HoloAudio Spring 3 Kitsune DAC NOS


Hey guys, recently bought this and it sounds really good. I have a streamer that can upscale/sample streamed music in PCM and can do Native DSD. The DAC can go to DSD1024. The question is should i just leave what comes out of the streamer original? (some is 44.1 some is up to 192) Or should i upscale 44.1 content to lets say 176 which 4x or 192 which is non-integer. Would I gain anything?

New to the whole upscale/sample business. The DAC i understand has no filters or upscaler on board. Purely NOS. Help me Obi Wan. Thanks guys

paqua123

Congratulations! You own a fine DAC.

What sounds best to you?

A fun thing, I always enjoyed, getting new audio equipment is the discoveries you make while "playing around."

David

Yes, Im enjoying it so far. Seems like most content is 44.1 and upscaled to 88.2 sounds good. The 176k sounds clearer but looses heft in the sound. Will have to keep trying. Is it worth it to upscale CDs? or just go directly to the DAC?

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Try going with whatever sounds better.

If they sound identical, don-worry-boud-it.

Blaze your own trail.

I sometimes upsample for the display.

Hey ya ...just not familiar with NOS Dacs. If it's a required thing for them to reach full potential or is straight into the DAC from whatever the streamer or CD player sends ok.? My streamers sends up to 384khz pcm and Native DSD etc. So let the streamer decide?

While I don’t know your DAC, when listening to Jazz, I mostly leave my DAC on NOS, but sometimes I set it on OS and add a “Slow” filter if I listen to Rock.

Play with all the settings and have fun.

Ya, the NOS DAC doesnt have OS or slow filters etc. All upscale/sampling has to be done on the streamer. It's the Rose 250a. My DAC is pure NOS

In the end it’s what sounds best to you! Nice choice on the dac- I hear they are wonderful.

My streamer will upsample as well but to be honest I have everything set to Native in my system. I prefer to run AES to my dac so everything stays native at or below 24/192. If I want to go true DSD I playback native from my MacBook Pro via usb- I haven’t even bothered with trying to stream DSD.

Yes, I havent found streamable DSD content yet. I run native from my streamer so what ever the song is from 44.1-192hz is what plays back thru the DAC. Im connected via USB from streamer to DAC. Not sure if that is optimum but I read it offers the least limitations when passing info to the DAC. This DAC is relatively new..less than 3 weeks. Im amazed that it will get better as it gets settled in.

I record my vinyl to DSD. To my ears, playing pure / native DSD, with the DAC volume disabled, is clearly superior to PCM.

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@paqua123

You can download dsd music from sites like NativeDSD. One of their sample downloads costs little and will test your DAC and give you a feel for the sound.

Yet it is hard to find DSD downloads of well-known artists. Why? Maybe because these are the masters that the music business don't want to distribute. Instead they downconvert to PCM and call it "hi-res".

Ya looks like alot of classical and or some Jazz but no classic rock etc. I might try one for fun tho..The DAC will do DSD1024 so we shall see