of one and it should be better because of that. Also more pricey - in my country (Poland) TT2 + M-Scaler is almost double the price of May lvl2 (I don't belive that KTE is worth it). That's why I think that more leveled out comparison would be better especially that HQP is also a cheaper and better solution (by better I mean that it can oversample beyound the M-Scaler my far). But yes, M-Scaler is more accessible in use option.
For me I was suprised how much better Holo May sounded then Chord Qutest and D90 (I'm a DAC's scepticist ;) ). How much more lifelike, clear and present the music was. Like I was in the same room with the musicians. Now I can't hear my other DAC's because I know that I'm listening to recording vs the real performance that May gives me.
May is definitely way better than the Qutest - that's for sure. In relation to the TT2 and M-Scaler, they are made to go together and aren't that much more expensive than buying a May with a high quality headphone amp and/or pre-amp (which the TT2 already provides). As a pure DAC without taking into account the headphone amp or preamp capabilities of the TT2, the May is definitely better value.
@@PassionforSound with such a great deal of may fanatics explicetly liking it with hqp i personaly think it deserved at least a short test tbh. I am not someone that is likely to use hpq as im sure many others aren't, but I don't feel its quite fair to try and call out a hype train when the specific source the majority of them use isn't tested
I get where you're coming from, Bob, but if you have to buy extra software (HQP isn't free) and then also tweak and fiddle with complex settings just to get a product sounding its best, then it's no longer about the product and the review becomes a source chain comparison. If I applied the same level of optimisation to the Yggy and TT2 they would also likely improve so the gap would probably remain and we'd just be left with a longer, more complicated review.
Not trying to be defensive - just sharing the thought processes behind the decision I made to stick with the products at their stock performance levels.
Been subscribed for a while. My friend Kevin and I often discuss your channel content 👍🏼🏁🍻
Are all subscribers eligible for the giveaway?
Glad you've been enjoying the channel. I provide details of all giveaways in the videos they're active in, but yes, it's normally open to all subscribers
Another Excellent review. Based on your recommendation I got the Chord Hugo TT2, and I’m smitten with it, but based on all the reviewers, I was just about to trade it in for the hollow audio combo, but after listening to this review, I decided to just save for the M Scaler. So, thank you so much!!
I'm glad I could help and I think you've made the right decision! Enjoy! 🙂
Are you allready using the signalist hq player?
It has upsampling that mimics the m-scaler.
Maybe just untill you saved enough?😅
@@tdfmike3915 I’m ripping the M scaler benefits already he he he he
I recently picked up a holo spring 3 level 1 in the second hand market. The only dacs I have to compare it too are the bifrost 2/64 and the Burson composer. The Holo ( 2nd hand) at 2 x the price of the bifrost 2/64 is a steal in my opinion. It beats the 2/64 thoroughly imo in all areas except the bass where the 2/64 is just a touch tighter. It is definitely! worth 2 x the price but not 3.5 times ( normal retail price). If you can pick up one of these at a good price in the 2nd hand market I would definitely consider it. You have next to no chance picking up a good second hand yiggy in Australia.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with the Spring, Joel! So glad you're enjoying it and that you got it at a great price.
Thank you for another great and thoughtful review. After reading / watching a number of excellent reviews about the Spring Dac I was ready to pull the trigger. However, after watching your review, your clear descriptions and your reasoning I decided to go with the Hugo TT2. While I obviously do not have the benefit of being able to compare the Spring to the TT2, I can say that I am extremely happy with my decision. The TT2 really is a marvel. It is versatile and can drive anything. I even enjoy the DCA Stealth with it, which I usually have connected to my tube amp. Thank you for your guidance with your excellent reviews.
So glad I could help. I think you've made a fantastic choice that can be your centre-piece in your audio chain for years to come
how much better is the May than the Spring in terms of percentages in your opinion?
I find it impossible to work in percentages with audio gear, particularly when the differences are as intangible as they are here. There's a realism and liveliness to the sound of the May that's not there in the Spring for me. It's a significant jump in the sense that I wouldn't buy a Spring, but it's absolutely buy a May.
Thanks for the great work!
Wondering how the May benefits paired with Holo Audio's Bliss amp rather than the Soloist
The May is a top tier DAC so it will definitely scale along with better amps (and the Bliss might best the Soloist GT - I'm not sure).
That said, other DACs like the TT2 will also scale with better amps so adding a different amp won't change things in any absolute ways.
In short, May is definitely excellent and deserves to be considered alongside the other great DACs on the market, but I don't see it as definitively better than the equivalent competition regardless of the amp used.
@@PassionforSound Thanks for the thoughtful response! Makes sense
I subscribed. Why?
You review with music I can relate to instead of with only techno genre I’ve never heard of or want to listen to.
Thanks for the sub! Glad you find my music references relatable 🙂
I really like your reviews and hope you could review the enleum amp-23r one day.
Thanks Leigh! I've never reached out to them so I might do that and see what we can arrange.
Another great and professional review. I am awaiting my Denafrips Pontus II and stepping up from the Ares, and looking forward to your reviews on these products.
I'm very keen to try the Pontus and Terminator too. Enjoy your Pontus II!
Denefips still a favourite