Just received and unboxed the Spring 3 KTE. I’m 30 hours into break-in and WOW. Approaching 40 hours and it keeps getting better and better, Just keeps getting better the longer its played. Zero smear of the stereo image. Unbelievable articulation. Lyrics are Cristal clear and the bass is outstanding with authority and felt vibrato of string bass instruments. Cristal clear, crisp, and very musical. |
I'm just passing 320 hours with the Spring 3 KTE. Wow, other reviewers were serious this DAC keeps reviewing itself with a long burn-in period. About 120 hours the process seemed to go sideways a bit. Then closer to 180 hours it really started opening up again. The clear articulation without being overly revealing or bright is amazing. |
The analog Devices 1955 DAC has a nice smoothed detailed presentation. It's a great chip however the ESS Sabre chips are better. I've had a Lavry Engineering DAC with the 1955 and because of my engineering connection,s an Analog Devices engineering demonstrator. Both sounded terrific. Also own a PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC and OPPO Sonica with the ESS Sabre implementation. The ESS Sabre chip is generally a better Delta-Sigma foundation. None of them hold a candle the PS Audio DirectStream DAC, and the Holo Spring 3 KTE is even better yet. The DSD DAC's FPGA chip implementation has substantially great capability for all the crazy filtering PCM data requires. Listening & measurements have shown the May is better but VERY narrowly on the margins. It's biggest benefit is ditching all the crazy complicated filtering since it's a 24 bit R2R DAC. Talk about digging into detail and immediacy of presentation! If you're buying a Spring 3, only get the KTE version with it's hand selected DAC module and USB interface from the MAY. Also the built on preamp option is terrific as the max gain is only 6 db, enough to compensate for the 6db drop of DSD over PCM specification.
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@bcaudio1 Initially I was using an Oppo 105 as the DAC via streaming from a PC. Upgraded to an Oppo Sonica and the improvement was pronounced. Next a PS Audio DirectStream DAC. This was a significant upgrade in every dimension. Now, just waiting for my Spring 3 L3/KTE to arrive. Hopefully it’s all everyone says and a bag of chips. :7)
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