This belongs in the DIGITAL Forum Thread. Plenty of info on this particular DAC over there.
Holo Audio May DAC Version
Hello everyone, I am about to make a purchase and would like to know if anyone has any first hand experience between the version 2 and the KTE. Is it worth the extra money? I live in Greece and the difference is quite a large one. 4750 euros for lvl 2 vs 5600 for KTE. I had an audition at a local dealer of the spring kte vs my dac, chord hugo tt2.
The improvement was heard within the first few notes. And the dealer told me the may is at least 40% better sounding than the spring. The main differences I heard was in the bass department and in transparency. The tt2 has a warmth to the bass which is not needed in my system. It has an extension which can sound boomy at times. Also, the instruments sounded more at the level of the speaker, whereas with the holo, it pushed the stage further back and had a more 'realistic' tone than the 'richer/warmer' tt2. Anyone heard the differences with the may v2 vs kte? Any advice is more than welcome! Cheers
The improvement was heard within the first few notes. And the dealer told me the may is at least 40% better sounding than the spring. The main differences I heard was in the bass department and in transparency. The tt2 has a warmth to the bass which is not needed in my system. It has an extension which can sound boomy at times. Also, the instruments sounded more at the level of the speaker, whereas with the holo, it pushed the stage further back and had a more 'realistic' tone than the 'richer/warmer' tt2. Anyone heard the differences with the may v2 vs kte? Any advice is more than welcome! Cheers
6 responses Add your response
I'm in the same situation as you, trying to decide which version of the May to purchase. Ron at New Record Day does a great job on reviewing the May KTE but admits, towards the end of the review, that he is not certain if all the silver in the KTE is a good thing. My experience with silver cable has not been good. I can well believe that V2 would have a warmer, richer tone than the KTE but, unfortunately, it's unlikely anyone will have an opportunity to compare the two. |
I apologize for bumping this thread up, but I found this and thought that I'd share. Please look at Quadman's posts in the link. https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/58090-holo-audio-may-dac/page/32/#comments FYI, scintilla has a L2 and Toni-Mang has a L1. Happy listening. Ken (love my KTE BTW) |
For goodness sake get the KTE version. I received my May-KTE two weeks ago and while it sounded good out of the box after 200+ streaming hours through it with my pre & amps off IT SOUNDS SPECTACULAR! I absolutely crushes my PS Audio DirectStream which I have loved for the last 3 years. Purchased the May-KTE just to see knowing it would be easy to sell since wait times are 7-9 weeks. No way this baby is going anywhere! This evening my wife came into the den and said " whatever that new box cost was worth it". While a music lover she is very skeptical of upgrades. |