HOLO Audio Spring DAC: Affordable discrete R2R Multibit Dac, could be a winner.
Many manufacturers are going back to R2R Multibit d/a conversion, a good portion of audiophiles are saying it sounds better than the cheaper d/a conversion of Delta Sigma, (1 bit), Bitstream, Saber. etc. And it says it uses dual R2R’s Multibits
to support DSD natively!!?
Product Description:This new DAC.”Spring” is the first design of a new era, a milestone for HOLO Audio’s own Jeff Zhu. It’s a full discrete R2R type of audio decoder and does not have off the shelf-DAC chip! This is a bespoke custom-designed core DAC module and truly a breakthrough with technology for any DAC chip today. The Spring is here to achieve new heights, new dynamics and simply a full spectrum of audio to please the aural senses. This Dac has been called the poor mans Total Dac / MSB / Wavedream / Chord Dave Etc. It plays with the big boys.
George, I was wondering about the initial excitement about Holo and
then things simply died down. I would be more interested to find how the Holo compares against Bryston BDA-3. And I am not interested technology-wise, but sound-wise.
The Ace up Exogal's sleeve is the companion amp to the Comet, Ion, which makes the combo a PowerDAC, early reviews are stellar. Expect some comments mid December.
The Exogal Comet Plus has been garnering a lot of nice reviews. Will be interesting to read your comparison. Have fun comparing the DACs you mentioned.
I'll have a chance to compare a Spring L3 to my Exogal Comet Plus, Benchmark DAC2, and maybe a Mytek Brooklyn, and possibly the latest Benchmark DAC 3 with the latest Sabre chip. Probably early December.
Yes you are right JWM but that’s all we have at the moment and are still good reading if understood. Good analytical sound reviews without any "hocus pocus" are a bit thin on the ground as of yet, just need some more buyers to take the plunge to give those reviews without knowing what their buying. I hear there are 2 of this Holo dacs at the RMAF show can anyone confirm this?
Those of us who firmly believe that R2R Multibit is the best type of conversion for PCM, even though DS shows to have "some better" measurements Here for those interested in it, is one of our Aussie digital guru’s opinions of the measured performance of this Holo dac, screen shot measurements are on the page before.
Thanks Charles! i understand your description and preference in sound, hence " no absolute best when it comes to audio components. There exist too many factors and circumstances involved including the listeners themselves"
..... I make the assumption we here are all mature adults who happily share information and perspectives and are capable of determining what sounds good to us....... Charles
+1, Charles. Good to know your Yamamoto DAC is still holding up very well. Enjoy! J. :)
For those here that have some digital technical and diy ability and who know at least some Ohms/Kirchoff’s laws, you can put together your own discrete R2R Multibit dac with volume very cheaply designed by Soekris, for around a couple of hundred bucks, and sorry they don’t come with "voodoo" fuses.
Hi Phillip, No I wouldn't necessarily say that, I'm impressed with it and it may further improved via IS2. The Bricasti SE is excellent in my friend's system, it replaced his Asthetix Pandora Signature. I don't believe in an absolute best when it comes to audio components. There exist too many factors and circumstances involved including the listeners themselves. I do believe however there are definitely superb products available to choose among.
The Yamamoto isn't perfect obviously and certainly has limited flexibility. Its appeal to me is a simple and pure organic nature and terrific tone/timbre qualities. It just pulls me right into the music with a strong emotional communication. I haven't heard any other DAC that does this any "better" (although others do this as well). So far I've not found another DAC compelling enough to lead me to decide it's time to replace the Yamamoto. Charles
Hi Jon, Well said. I make the assumption we here are all mature adults who happily share information and perspectives and are capable of determining what sounds good to us.
Jon despite hearing these fine DACs and numerous others as well, the Yamamoto YDA-01 remains with me. That Japanese gem just goes straight to my soul. Charles
I too am in George's bad books for mentioning the fuse!
