HOLO Audio Spring DAC - R2R DSD512

[Miska]

9 minutes ago, barrows said:

 

@Miska, is USB 3 required for DSD 1024/ PCM 1536?  I would think that USB 2 should be fine, but without a DAC capable of testing this I cannot say for sure.  I will ask if Jesus has tested higher rates and report back.

 

It works with USB2 on my UpBoard NAA... USB2 vs USB3 doesn't make difference in this respect.

 

[barrows]

27 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

It works with USB2 on my UpBoard NAA... USB2 vs USB3 doesn't make difference in this respect.

 

That is what I would expect, thanks for confirmation.

[Account Closed]

1 hour ago, barrows said:

Matt, I only know for sure what I can test.  Sonore USB outputs are rated to work up to DSD 512 and PCM 768, beyond that I do not know because I have no DAC capable of accepting higher rates.  I suspect higher rates are possible, but cannot confirm.  I can only report rock solid function with DSD 512 and PCM 768.

@Miska, is USB 3 required for DSD 1024/ PCM 1536?  I would think that USB 2 should be fine, but without a DAC capable of testing this I cannot say for sure.  I will ask if Jesus has tested higher rates and report back.

I was never able to go above PCM 768 with my uRendu. I tried  PCM 1.536 but the sound was distorted and when looking at the sending computer HQP network connection the bit rate was 60 Mbps when it should have been 98 Mbps. Jussi said that the Rendu board was likely unable to process the higher incoming bitrate or that it could be a driver issue somewhere. I moved on as it was only an experiment and I use DSD 256/ASDM7 EC as my primary.

[Account Closed]

8 hours ago, matthias said:

 

JCAT provides only "Supports all lossless formats and sample rates".

What are the highest sample rates for PCM and DSD with Sonore?

Thanks

 

Matt

Holo has a separate firmware to be installed on the Spring 2 when using the JCAT USB card. This is a known driver issue. Contact Tim at Kitsune for explanation.

[barrows]

6 minutes ago, bobflood said:

I was never able to go above PCM 768 with my uRendu. I tried  PCM 1.536 but the sound was distorted and when looking at the sending computer HQP network connection the bit rate was 60 Mbps when it should have been 98 Mbps. Jussi said that the Rendu board was likely unable to process the higher incoming bitrate or that it could be a driver issue somewhere. I moved on as it was only an experiment and I use DSD 256/ASDM7 EC as my primary.

So you were not able to achieve that rate with any other approach either?  Say direct connection of server USB port to DAC?

[Account Closed]

2 hours ago, barrows said:

So you were not able to achieve that rate with any other approach either?  Say direct connection of server USB port to DAC?

I never tried direct connection as my HQP machine is in another room and I was only trying it as an experiment. Others here have reported that a direct USB connection from a MB USB port does work at 1.536 PCM. I have a Holo Spring 2 KTE which will accept 1.536 PCM. I talked with Tim at Kitsune Audio and Jesus R at Sonore and Jussi about it and no one had a clear idea about why it didn't work so I just dropped it as it did not matter to me.

[barrows]

2 minutes ago, bobflood said:

I never tried direct connection as my HQP machine is in another room and I was only trying it as an experiment. Others here have reported that a direct USB connection from a MB USB port does work at 1.536 PCM. I have a Holo Spring 2 KTE which will accept 1.536 PCM. I talked with Tim at Kitsune Audio and Jesus R at Sonore and Jussi about it and no one had a clear idea about why it didn't work so I just dropped it as it did not matter to me.

Right, thanks for the feedback anyway.  Indeed my preference would be for ASDMEC7 and DSD 256 as well, but it would be good to know the definitive answer on rates of our products, but there are so few DACs supporting such rates testing is difficult.

[Account Closed]

5 minutes ago, barrows said:

Right, thanks for the feedback anyway.  Indeed my preference would be for ASDMEC7 and DSD 256 as well, but it would be good to know the definitive answer on rates of our products, but there are so few DACs supporting such rates testing is difficult.

How is your server rebuild going?

