HOLO Audio MAY DAC

[MichaelHiFi]

I've got my music server up and running and have been playing around inside HQPlayer settings. I'm using 20bit and 1.536M and my modulator is AMSDM7EC 512+sf, dirther is TPDF and I honestly don't remember why I used that setting.

 

God Bless you all for figuring out the multitude of combinations of settings. My feet are still getting wet. 

 

Inside of Roon I only had HQPlayer enabled. I then enabled Holoaudio Spring 2 DAC KTE level 3. I thought I would no longer  see 1.536m but it was still there. I then realized that both HQP and the aforementioned Spring DAC was enabled. Do they or can they work together? I thought Roon took over when a Roon output was chosen.

 

 

[MichaelHiFi]

Yes I do, both programs operating inside my Sigao music server. I still don't understand the relationship between having the HQP and Roon selected as output devices.

 

But as you mentioned, having programs run separately from 2 different servers may be ideal. I have a Small Green Computer Linux box collecting dust. I'll use that for the Roon core, which was its old job, and it least it is coupled with a very nice LPS.

 

I wouldn't say the changes I made yesterday, moving OS to a PCIe SSD on MB and AudioOptimizer was a step forward. Seem to have lost soundstage depth but really hadn't had the time to evaluate my system as I had to decide, rather urgently, on a home theatre speaker system. Walls are framed, electrical going in which means cutouts for speakers and speaker cables, HDMI, CATxx and fiber need to be run.

Thanks for your insight.

[MichaelHiFi]

I don't believe fuses make a difference. Except for my AS1200 class D Amp, it was startling to say the least. So much so, I. Changed the fuse holder too!

 

But I don't believe in fuses. 

 

I changed the fuse on my Kinki integrated. I would say a gain in detail or clarity but nothing like what I experienced on my class D Amp.

 

With all the detail many of us sweat for the best SQ, the mighty fuse has to be the weakest link. The best fuse I know of is no fuse.

 

I'll at least put some nano fluid on it.

 

[MichaelHiFi]

Hey, congratulations Ted. Game changer for me and I'm as old as plastic. 😁

[MichaelHiFi]

35 minutes ago, scintilla said:

My L2 is playing Groove Salad after a quick swap out for the D90.  A bit lower gain structure than the D90 but so far it is sounding smooth and very nice. Will spin some vinyl this weekend to test it out. Just got a new 180g pressing of Kerosene Hat.

Well I got Gentlemen's Blues. Does that mean I need to procure Kerosene Hat 180g which is backordered? Guess I'll have to spin err, stream from Qobuz to the May and find out.

[MichaelHiFi]

I don't remember the May sounding that bad. But then I was constantly screwing with setup, cables and a newly minted Kinki Studio integrated not to mention the music server. But through all that pain and frustration, when it was playing, it was playing VERY WELL.

 

I'm probably at close to 400hrs. As I rotate power cables I can tailor the sound to my liking. The May is getting a LessLoss C-Marc intropic, while the Kinki enjoys a Triode Labs Obsession. 

[MichaelHiFi]

I've been enjoying the May now, especially since I've got my server running well with HQP and Roon. I would say the only issue in SQ has been the bass region which in truth, has been a problem in my room. No I don't have bass traps. But I'm moving and will deal with any room anomalies later. I actually use a pair of GR-Research monitors to sit atop my bass bins. 

 

My setup consists of the Music server that feeds the May directly from its MB USB port and uses HQP. Yesterday I decided to reinstate my uRendu. This is fed from an EtherRegen. I expected maybe a small change but didn't know if there would be a boost in SQ or a loss. I wasn't prepared for what I experienced however.

 

What happened to the bass? I kept turning the volume up and yes there is bass and in a good way, no more boominess (for lack of better descriptor). That is a welcome relief, sort of. I removed the GR monitors and returned the native Usher Dancers and now I was listening to me Ushers the way they used to sound, brilliant. I even added the SVS Ultra to the mix. I'm not getting the 3D effect, that is, there isn't as much push into the room that I was enjoying. Especially, using the settings Quadman had suggested, DSD 512, he was on to something.

