Happening: Holo Spring 3 vs. Yiggy vs. Codex vs. 2Qute

[ElviaCaprice]

Happening now at Urban HiFi in Tacoma Park, MD. Comparison of the Holo Spring Level 3, Schiit Yiggy, Ayre Codex, and Chord 2Qute in a 2.0 speaker setup. Right now being fed by a Bryston BDP1 source. We've also used a laptop / TIDAL source. The Holo is using I2S in, balanced out. The Yiggy is using AES in, balanced out. The Codex is USB in, balanced out. The 2Qute is USB in, single ended out.

 

I don't doubt your results seeing what connectors you chose differently for these DAC's. Hardly a fair comparison without a full USB galvanic isolation and tweaks. Really you should have used USB for all the DAC's.

[ElviaCaprice]

USB was regarded as the weakest input of each. We either did USB to I2S/AES or USB to Optical. The desire was to remove USB entirely. We even used a CD-player as a transport using its optical output in some cases. In the end, I think they were all fed by the Bryston BDP-1. We wanted to test each DAC using their best input. USB is not it. USB is also not the future IMO. Point is, we tested each DAC with a variety of inputs and the two "levels" of DACs were apparent and similar conclusions with respect to the Holo and Yiggy were still made, regardless of input.

 

When implemented correctly, I kindly disagree. USB can be the best.

[ElviaCaprice]

This is not and will not turn into a USB vs. X thread.

 

As it shouldn't. But you are comparing DAC's and it is appropriate to point out any perceived faults in the comparison.