HoloAudio STREAMER is out now

I listened to the Holo Audio streamer today and it was amazing. It is quite nicely made and heavy, too. It was delightful sounding. Went through a Bent TapX preamp into some Coincident tube amps. Wow.

Kind of surprised at how quickly some are posting to make basic mistakes or to rule out the unit.

It's $800 folks. It seems well positioned for consideration, at least.

“aesthetically”?

Why not aesthetically, without the quotes? Not sure what you mean.

Anyone try the Holo Red streamer yet?

@lalitk I didn't have control over the streamer and was mainly listening. It was operated using Roon.

I think a longer, more in depth review by a professional is needed.

One thing I suspect is happening is that the streamer is entering a more mature phase as a product. As with other electronics familiar to folks here, new, smart ways of designing and economizing what is necessary to sonic quality is being implemented. I could be wrong, but doing streaming well is not rocket science; what is needed is a scalable, intelligent approach to solving a number of issues at once. The Holo may be an advance which builds upon both the higher priced and lower priced models and is finding the market niche in between. Others will surely follow.  

@charles1dad When I say it was "amazing" I am choosing that word carefully. That's how it sounded to me and to the experienced audiophile with whom I listened. In addition to building audio equipment (including amps, preamps, speakers, and his Intel NUC) he has extensive computer experience. This is his conclusion, also, and we went back and forth to compare. The Holo exceeded his best streamers after many years. So, that's my basis for the word "amazing."

Am I a professional reviewer with the experience of a Darko or Hans Beekhuysen? Not by a long shot. I am an amateur and only speaking to my experience. 

Would we agree that there are not that many options between the Bluesound Node and much more expensive streamers? Indeed, along that line of argument, you mention the Magna Mano Ultra MK III that impressed Hans Beekhuysen. Well, it is about $1500. The Holo Audio Streamer is about $800, nearly half the cost.

It would be great to get a comparison between the Magna Mano and the Holo. Because if the Holo is 8/10 as good as the Magna, and the Magna is 8/10ths as good as the Grimm MU1, well, that would be...amazing.
 

@charles1dad Thank you -- that clarification helped a lot. I wrote to Hans via his Patreon channel asking him to review the unit. We need some professional assessments, for sure. 

@lalitk Because I have a $750 sunk into a Node 2i with an upgraded external LPS and I want to avoid a lateral move without some evidence. They take 6 weeks to build and are not returnable. So, without some additional data about whether they punch upwards, I'm reluctant to experiment.

@thyname 

But, there is no such thing as “evidence “ from other folks. The only evidence that matters is you, trying it in your system.

I have to disagree. I read movie reviews, restaurant reviews, automotive reviews. My tastes are unique, but they are not completely idiosyncratic. I am not a solipsist.
If someone reviews the Holo Red and compares it to something else which is better than my Node 2i, it may contain information applicable to my tastes. Hans Beekhuysen would be a review to whom I would pay keen attention.

@lalitk  My comment about Red punching above it's price point is a hypothesis based on the fact that my audiophile friend -- who has a streaming set up that is far, far better than my Node 2i -- has replaced his setup with the Holo Red. My argument is simply that if his *previous* streamer is better than my Node, and the Red is better than his previous streamer, then it's likely that the Red is better than my Node. Make sense?

@charles1dad  The "amazing" comment had to do with the Red on a different system. It is hard for me to gauge how good the Red would be in my system. What would another reviewer bring? Additional data where the Red is assessed with a different system. You're familiar, I'm sure, with audio reviews of equipment which discuss how a speaker (e.g.) sounds with amp A, B, C and with source A, B. Etc. This process helps to triangulate what is common to the equipment under review under changing circumstances. Were I to read a review of the Red with other speakers and, especially, in comparison to better streamers than my Node 2i, that would help me triangulate whether the Red would be a lateral move from my Node or whether it is likely a streamer that punches above its weight class (and, thus above my Node 2i). 

@charles1dad For me -- as a philosopher who thinks about aesthetics and questions of subjective taste -- the question is especially interesting.

If everyone had their own unique taste, then there would be no reason to converse about it. There would be as much reason to talk about how a speaker sounds as talk about what that slight twinge below my left knee feels like. It would be indescribable.

But we do talk about it -- we do compare, argue, agree, and influence one another. We have a crude vocabulary for acoustic experiences, but it does work for us. The reviewers who understand this are very popular because they know how to connect with a variety of listeners.

This ability to communicate across the divide of our subjective experiences means that there is something like inter-subjectivity (or even objectivity, properly qualified) which permits conversation about audio. Those conversations are built not off our differences, but upon what we share: a biology, a culture, a physics, and a language.

@mesch I hope to take it back to my audiophile friend's house to compare with his system as the stable variable(s).

@charles1dad I will! 

Learning more about Red from my friend. I asked about doing a shootout.

He said:  "You could [compare them] but they are very different devices. The red doesn't have any kind of controller app like the node and relies on other things sending it data. No qobuz, though it does have Spotify and tidal. I use the red as a roon end point, something I believe the node will do, so you could compare the sound quality but I'm not sure the red would fit into your current infrastructure. It does list airplay as an option, but of course that resamples everything to lossy compression. 

The node is much more of an appliance and lots of features, the red is more of a bare bones streamer or usb to digital re-clocker.

One option with the red is the ability to use alternative operating systems, such as roopiexl and volumio. Volumio will connect to just about everything. All that is needed is to put the image on a micro SD flash card. The downside is for all the features it requires a subscription that is 4.99 euro/month if paid annually."

@nymarty  My recent experience at my buddy's with the Red was that USB was noticeably better into a Holo May DAC than the I2S. Worth experimenting if you can.

@jjss49 I believe it is Roon ready. Viz., https://alpha-audio.net/review/holo-audio-red-streamer-and-ddc-red-alert/