 

I ordered an HDplex 300watt LPS early March. I still don't have a working unit. But I have to wonder now what changes the LPS could have feeding the May directly vs via uRendu? What would the UltraRendu bring to the table? What about the inTona or Singxer and a $$$ USB cable? I need to finish this build. There are so many ways in this forum to feed a DAC like the May but since I own the May, I'm looking for the best May Way. I'm running a fiber cable and a Cat8 cable from where my Modem and Router will sit in the middle of the house basement level, maybe ~60ft from my DAC and server. I'm sort of heading towards the Sonore optic solution but could be swayed. 

 

I still wonder what path gives me the truth to the music? It's mind boggling the difference between direct feed USB and uRendu. Curios if any other had experienced such a radical difference?

 

 

 

[MichaelHiFi]

9 minutes ago, Quadman said:

Ted, you didn't mention you had an isoregen in the chain.  I have one and tried to insert it last week.  Firmware 30.12 on my dac and they were unable to see each other so I removed it after rebooting both dac and PC.  The May does not like the IR with 30.12.  Another piece to sell.

My etherRegen works well at firmware 30.12. FWIW 

 

I've been thinking about trying the Isoregen at some point. Lets see where this goes.

[MichaelHiFi]

43 minutes ago, scintilla said:

I'm 54, which is starting to feel older than younger for sure; but to your point: yes, I am old enough to appreciate FM radio.  I have a T-101 as well and had a T-100 for many years too.  There is nothing quite like the sound of a really great FM tuner on a great station and with the T-1000, I can leverage the best of the DSP-based FM front ends with a digital output to DSD upsampling and acourate-based room correction in HQP and out to a state-of-the-art dac in the May.  It really does deliver the goods. It is digital audio at its finest. I decided to skip the Groove Salad today in favor of my local jazz station on the tuner.  Coltrane is cooking hard right now.

 

Wish I was 54, but that was a long time ago... But I was Rocking "Good Rockin Tonight" by Ronnie Montrose. That brought me to my younger days. Through the May, It brought a distinct difference to the sound as expected. The Technics SL1800 TT (I still own) is/was definitely warmer, but the drums through the May DAC? Wholly crap! I still can't believe how much recorded information the May DAC uncovers.

 

Need to play with the room correction software through HQP one day although don't seem to need it lately.

 

Enjoy your tuner. Wish I hadn't sold mine :(

[MichaelHiFi]

On 5/5/2021 at 10:44 AM, sledwards said:

I’ve had my May for about 2 months now and have fully explored the high rate stuff. The PCM 1.44/1.53 is good, but if you have the horsepower, DSD1024, AMSDM7 512+fs, poly-sinc-short-mp is the best I’ve heard yet. Checks all the boxes; defined bass, beautiful stage, no fatigue whatsoever. I will get around to trying PGGB, but I seriously doubt it will surpass what I am hearing now.

Can I ask what bit rate limit you have set? HQP crashes when I try to go DSD1024. 

 

I have seemingly the slowest computer I have ever used. It can take minutes to open and close HQP. But it should be capable of DSD1024. This music server is kicking my ass trying to get some speed out of it.

 

 

 

 

 

[MichaelHiFi]

Start burning her in Hiker :)

[MichaelHiFi]

3 hours ago, sledwards said:

Thanks sledwards.

 

I don't have an "auto" option. Never had as far as I remember. The rate limit looks foreign to me as well. 

 

I continue to feel like I'm massively missing something.

[MichaelHiFi]

I got sound at DSD1024 using the settings above. But it was a high pitched whine with music barely audible in the background. 

 

Probably exceeding the uRendu maximum bit rate. Yep, confirmed, uRendu limit is 512.

[MichaelHiFi]

Your ultraRendu is your limiting device.

 

• Supports the following PCM sample rates up to: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 192kHz, 352.8kHz, 384kHz, 705.6kHz, and 768kHz

I have the uRendu and am limited as well but was able to utilize 1.536 USB direct from server.

