HOLO Audio MAY DAC

[matthias]

On 11/28/2020 at 4:33 AM, Diavolo said:

I think the Matrix XSabre Pro MQA DAC is the best sounding Sabre based dac for the money $2k that I've ever heard.  No glare or minor upper midrange audible harsh annoyance like I noticed in the Benchmark DAC3 HGC. It's very detailed with a smooth vocal presentation. Extremely top tier measurements and billet aluminum chassis/superb build quality.  When compared to the May, the May KTE DAC sounds more natural, and harmonically rich, with more accurate timbre of instruments.  It's like going from 2d to 3d interms of imaging for me.  Vocals are explosive, dynamic, smooth, natural and very visceral and real sounding. 

All instrumental images have specificity, dimension, depth, and layering separate from other instruments. I became very fond of guitars on Bluegrass (a genre I never really was into) and steel guitar on old blues songs really are so genuine and dynamic sounding they grab your attention.  There's a realness to any acoustic music you play and it's very addictive.  Jazz is superb, double bass is incredible, Cellos are perfect as are violins.  Overall bass is superb, but I attribute that somewhat to my Pass Labs XA25 amplifier that is known for prodigious bass or possibly by the synergy it has with my Tekton Design Encore speakers 96db/4ohms.  I now have a dedicated and acoustically fully treated room so I can really hear the differences between component changes. 

I've never been so enamored and amazed by a dac's influence on my enjoyment level of a musical presentation. I have nothing, but praise and zero regrets. 

 

How is PRAT, drive and slam with the May?

Thanks

 

Matt

[matthias]

8 hours ago, Heckyman said:

I've had the May L2 (Wildism) for a couple of weeks now. Excellent sound quality with my Mac mini M1, nothing to add to what's already been said. Superb DAC!

 

Thanks for sharing. 

I am just curious how May compares (from a musicality POV, not according to some audiophile terms) to the in-built DAC of the Mac Mini M1.

 

Matt

[matthias]

@Heckyman

 

Just an additional question:

 

Certainly you use the May in NOS mode and you might perform some additional upsampling in the Mac Mini M1.

If you do so which software do you use for upsampling and do you upsample to PCM or DSD?

Thanks

 

Matt

[matthias]

8 hours ago, MichaelHiFi said:

I’ve been experimenting with many avenues of feeding the May KTE. As I had mentioned, the NA Muon has been my USB go to cable. 
 

Then I’d finally received the Pro-next RS-T transport. At, first listen it sounded dreadful, even through the May. But it matured and challenged my digital streaming system. So, removing HQP, ultrarendu, etherregen, lps’s Roon, network switches, cables, and pc’s, I spin shiny discs - again. The transport does not have USB out and It did not have a usable I2S output (bummer as I was counting on using Mays I2S input). It does have AES but I still don’t have a AES spec’s cable. It has optical and coax outpost as well. I’m using mostly a very good balanced cable 75ohm I believe which is not the correct cable but, sounds great anyway. I’m hopeful to have a proper cable in a few days. 
 

There are obvious differences between all these implementations. I can’t declare a clear winner on my system because of the incredible amount of variables, especially with regards to HQP filters and all the network junk in between. My digital streaming system now bypasses NA and goes direct to computer. So HQP, Roon using Holo May driver. And it sounds amazing to us.
 

I’m sure I spend to much time tweaking my system. Different platforms, footers, cables, and vibration techniques. I rationalize all this time spent claiming it’s a hobby. In general though, we often seem to escalate the beauty of the music. 
 

I would love to hear many of this forum members systems just to hear what you were able to extract from your May DAC. 
 

Happy Listening 

 

So now you go from computer motherboard USB out to May KTE USB in (Muon cable) using NOS mode as you mentioned in another post or something different?

Thanks

 

Matt

[matthias]

As I listen to music at quite high volume levels I just fear that a pure NOS DAC (without software OS) would blow my tweeters....... :-(

 

Matt