DAC’s

“The Holo May DAC is cheaper and considered better.”

”In sum-- a shocker-- the NOS R2R DAC is sounding more and more like... an excellent NOS R2R DAC. The KTE May is a bit warmer and more spacious all around. In contrast, immediately apparent upon switching is the slightly more lit up sound of the MA3.

It presents to my ear as more detailed and thus less ’homogeneous’ with instrumental sections/groups and the textures their instruments produce. Specifically, there seems to be more overall instrumental texture on offer and instruments in groups seem a bit more discernible as individual players with their own air and space around them.

The MA3 also seems somewhat pacier and more micro-dynamic. It’s quite the foot tapper! Even to Bach. There seems to be more contrast between instantly softer and louder/start and stop. The MA3 is on a hair trigger with this stuff. I think some youtube reviewer calls that ’alert’ sounding.

While, as i say, the MA3 seems to separate instrumentalists on the stage a bit more and gives them their own air, the Holo seems to paint more abstractly with a bit broader brush, The MA3 also seems to have a bit more ’scale’ for me i.e. the proceedings seems slightly grander in terms of the size of the players and stage. MA3 bass seems a bit more defined and possibly a bit deeper (though my system sure wont plumb any depths).

It also does a nice thing I don’t think I’ve heard my prior DACs do to this degree (mostly NOS R2R to be fair) which is pressurization-- like the sense that the bow is digging into the strings and there’s pressure/corporeality/weight (it was striking with a great violin recording like the complete Schubert Sonatas played by Naaman Sluchin and Piet Kuijikenor) and with strings en masse like in ’Simon Rattle conducts Haydn’, on which album the lower strings -- cellos/basses-- seem with the MA3 to be moving more air than with the Holo while seeming a bit less plump and one notey as well. In other words,with the MA3, it hits you a bit more that there’s a big lot of people out there (albeit individuals) bowing away furiously.

You get this sense of weight/pressure- of air moving- with the MA3 on lots of recordings though- not just with strings.”

@shtr74sims 
I am with @ghdprentice on this one. The MA3 is decent enough but still requires you to source an external device to run ROON core. Which is another whole bag of tricks you need to put together in order to take full advantage of MA3.

Before you finalize your DAC purchase, narrow down your options for streamer or server. These two components must take full advantage of tech on board (USB or SPDIF connectivity) and superiority of Internal clocks in either DAC or Streamer.

And lastly, based on the quality of your streamer/server; network optimization would be the next step to fully realize the potential of digital streaming.

shttr,

The deal of a lifetime only comes along once a week.

The Holo May DAC is cheaper and considered better.

The DAC is what makes the streamer sound good.

The DAC is one of the critical components of your system. I read some reviews on the Meitner MA3 DAC. Seems very respectable for the money… as in the sound quality sounds worth the money.

To be getting the most out of your DAC you need to have or plan on owning a comparable streamer, preamp, amp and speakers. It would be helpful to know your other components and venue. The best, and easiest place to put these is under your userID. Then you do not need to keep reproducing them. Photos… even if in disarray and under construction is really helpful. You can see mine.

Anyway the Stereophile review poses no red flags, but also not overwhelming praise. I really appreciate them mentioning Grant Green’s Idle Moments album. I am listening to it now… the high resolution one is absolutely wonderful.

$7k is a fair chunk of change.

I cannot hear much of a difference between the iPad coming out of an apple dongle and the same iPad feeding Spotify into an RME DAC… so I would be more tempted to shift the 5-6k extra into something else where it might be more noticeable.

Maybe your equipment and ears are better, but unless there are some features with that DAC then personally I would require some careful listening to sway me towards it.