 

Happy listening!

[MichaelHiFi]

Love the May DAC. Steep learning curve with HQPlayer but I'm understanding that I've had underlying problems from the get go.

 

I always have to remind myself "this is a hobby"

Always have a backup plan when computer audio fails (and it will) because it's music that soothes my soul.

When your hobby involves highly complex setups, expect complex failures.

Hug your turntable before you turn out the lights.

Buy a transport if you wish full glory with the May.

 

I visited my home which is being built with an audio room. The insulation was finished and or course, it wasn't the rock wool I specified. I ran CAT8, CAT6 UTP and OM1 fiber to the utility room because why wouldn't I?

 

I got home to play some music from my troublesome, extremely slow (I mean sloooowwwww) i10900 SOTA server. No output to monitor and a white LED that suggest the VGA is cooked.

 

So no computer audio.

 

My once brilliant BMC S1 amplifier finally was fixed after 3 years of sitting idle. Over 6 thousand miles of transport. Over 100Ibs of German engineering. Plugged it in, music played, turned it up, music no longer played. End of story.

 

I'm thinking of taking up horseback riding...

 

 

 

[MichaelHiFi]

4 hours ago, Schafheide said:

First of all I have to say that I listen exclusively via Blue Hawaii/Stax SR009S headphones.

With my previous dac (Schiit Yggdrasil) the sound stage was nothing special.

Now, with May KTE it is very special - but.

On some recordings the sound stage is wide and evenly spread.

On others it is more centralised.

On others it is unevenly divided ie lots on the left, lots on the right , with a little in between.

In otherwords the May is extremely critical regarding the sound stage - it does not improve what is not there.

What I am saying is that on the best recordings the sound stage is superb, but on most, this is not so.

Do other folk hear this as well?

Yes I hear what you've been experiencing. 

 

I haven't heard a bad setting through the May, just different. And when scrolling through the settings, the first thing of note is how the stage changes. But there are so many factors involved in this, not just the May.

 

Since I lost my music servers motherboard, I also received my BMC amp that has been broken for many years. And it won't play with my Ushers full range (bass bins) but plays with the to monitor section. So we played and compared the BMS with my Kinki Studio M1+ thinking the Kinki will best the old BMC. The May got dumbed down (dumbed down?) to Roon core on a SGC linux box uRendu USB in to May. We listened 44.1 NOS. No HQP. 

 

2 things were discovered. First was that the BMC schooled the Kinki. I use the Kinki as a preamp and noted that the BMC was simply better rooted, cleare but in a very natural way. The soundstage was the widest we've heard going well outside the boundaries of the speakers. Bass was so taut, so ah, delicious wow and just through the monitors. Now of course it's so subjective because not having big woofers in the mix will change how the sound is perceived. Still, my wife (who is so very picky on music) sat a very long time last night playing all types of music, and very loud!

 

So Roon, 44.1 NOS, uRendu. Will it get better with the return of the server and HQP now that the BMC has returned home? Probably yeah. But the May doesn't have a better setting that I see, just different settings one can play with and tune to their gear. Very cool.

[MichaelHiFi]

1 hour ago, Hiker said:

I’ve never tried Audio Quest wire though I have noticed a marked difference with others I’ve tried .  Could be of the servers USB board being directly clocked from a dedicated clock board both being independently powered and now with the May KTE dac I much prefer a neutral sounding USB cable that doesn’t add or subtract anything from this tiny fragile signal getting to the dac unmolested .Im using Sablon Audio USB cable I first noticed when switching to another brand of USB cable , a very popular brand then moving to the Sablon cable I noticed with well recorded vocals timbre and tone of well recorded vocals are so very much more pleasing to my ears with a much more realistic presence , Switching to the other cable takes this away for what ever reason.

 

2 hours ago, TA75 said:

 

Have you experimented with different USB cables on the May? I am waiting for a KTE, hopefully on Friday. I currently have an AQ Diamond usb cable and thinking of upgrading.