[shahed99]

Is there any Holo DAC users who are successfully upsampling PCM 1.5Mhz? @Diavolo are you using your motherboards USB port? I wonder if there's any audiophile grade USB PCIE that'd support PCM 1.5Mhz with Holo.

 

I love the sound of DSD 256 with ASDM7EC. But it's so taxing on the server and my linear PSU. It'd be great if I can switch to PCM 1.5M upsampling (given the very positive feedbacks lately).

 

I'd appreciate if @Marcin_gpscould shade some light on his excellent JCAT XE card's PCM 1.5M compatibility with certain usb interface like XMOS used in Holo.

 

[Miska]

19 hours ago, shahed99 said:

Is there any Holo DAC users who are successfully upsampling PCM 1.5Mhz? @Diavolo are you using your motherboards USB port? I wonder if there's any audiophile grade USB PCIE that'd support PCM 1.5Mhz with Holo.

 

Yes, working fine here on my HP Z4 G4 (Xeon W-2245, 64 GB of ECC RAM) workstation using it's on-board USB ports:

[audioarcher]

I am able to use Hqplayer 1.5 mhz upsampling on my Holo May Dac. Had Holo Spring 2 and it worked on it too. I had to lower the bit output to 16 bit though to make it work. Using a SonicTransporter i9 server straight to dac with usb. Not sure if it will work through a Rendu though.

[audioarcher]

Miska, I  noticed from your screenshot that you are able to do 1.5 mhz at 20 bit. I can only do it at 16 bit. I am using embedded 4.18.1 on my Sonic Transport i9 to Holo May dac. My i9 is not allowing me to update to the latest version (4.20.0) yet. Do you know if it's the newest version that is allowing you to do 20 bit, or some other reason? 

 

Thanks,

 

Sean

[Miska]

8 hours ago, audioarcher said:

Miska, I  noticed from your screenshot that you are able to do 1.5 mhz at 20 bit. I can only do it at 16 bit. I am using embedded 4.18.1 on my Sonic Transport i9 to Holo May dac. My i9 is not allowing me to update to the latest version (4.20.0) yet. Do you know if it's the newest version that is allowing you to do 20 bit, or some other reason? 

 

Do you use a NAA? If yes, then it depends on the NAA and not on your sonicTransporter. If you have DAC directly connected to sonicTransporter, booting it to HQPlayer OS would likely make it work.

 

Alternatively use a NAA with my NAA OS or HQPlayer OS x64 image. Won't work on RasPi4...

 

[asdf1000]

12 hours ago, Miska said:

Won't work on RasPi4...

 

Hi @Miska, what's the reason it won't work on RPi4?

 

I though all RPi issues related to USB audio output were solved with RPi4.

[Miska]

3 hours ago, asdf1000 said:

Hi @Miska, what's the reason it won't work on RPi4?

 

I though all RPi issues related to USB audio output were solved with RPi4.

 

It is likely due to the hardware. If it's not Intel (or AMD) USB controller, it likely won't work.

 

[audioarcher]

Hi Miska, I am feeding my Dac directly from the sonicTransporter i9 with usb. How can I get a copy of Hqplayer OS? Not seeing anyway to do so on your website. Is there an additional fee for it?

[Miska]

6 hours ago, audioarcher said:

Hi Miska, I am feeding my Dac directly from the sonicTransporter i9 with usb. How can I get a copy of Hqplayer OS? Not seeing anyway to do so on your website. Is there an additional fee for it?

 

You can follow the HQPlayer Embedded -> hqplayerd -> images download links. You need the x64 image, extract it with 7-Zip and then write it for example to a USB memory stick using tools like Etcher. Then you can boot from it. That's it.

 

It may be that your license key needs an update for this, but check it out first in trial mode before proceeding further.

 

[audioarcher]

13 hours ago, Miska said:

 

You can follow the HQPlayer Embedded -> hqplayerd -> images download links. You need the x64 image, extract it with 7-Zip and then write it for example to a USB memory stick using tools like Etcher. Then you can boot from it. That's it.

 

It may be that your license key needs an update for this, but check it out first in trial mode before proceeding further.

 

Okay, thanks Miska. I will give it a try when I get a chance.