Don't sweat it. :)
Many of us including yours truly, have been in his bad books for eons, simply for holding contrarian views to his dogmas.
Pet issues of contention have been 1. R2R vs delta-sigma dac's 2. Active preamp vs passive/no preamp 3. DSD sucks 4. Change the source/dac if it cannot directly drive the power amp instead of adding active preamp even if doing the latter improves the sound 5. Fuses
We simply learn to let things slide. Definitely better off listening to music than to continue sparring ad nauseum.
Thanks for your feedback Charles. I too am in George's bad books for mentioning the fuse! I look forward to your findings with the addition of the singxer.
Milpal, According to my friend the Singxer SU-1 will allow the use of IS2 connection, he is awaiting his. I don’the mind the inevitable skeptics. They come with the territory of open discussion forums., I’m confident in what I hear and am comfortable reporting it. Depending on the circumstances I’ve heard a fuse or power cable make more of a difference than a tube or capacitor swap (sometimes). It varies from one situation to another. Charles
charles1dad, it is always a good thing to post "as you hear it". There will always be skeptics. I could clearly hear "changes" with power cords. So one can understand why a fuse change might affect. Anyways, I am now interested in 2 DACs - The Kitsune Spring Level 3 and the Bryston BDA-3. The advantage I see for Bryston is the DSD over HDMI. If there is a simple way to route a DSD to the Kitsune over IS2 via a HDMI cable, I am all ears.
Thanks guys, My post was no attempt to write a formal review but rather an impression of its performance relative to a know highly regarded reference such as the Bricasti SE. If the additionof the Singxer SU-1 provides even modest improvement then we have a DAC of enormous performance/cost value. This is excellent news for those shopping for terrific sound quality at very reasonable cost. Charles
Many thanks, Charles, for the update. I have auditioned the Bricasti in my home system and going by your description of the Holo's sound next to the Bricasti's, this is high praise indeed.
Thanks charles review, as i said before holo spring sound really good and close to my ex metrum panave performance, but after i replace the ddc from bryston buc-1 to singxer su-1 via i2s hdmi, it make a huge improvement, more detail and better 3d soundstage, more silent background and also sound more clear than using Aes in , i feel this combo ready to outperform metrum, i am using aurender n100 for source, vitus ss010 and volent vl-3 as amp,speaker
Hi George, Regarding the fuse comment, I write what I hear, thus my "take it as you like " for the skeptical. We’ve gone over this before on another thread and I just say that we will continue to "respectfully" disagree and leave it there. If you find my impressions less informed as a result, so be it. My opinion of this DAC is very favorable after hearing it today. As always I simply post honestly my listening observations and people can take them as they wish. Charles,
Charles, I was enjoying this review up until this statement.
We replaced the stock fuse with a Synergistic Research Black fuse and there was genuine improvement. Take that as you like.
Then I’m afraid you lost me, take that as you like, but an incoming mains fuse on especially a well regulated power supply as any dacs have, will not make one iota of difference. What you and your friend most probably heard is what Ralph (Atmasphere) coyly calls "expectation bias" with regards to fuse swapping.
But I still like very much what Holo have done circuitry wise and especially price wise, so I’ll wait for more informed reviews to come along as well to point potential buyers and customers of mine to.
As for them the retailer/distributer (not the designer) having these fuses advertised on their website, they are a retail/wholesale outlet with many audio products and are also there to make a buck as well.
Thanks Charlies, very nice review of A/B comparison with Bricasti SE. Do you think this 3rd level Spring DAC has improved \ exceed in every areas than the Yamamoto DAC ? Thanks! -philip
A good friend of mine received the Holo Spring DAC a few weeks ago and has accumulated just over 300 hours in his bedroom system. He invited me over today to hear it in his primary system. Which is comprised of computer-Bricasti SE DAC-Absolare Altus Line Stage-Krell FPB 600 mono blocks-Rockport Altair speakers, he uses Echole cable loom. Needless to say that he has a fabulous sounding home audio system.