I was thinking of upgrading to the Audioquest diamond :)

[MichaelHiFi]

11 minutes ago, James Stephens said:

Hi all,

 

In order to reduce vibration as much as possible, separate the power module and DAC module a little given that I only have one shelf for both (probably not necessary on the KTE give it has the copper DAC module covers), and to improve airflow I  made a Holo Audio sandwich utilizing 2x 1/2" thick acrylic sheets and a combination of IsoAcoustics Orea Indigo vibration isolators beneath the power module and IsoAcoustics Orea Bronze beneath the DAC module.

 

Yeah it's probably overkill ....

 

Best,

James

 

 

Maybe not overkill but what did you notice after the insertion of those devices? I know my Lindemann DAC streamer didn't at all like isolation feet. Sucked the life out of the music. Found that maple worked wonders though.

 

May sits on top of 3" maple but I haven't sat with my wife and performed an AB test yet. Too busy moving!

[MichaelHiFi]

On 5/25/2021 at 10:39 AM, Hiker said:

Well if you have ever experienced differences with switching signal cables in the past and or present please share ...

I'd barely know where to start but I'll say this. I've done countless cable comparison's. Countless. 

 

Last night I finally got a chance to make a USB comparison, but only locating 2 cables, a ~$250 dollar cable and a freebie still in plastic wrap. 

 

I gathered my wife and MJ 11 year old son, both have very keen ears. MJ's girlfriend listened too but didn't understand what we were doing. I didn't tell them what cable was being tested. But before they joined the test I listened first. I noted a difference between the 2 USB cables.

 

Note that my system is using a uRendu and an etherRegan, Supra Cat6, and Roon on a Small Green Computer (linux based).

 

My family (and MJ's girlfriend) joined me for the test. I played cable "A" using a song from Dido, very well recorded with a lot of content both in density and dynamic range. I played 3 minutes of the track then switched to cable "B". Very quickly MJ and my wife preferred cable "B". MJ stated that he though "B" was clearer and had more of a 3D sound. My wife thought that she could hear deeper into the mix, that instruments had more separation, was just clearer. MJ's girlfriend had no idea what we were talking about - she's 8. I was surprised and disbelieving. It was what I noted before the others joined the test. OK so now I removed cable "B" and returned cable "A". Cable "A" sounds great, barely perceptible to me that there's a downgrade in performance. But my family members again thought cable "B" sounded better. 

 

I rolled through a lot of music last night. There were some stinkers. Led Zeppelin remaster sounded almost harsh to my ears, others artists sounded awesome. Was it because I was hearing more of the truth of the recording? It was a song I've not played in perhaps years so further listening to familiar tracks is needed.

 

So what cable in my modest test sounded better? Understand that this test wasn't about USB cable vs USB cable, I don't have enough cables on hand nor do I have enough time to further evaluate and.. I'm no John Atkinson. This test was about wondering if there's a DIFFERENCE in USB cables in sound signature feeding my MAY KTE?

 

The free cable currently resides in our system.

 

 

 

[MichaelHiFi]

On 5/25/2021 at 10:39 AM, Hiker said:

Well if you have ever experienced differences with switching signal cables in the past and or present please share ...

 

2 hours ago, Quadman said:

Does that free cable say Holo on it?  If so I was pretty impressed by that cable, best sounding free cable I've heard so far.

 

Good question! I just grabbed a cable from my box of USB cables.

 

It says HP on it. Must have been for my newly acquired printer. Don't remember the May coming with a cable. Need to locate the box.

[MichaelHiFi]

Results will be different but it's great that you shared your experience. 

 

There are so many variables when swapping cables in and out. It's not just the cable for the May but cable for other associated equipment as well. Right now I have a Triode labs obsession plugged into the May. That cable is plugged into the Furutech GDX-D NCF (R) outlet that on a 10awg cryo'd dedicated line. But I've been swapping PC cables, Lessloss C-Marc, Furutech 4.1, and a Varastarr Signature all with small but detectable signatures. The Verastarr especially being a ribbon cable. But differences in my system are more notable on my integrated than on the May. Often I tried plugging into my AC regenerator too but again, too many variables. I need to leave things alone and just listen and it sounds amazing, even without my Sigao server running HQP.

