Holo Audio Spring Dac, At last a Stereophile review and tests

@soix  For what it's worth, I am HAPPILY using a Metrum Onyx now. It pushes all the right buttons for me in my system, in my room, etc. I did not have them at the same time, so no direct comparison, sorry.

I really enjoyed reading that review. It was very insightful and had a nice and honest tone about it. And I love that he compared it to other similar competitors, which makes a review so much more useful and informative -- at least to me. I didn’t know anything about the Holo DAC going in, and now I’m very interested. Wonder how it would compare to something like a Metrum Hex or Pavane?

By the way, it bugs the crap out of me when some rags fail to bother to compare a review component to anything else at all, and some sometimes don’t even bother to disclose the equipment used in the review system! What is that??? All but useless to me. ARGH!!! I suppose it does promote firing off "reviews" much more quickly while also effectively removing almost all potential accountability. How wonderful it must be for those "reviewers." (Yes I’m referring to you TAS and Hi-Fi+). Anyway, thanks for the link to the review.

Hmmm, I have the Level 3 Spring with the Singxer fed by an Aurender N100H and it rivals my CD transport for quality of sound.  I have been very happy with it. I have to admit that I am curious about the Denafrips Terminator although it is at a much higher price point.

I used it with the Singxer SU-1 and still didn't warm up to it.

Yes it needs a Singer or other jitter cleaning device according to people I know who use it. This is not uncommon for all but the best DACs. 

@jwm  I agree 100% with your assessment.

I also had a L3 but I could not get it sound engaging and exciting in my system. Sold it a couple of weeks after getting it (it was already burned in, btw).

That being said, I only tried it with the USB input from my MacBook Pro, whereas using another input via a DDC like the Singxer SU-1 seems like the prevalent recommendation.

I had the level 3

@jwm 

Which version did you have?  Also did you use it with Singxer SU-1 in the chain or just the Dac itself? 

I had this dac and it was just mediocre at best.

I also hear people saying that the Spring DAC is better with headphones and can sound strange/funny with speakers sometimes. I wonder why would they say that.

@lancelock  I am wondering about that for couple of months now but i could not find one decent comparison between LVL1 and LVL3.

My guess is that there won't be that much of a sonic difference.

If this dac has the ability of a seperate power supply like my Lumin D-1
The power supply and power cord is instrumental I use the New Verastarr excellent PC.. Mojo Audio New
Illuminati-2  power supply is up there with the best of them for sure and truly makes this dac Very detailed and controlled,and very analog sounding in  many ways and for the extra $1k spent the Lumin d-1 competes easily with digital 2-3 x it's cost.

One thing I think is important for a quality DAC is the quality of the AC power it runs off of.  People who know much more about digital audio than I do frequently talk about having an excellent quality power supply and how that effects the performance of a DAC.  In my personal experience, with my PS Audio DirectStream DAC, I noticed an immediate improvement when I upgraded from a Furman power conditioner to a PS Audio P10 Power Plant, an AC power "re-generator".

Poor jitter rejection. Harmonic distortion in NOS mode. Otherwise another great R-2R. Renewed my faith in Delta-Sigma ;-)

More seriously - despite all the measurement errors it sounds like a killer DAC.

I tried the level 1 DAC in my system and thought it was pretty good. Does anyone one know how much more the level 3 gives you?

Lance