Holo Audio May DAC


Just read a very nice review of this in Stereophile this month and after doing some research it looks like this one could be a very nice option for me.  
https://kitsunehifi.com/product/holo-audio-may-dac/
  
It's made in China I think (or could be Taiwan?, and yes, I am very well aware that these are two very different countries. ;)), and employs a direct to consumer model to keep the price as low as possible.  This does not worry me after purchasing a Jay's Audio transport from Vinshine Audio and having zero issues.  

Just curious if anyone here has heard one or purchased?  I'm very intrigued.  I know the Denafrips Terminator is another highly regarded DAC with a similar ordering model, but costs a couple grand more than this one.  Considering that one as well.

Thanks
128x128snackeyp
I was going to wait until I had a full week of burn-in before I did any extended listening with the May KTE, but I turned on the amp yesterday around the 24-hour mark to see how things were going.  There was still some significant abrasiveness on the top-end and the bass was a bit muddy, but I was also noticing that the sound stage and overall resolution had started to clean up.  

I left my amp on for the next 8 hours and could hear more and more improvement coming through.  The issues with the treble and bass were slowly fading as well.  I know it’s cliche, but I started hearing elements in songs that I had never noticed before in either my PS Audio DSD or Lumin T2.  In terms of the overall presentation (at least as of yesterday), I would say the sound was a lot closer to the T2 than the PSA DSD.  The soundstage wasn’t as forward nor had the same weight as the PSA DSD.  

I’m looking forward to hearing how it sounds after I get back home in a few days.
@georgehifi

From the Kitsune web site:

The true balanced DUAL MONO circuit design

XLR is using all of the circuit and RCA is just using half of them. The balanced output has better performance (THD, noise) and also better common mode rejection rate.


20 days and my KTE is really singing and opening up nicely. Great purchase. Thanks all your assistance/encourgment in my process.

My question?? I'm consoldating my wired Network backbone to repourpse a closet and putting a gigabit 8 port hub, cable modem & router/ all network equip all in one temp controlled location.  

I will  move my Antipodes DX3 server and its USB back up drives to this location but I will then need a streamer(new Roon endpoint) on the rack for KTE to feed via USB.

What comes to my  mind would be the Sonore Optical Rendu with it's elimation of electrical noise (dirty side) for the Optical Rendu (clean side) to be the new streaming roon endpoint. Any one have any experiences or thoughts??? I sent an Email to Tim Conor to see what his thoughts may be.

Thanks in advance for your opinions.


Jim


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@nquery

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

The other change I made (and mentioned above) was to get a quality Balanced XLR to Single Ended RCA transformer (cinemags) and see if that improved the sonics on my SE amp. I think there is an incremental improvement but haven’t really A/B’ed it yet.
I read your comments on singled ended and only using one side of the May DAC. Did you notice any improvement? Maybe this is also why you experienced that the soundstage vs Lampizator is less holographic?

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

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

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

Spring3 PLL is nearly the same design as our flagship dac, the May. The main difference between Spring3 and May is that May uses our latest technology and cost is no object, therefore has better components. For Spring3, it uses the latest technology as May. But the main goal is to get high performance at reasonable cost, and I believe we absolutely achieved this goal. Although it’s price is higher than Spring2. I think the performance/cost ratio is higher than Spring2. It’s not much behind May! The pre-amp module inside is a very decent way to control volume, really one of the best ways. I think the digital volume is terrible, especially for this level of DAC. So I never added digital volume control on Spring and May, only on Cyan which is our entry level product. Digital volume is very easy and has very low cost added, albeit compromised. The reason we don’t use it is that ‘free digital volume’ will lead customer to use it and not realize it is not ideal for use with our higher end dacs. I don’t want misguide the user to use our DAC is that way. I think they will be most pleased with our fully balanced, discrete analog volume control for a low optional upgrade price
Source: https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/spring-3-dac/