HOLO Audio MAY DAC

[ted_b]

I know you keep typing AES, but do you mean I2S?  AES/EBU is 110 ohm digital XLR, not HDMI. 

[John Hughes]

14 minutes ago, ted_b said:

I know you keep typing AES, but do you mean I2S?  AES/EBU is 110 ohm digital XLR, not HDMI. 

You are right! I always mix that up.  I'll edit it. Dyslexics Untie!

[Extreme_Boky]

4 hours ago, John Hughes said:

My source is a Stack Link II with LPS Ropiee XL endpoint (which is excellent)

Hi John,

 

What kind of power supply does Stack Link II use? 

[John Hughes]

The Link II comes with a SMPS and sounds good with it.  They have recently launched an LPS as an upgrade, which I have.  It was a very clear improvement.  I've used LPS many times in digital audio, usually to good effect.

[Extreme_Boky]

Are they 19V DC?  2A?

[John Hughes]

It's 18V, I don't know if its 2A, but that makes sense.  I had asked about it because I have a Shanti LPS I thought I could use as well, but its a different voltage. 

[Extreme_Boky]

Thanks!

[Extreme_Boky]

[Extreme_Boky]

I am not sure what those trim-pots do.... but it seems the V out can be adjusted. If it's a true shunt regulator, then they may be providing for a current-out limit.

[MichaelHiFi]

Does anyone know if the Holo May DAC provides its own power on the USB input? I'm looking at buying a USB cable built by Bill Dion (Grannyring) that has no power. He has 2 flavors, a doublesmoked and a  helix designed... forgot that flavor.

[Account Closed]

56 minutes ago, MichaelHiFi said:

Does anyone know if the Holo May DAC provides its own power on the USB input? I'm looking at buying a USB cable built by Bill Dion (Grannyring) that has no power. He has 2 flavors, a doublesmoked and a  helix designed... forgot that flavor.

Email Tim at Kitsune to find out for sure. 

[MichaelHiFi]

I did email Tim. No reply yet but I imagine between holiday and possibly orders pouring in, it will take longer than usual. 

 

No problem, I can wait.

[mrkoven]

Anyone using HQP w/ May? Wonder if it's worth setting up HQP server for upsampling. Currently using NOS w/ redbook mainly. 

[Account Closed]

23 minutes ago, mrkoven said:

Anyone using HQP w/ May? Wonder if it's worth setting up HQP server for upsampling. Currently using NOS w/ redbook mainly. 

HQP with my Spring 2 KTE is amazing. The May should be even better.

[lpost]

I've read more than a couple times that people are preferring PCM over DSD with the May. DSD being a bit too soft and polite. While you can certainly upsample or even just pass through PCM with HQP, DSD is it's forte. You can eval it for 30 mins before needed to restart. If nothing else it's interesting to hear all the variations of filters and noise shapers even if ultimately you choose not to use it.

[lpost]

8 hours ago, MichaelHiFi said:

I did email Tim.

 

Please post for all to know when you find out. I too have not received any response to my initial query to Tim. I suspect he's taking time off since all of his colleagues are too.

[lpost]

I've searched and not found any, does anyone know if any of the HoloAudio DACs support discrete HEX IR codes?

[Lightwave]

I'm overwhelmed with the HQPlayer4's settings. Can someone help a May DAC brother out? I want to get a couple set of settings to see what I've been missing from the HQPlayer's awesomeness I've been hearing so much about.

 

I gathered that I should set the DAC bits to 20-bit. What should I use for Filter 1x (Oversampling 1x), Filter Nx (Oversampling Nx), Dither, Modulator, Sample rate(/ Limit) and Bit rate (/ Limit) for PCM and SDM respectively.

 

I'll admit that I'm at a loss when I read the PDF manual. 😓

[ted_b]

Lightwave, how powerful is your cpu?  What is the model?  It will have a major say in what filters and modulators to try.  Aslos keep in mind that redbook (cd 16 bit 44.1k sample rate) to DSD256 is the most demanding.  If, like me and my Holo Spring 1 KTE, you stay in the same format (meaning PCM upsampled to high PCM, DSD upsampled to high DSD) the cpu heavy lifting is very much reduced.  And if the May is anything like it's Holo Spring little brother, upsampled PCM sounds great with PCM sources...and same for DSD. 

[ThenewGearPPK]

2 hours ago, Lightwave said:

I'm overwhelmed with the HQPlayer4's settings. Can someone help a May DAC brother out? I want to get a couple set of settings to see what I've been missing from the HQPlayer's awesomeness I've been hearing so much about.

 

I gathered that I should set the DAC bits to 20-bit. What should I use for Filter 1x (Oversampling 1x), Filter Nx (Oversampling Nx), Dither, Modulator, Sample rate(/ Limit) and Bit rate (/ Limit) for PCM and SDM respectively.

 

I'll admit that I'm at a loss when I read the PDF manual. 😓

 

I actually went through the manual again to re-orientate myself with it.

Basically the filters to use for PCM are:

 

Closed Form - High # of taps

Closed Form-M - 1 million taps

Closed Form 16m - 16 million taps

Sinc-M - 1 million taps. High attenuation

Sinc-L - 131,070 taps x your conversion rate. Average attenuation.