[juanitox]

is it me or do you also find that PCM 1.4 or 1.5 is a little better on good recordings than DSD 256 even with ECmodulator?  it s not easy to go against my belief ,  but for sure with this dac PCM rules again :)    , with difficult ones the DSD round touch makes the things more easy :)

[ted_b]

6 hours ago, juanitox said:

is it me or do you also find that PCM 1.4 or 1.5 is a little better on good recordings than DSD 256 even with ECmodulator?  it s not easy to go against my belief ,  but for sure with this dac PCM rules again :)    , with difficult ones the DSD round touch makes the things more easy :)

Two questions:

1) do you mean PCM recordings, or is this with DSD to PCM too?

2) "with this dac PCM rules again" refers to your (signature) T+A or this thread's subject, the Holo (If Holo, which one)?  Edit: Nevermind, I see you sold your T+A, and have the Spring 2.  :)  Update your signature sometime.  :)  And Happy New Year.  :)

[juanitox]

2 hours ago, ted_b said:

Two questions:

1) do you mean PCM recordings, or is this with DSD to PCM too?

2) "with this dac PCM rules again" refers to your (signature) T+A or this thread's subject, the Holo (If Holo, which one)?  Edit: Nevermind, I see you sold your T+A, and have the Spring 2.  :)  Update your signature sometime.  :)  And Happy New Year.  :)

 

you are right ,  as a DIYer my system is in constant change so i'm not up to date at all 😄

 

DSD recordings   upsampled to DSD256   still better for me than PCM to DSD  ,   but PCM upsampled to 1.4mhz is so good with the spring 2  than the PCM to DSD conversion is not an urge as with the T+A  .

 

i have sold my T+A DAC8 to a friend so it is easy to compare both ..    the T+A is more expensive but you have a remote with an analogue volume control and higher max output level than the Holo.

the T+A needs an Usb isolator to shine the  HOLO seems more immune to the Usb source.🙂

 

better new year for all crasy dac lovers

 

[ted_b]

40 minutes ago, juanitox said:

the T+A needs an Usb isolator to shine the  HOLO seems more immune to the Usb source.🙂

So my original Holo Spring (Kitsune edition) really needs the SU-1.  Are you saying the Holo 2 shines with direct USB?  That would be very nice.  You think May dac can jettison the SU-1 (or any DDC) too?

[wouterk]

40 minutes ago, ted_b said:

So my original Holo Spring (Kitsune edition) really needs the SU-1.  Are you saying the Holo 2 shines with direct USB?  That would be very nice.  You think May dac can jettison the SU-1 (or any DDC) too?

I used to have the SU-1 on my original Holo Audio - Level 2. I since use the ISO Regen with linear PSU, and found the SU-1 just another link in the chain which did not improve performance. My current setup works well for me:-)

[ted_b]

3 minutes ago, wouterk said:

I used to have the SU-1 on my original Holo Audio - Level 2. I since use the ISO Regen with linear PSU, and found the SU-1 just another link in the chain which did not improve performance. My current setup works well for me:-)

Yes, I have the ISO Regen in line, too (Into the SU-1), but still find I2S into the Holo is the king.  I know that all the Holos have since undergone new USB interfaces so maybe that's the differentiator.

[Holzohr]

On 12/13/2020 at 5:46 AM, shahed99 said:

Is there any Holo DAC users who are successfully upsampling PCM 1.5Mhz? @Diavolo are you using your motherboards USB port? I wonder if there's any audiophile grade USB PCIE that'd support PCM 1.5Mhz with Holo.

 

I love the sound of DSD 256 with ASDM7EC. But it's so taxing on the server and my linear PSU. It'd be great if I can switch to PCM 1.5M upsampling (given the very positive feedbacks lately).

 

I'd appreciate if @Marcin_gpscould shade some light on his excellent JCAT XE card's PCM 1.5M compatibility with certain usb interface like XMOS used in Holo.

 

 

I replaced my Matrix Audio Element H USB PCIe card by a cheap Asmedia 3142 card today and to my surprise the playback of 1411.2 and 1536 kHz PCM is possible with my Spring 2 DAC. Afaik the JCAT USB XE comes with the same controller.