We listened to several very familiar recordings all 16/44.1 with the Bricasti SE we then listened to the same music with the replacement Spring DAC level 3. Well I’ll say this, the Holo Spring DAC is very good sounding. Natural character with good tonality and sense of musical ease. Dynamics,bass weight and impact as well as sound stage presentation and perceived dimensions were near equal to the Bricasti, this is a compliment.
Where th Bricasti SE is superior is refinement, nuance and inner/micro details or information. Bass texture, vibraphone, piano and guitar harmonics, overtones and timbre are superb as they’re more completely fleshed out and distinct. The Holo does these sonic things very well to be perfectly clear. The Bricasti raises the bar higher yet. In no way or manner is the Holo embarrassed in direct comparison, not at all. You are made aware of differences between components when heard back to back.
When cost is factored into the mix you have to acknowledge that the Holo Spring DAC level 3 represents very substantial value. Without question this is an exceptionally good sounding DAC. Three points to clarify. 1 The Distributor strongly recommended the Audio Horizon Platinum fuse upgrade based on his personal experimentation. I’d trust him on this. We replaced the stock fuse with a Synergistic Research Black fuse and there was genuine improvement. Take that as you like.
2 The sound was also improved with the use of an Intona high speed USB isolator between computer and the DAC.
3 The Distributor is sending my friend a Singxer SU-1 USB digital converter which he insists is very beneficial. We’ll see if that is the case once it arrives.
Initial impression, This DAC is very well built, solid and reflects high quality workmanship. Best ofall It sounds like music if you know what I mean. It held its own in an exceptionally fine and highly resolving (yet superbly musical) audio system. It is a legitimate high end product. Charles,
I see - dual differential. Still, I don't think it makes much sense to claim that. The input register doesn't even accept more than 20 bits for data. But what do I know? I'm just a regular schmoe... And not that it matters all that much anyway since we're talking about deafness at this amount of dynamic range.
True that the AD DACs themselves are 20 bit, but the way they implemented the design with two DACs per channel gives them a claimed 21 bits of resolution.
The Schiit Yaggs is much more technically advanced in its actual 21 net bits... patented AD -Bruz technology
Huh? Not sure where you're getting 21 net bits from since the Analog Devices AD5791BRUZ DAC they use is a precision 20 bit DAC. Feed it 24 bits of data and the last four are rounded off. If anything, the Spring DAC is closer to 21 bit, given their claimed SNR of 126 dB. I also think you're confusing Schiit's oversampling digital filter (which is proprietary, not patented) with the DAC chip itself.
It's difficult to say that one DAC is unquestionably superior to another competitor. No doubt the Schiit is very good but better than the Holo Spring DAC level 3? Also consider the Lampizator Atlantic, excellent according to those who have heard it.
The Schiit Yaggs is much more technically advanced in its actual 21 net bits. Read the white paper . DVD to me is only worth it when they start kicking out 1,00s of labels, same goes for the new potential hardware.as Mike Moffett said It is all BS and he is not going to pay royalties and other fees per unit For DzsD or the new breeds just evolving. With Warner Bros and Sony start getting serious and opening the vault Decoded hirez said without decoder . When all these libraries become available only then will Schiit start implementing this .in thd meantime their fully module Build construction and patented AD -Bruz technology is class leading in inner detail and musicality especially at anything $5-6k and under.these others usING S ton of resistors most certainly does not gain detail. The more expensive Lampzador with dual tubes is a statement product if you have around z $10k To spend .
Thanks George, PCM 16/44, I have tried upsampling via HQplayer to both 352.8 pcm with very good results. My current computer is just not powerful enough to do high res Dsd.
I must add add to my thoughts above that I am feeding the DAC with a uRendu via USB. I will be adding a Singxer Su-1 just to see what it will add via i2s
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