 

For dither, almost all the options are for specific sample rates. i.e. NS4 is for 88.2kHz & LNS15 is for 768kHz etc..

TPDF is the standard for all type.

Gauss1 is a high quality dither that should be used for sample rates below 96kHz.

 

 

NOT sure what the difference between Filter 1x & Filter NX is? I just use the same filters on both of them.

 

[Miska]

6 hours ago, ThenewGearPPK said:

NOT sure what the difference between Filter 1x & Filter NX is? I just use the same filters on both of them.

 

1x is for "1x sampling rates", meaning source rates below 50 kHz. Nx is for source rates above 50 kHz. So like separate selection for hires and non-hires content.

 

6 hours ago, ThenewGearPPK said:

For dither, almost all the options are for specific sample rates. i.e. NS4 is for 88.2kHz & LNS15 is for 768kHz etc..

TPDF is the standard for all type.

Gauss1 is a high quality dither that should be used for sample rates below 96kHz.

 

Since May can do high PCM rates, LNS15, NS9 and NS5 are suitable options for it.

 

[Lightwave]

9 hours ago, ted_b said:

Lightwave, how powerful is your cpu?  What is the model?

 

@ted_b I tried an old MacBook Pro 13" i5. Too slow for ASDM5EC modulation. I also have a newer MacBook Pro with quad-core i7 2.9GHz.  Haven't tried that yet because it only has USB-C...

 

Will Xeon processor be better? I have an old Mac Pro (the trashcan Mac) 6-core Xeon E5 3.5GHz.

 

7 hours ago, ThenewGearPPK said:

Basically the filters to use for PCM are:

 

Closed Form - High # of taps

Closed Form-M - 1 million taps

Closed Form 16m - 16 million taps

Sinc-M - 1 million taps. High attenuation

Sinc-L - 131,070 taps x your conversion rate. Average attenuation.

 

 

What is taps? How does the # of taps affect the upsampling?

 

And is there filters that I should avoid using for R2R DAC like the May?  I see ASDM5 (which is the default for SDM/DSD is delta-sigma modulator. Is that less "compatible" with R2R DAC?  Pardon my silly question... I'm still learning.

 

57 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Since May can do high PCM rates, LNS15, NS9 and NS5 are suitable options for it.

 

 

@Miska Which NS/Dither would be appropriate for DSD on the May?

[Miska]

14 minutes ago, Lightwave said:

What is taps? How does the # of taps affect the upsampling?

 

It is one technical aspect, but pretty useless number alone.

 

14 minutes ago, Lightwave said:

And is there filters that I should avoid using for R2R DAC like the May?

 

No, choice of filters is up to you. But I would recommend to get started with the default poly-sinc-ext2

 

16 minutes ago, Lightwave said:

 I see ASDM5 (which is the default for SDM/DSD is delta-sigma modulator. Is that less "compatible" with R2R DAC?

 

May is like two DACs in one box. It has great SDM/DSD section too. I always run my Spring 1 and Spring 2 in DSD mode, at DSD256 using ASDM7EC modulator.

 

So you can run it at maximum PCM rate possible, or DSD256.

 

But note that with DSD the output level is half (6 dB) lower compared to PCM mode. This is normal and due to technical reasons. Just something to take into account if you want to compare the two sides.

 

[Lightwave]

44 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

May is like two DACs in one box. It has great SDM/DSD section too. I always run my Spring 1 and Spring 2 in DSD mode, at DSD256 using ASDM7EC modulator.

 

So you can run it at maximum PCM rate possible, or DSD256.

 

But note that with DSD the output level is half (6 dB) lower compared to PCM mode. This is normal and due to technical reasons. Just something to take into account if you want to compare the two sides.

 

 

@Miska Thank you for your help! A couple more questions if you don't mind. What's the difference between 32k x512, 44.1k x512 and 48k x512 bit rate limit? My guess is that if I use 48k x512 as the bit rate limit, 44.1k PCM source should be resampled to 44.k x512 DSD, right? So, for the May DAC, I should set it to 48k x512 (or 48k x256 if I want a lower bit rate)?

 

Since DSD has half output level, should I set the Vol Min to -6db and Vol Max to -3db?  I'm connecting the Mac to a pre-amp. (Not directly to a power amp like many do.)

 

Thanks again for everyone here for being so patient with newbies like me.

 

[ted_b]

Lightwave,

If you are using a preamp, set volume control in HQplayer to -3/-3 (and then keep an eye on limit count or volume control turning red; if so lower HQP volume by 1db until that doesn't happen again).  And keep in mind the dither selection (which for May should start your listening comparisions at LS15 or NS9) is only applicable if your source files are PCM.  DSD source files (that stay upmodulated to higher DSD) don't use dither or filters, just modulator choice and the two bottom selections in DSD source selection (I use IIR and wide).  As Jussi says, start out using ext2 for filter selection for both source categories 1x (i.e 444k and 48k) and nx (all other source files like 96k, 192k, etc).  YMMV