 

 

[MichaelHiFi]

Time for me to decide on which direction (or both) to send music to my May KTE.

 

What has worked well is using my Sigao server running HQP and Roon endpoint. EtherRegan through Microrendu USB into May. 
 

Using motherboard USB out of the server with HDPlex didn’t sound as well in my system. 
 

HDPlex 300 watt PS is gone. I just moved and the “almost audio room” is ready for setup. 🙁

 

I ran 3 different cables from the home network utility room to where my stereo will reside. OM1 fiber, Cat6 UTP, Cat 8 and a generic contractor installed Cat6. 

 

One scenario would be to purchase the JCAT duo PS and USB card taking USB straight out of my server. I might use a Farad3 PS for the server coupled with powering the JCAT USB and the SATA storage drive with the duo.

 

The other option involves the fiber, Sonore Optical Rendu setup, good PS running through EtherRegen to USB May.

 

Anyone here have compared these 2 approaches?
 

 

[MichaelHiFi]

A few things of note last night when listening with my wife. I'm often screwing around with my system and recently added the ultrarendu and the JS2 power supply. It was a startling upgrade. Simply more clarity and separation. Then I tried various tweaks with cables. But being busy setting up the house (new home new room) I haven't been listening much although the few times I had I felt anxious to get some room treatments. In my former home, bass was always a problem as in too much of it. In my new room it's as if I traded my speakers for monitors! The difference in sound between old home and new home is amazing. 

 

Last night my wife wanted to hear Eric Clapton's Layla (Derek and the Dominoes). First words out of her mouth was how flat and uninvolving it sounded. I figured hey, an old recording with limited dynamic range, what should you expect. She wasn't buying it. She heard it sound much better.  Admittedly, I wasn't having much fun either. I tried playing with the settings in HQP but it was not getting better. I'm using ASDM7EC poly-sinc-lp-2s and ploy-sinc-ext2 bit rate 44.1k x 256. I'm using Roon as my output. I noted something in my settings. I assumed that the device driver should be the Holo audio driver but it shows missing. Is this driver necessary when using HQP?

 

I noted too, no matter the setting, music was flat, with very little bass and simply uninvolving. What happened? Something had changed so I checked to see if perhaps I had hooked something up incorrectly. (of course that usually means no output!). What I did find was this. I have an assortment of pretty good power cables.  2 of my power cables look nearly identical and  are unusual looking as they have twisted braids. One is a Maze cable, good for the money ($130 dollars) and the other a Lessloss C-Marc entropic cable at 20 times the price. I had the Maze plugged in feeding my integrated. I swapped out the Maze for the Lessloss. My music was back and wife was happy.

 

Problem as always with complex systems is that there are so many variables. Power cables especially drive me crazy. To add to my variable is my BPT 2KW transformer. Do I go through the transformer straight to the wall and which cable to use on the BPT. 

 

And about that driver?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MichaelHiFi]

Yes Windows PC running HQP 30.12. In Roon, Holo Audio driver is disabled and athough shown as an option, is missing. 

 

In HQP, NAA selected and of course the Rendu. I did NOT have a backend device selected. I can select the Holo Audio driver however. I was under the idea that backend should be equaled to none. Not having a backend device music flowed. What was missed?

 

And thanks for the help!

[MichaelHiFi]

Looks like the Holo audio driver doesn't wish to be seen. I deleted, reinstalled Holo May driver software, checked the device manager and saw that it was not installed. Checked the system32 folder and noted the AMD files but not the INTEL 3012 files. Checked DriverStore in registry and noted the same.

 

This was working but perhaps making the etherregan mod (reversed to utilize JS-2) may have caused the driver to disappear to the May.

 

But I'm playing music well. The cost of a complex setup..