One thing I noticed on my 2 ch. vs. headphones is probably a given. The soundstage is very wide and reaches outside the normal soundstage much more than headphones can really show.
My last Dac was a lampizator and that didn’t come close to pushing the boundaries like the Spring 1. Speakers really allow the spring to breathe and show all its traits tenfold with my floor standing speakers. Hearing sounds very close to the sidewalls was the first thing I loved about the spring.
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There is a Spring 2 up for sale one usaudiomart and they say they’re open to offers.
(Not affiliated with listing)
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I saw this yesterday, and I’m hoping someone snags it up quick so I stop staring at it.
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Recent update from Tim @ Kitsune regarding bliss totl hp amp:
due to supply chain delays and such… we are now looking at q1 2022. And pricing to be a little more than serene preamp. We will anounce more Info soon/early 2022
Hearing this I’m holding off on either the Soloist 3GT or Volot in favor to hear what Holo has in the cards. I tend to value the Holo brand above the others even though I own and Soloist 3XP. The Spring KTE Dac is my favorite gear in my chain.
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I’ve had my Spring 3 KTE (w/o preamp) in and performing in my speaker setup (floor standers) for 6 weeks now. I’m definitely not going back to DS in a hurry. What I really noticed was more of a general sense of realism when it comes to instrument timbre compared to the other DACs I have on hand, albeit at the cost of some edges being a little rounded off from time to time in comparison.
I’ve also tried the Spring with my Violectric V281 HPA and whilst I love the 281’s slightly warm and musical character with my DS DACs, I think something with a little more neutrality would be a better match for the Spring and I’ve ordered the Azure, as my headphone collection is all fairly low impedance and not particularly hard to drive. I also need a remote and it matches the Spring aesthetically 
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Interesting, thanks for posting as I was just wondering about this yesterday. I’m not in a rush for an amp upgrade but am curious what they will offer… I’d be lying it I said a lot would have to do with the aesthetics and matching the other Holo products; Flux FA-10 with the Holo Spring is pretty damn satisfyingly to me tbh… this would be more a move of vanity. haha
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Appreciate this! Yeah soundstage between the two is a whole different ballgame…
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Additional reviews of the Spring 3.
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Just put the Spring 3 KTE + PreAmp in. Running it with Roon and Susvara. Sounds really good. More detail, and texture than Qutest and Pegasus with better low-end performance to boot. I prefer this with HQP than just pure NOS so far. Anyway, more listening time coming. 
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First Day Impressions of Holo Spring 3 KTE
Today, this big and hefty box arrived at my door step, and inside was a DAC that I’ve had my eyes on for quite some time. I finally decided it was time recently, and went online shopping for an upgrade from my Chord Qutest, and more recently, Musician Pegasus DACs. After shopping new and also the used market, I was able to find a deal that satisfied me, and now it’s here!
Holo Audio is the brainchild of Jeff Zhu and is an audio equipment manufacturer out of China. They’ve made their name for making high quality, highly capable and well-measuring R-2R Ladder DACs (Spring and May) over the past few years. They’ve also released headphone amplifier/DAC combo units (such as the Cyan and Azure) and, more recently, a Pre-Amplifier (Serene), and an upcoming stand-alone headphone amplifier (Bliss).
Last year, Holo released their flagship May DAC with very good reception from both the subjectivist and objectivist camps and all in-between. This year, they trickled down several of May’s technologies and innovations into the 3rd Generation Spring DAC, which starts at $2195 and can get up to $3695 depending on configurations and optional pre-amp module.
In my case, I picked up a used unit that was fully-loaded with the Kitsune-Tuned Edition (KTE) and the pre-amp module installed. Kitsune is the North American distributor of Holo Audio and are also based near me. I’ve met, talked to and even borrowed gear from Tim, the owner of Kitsune, on a few occasions in the past, and he helped me make sure this was the product for me, as well as warranty concerns. Holo products WILL TRANSFER to the 2nd owner of products!
Anyway, after getting this thing set-up in my stereo rack, I let it warm up while calling into my normal set of meetings, and finally when my work day wrapped up, I was able to plug in my Hifiman Susvara to the Bakoon AMP-13R, which was sourced by the Spring 3 and get music going in Roon.
The Spring 3 is a NOS only DAC. NOS stands for Non-Oversampling, which means unlike most conventional DACs these days, the input source sample rate remains the same throughout. In other DACs, there are typically over-sampling steps that can raise the sample rate anywhere from 2 to 32 times the original input.
This mode is quite handy for those like me who use HQ Player to oversample, and apply custom audio filters and noise shapers to our music. Depending on the setup, this has provided me at times better depth and layering, and sometimes a different soundstage and maybe a little more improved dynamics. It varies of course with the filter choices and the original music choice
Anyway, I switched to Bill Laurence’s Live at Ronnie Scott’s recording to test out my first impressions of the Spring DAC. I’ve listened to this piano-trio live set a billion times now, and it’s on constant rotation for me. I love how Laurence decided to do a piano (instead of keyboards), and no effects: a so-called “unplugged” version of his normal live shows. It really sounds great and I enjoy it immensely, and so it was the perfect record to try out something new for me.
I started with NOS only and no added effects. I quickly felt the Spring 3 had a small amount more detail that popped up. Little things in the crowd were more discernible, like whispers or coughs. Little movements seemed to show up that I didn’t notice before. There was also a little bit more of a lively overall atmosphere, but one thing I did notice with NOS mode is that some of the transients were a little sharper than I would have expected, give my small amount or R-2R DAC usage. It was perhaps even more edgy than the Chord Qutest at times.
When I flipped over to using HQ Player, enabled with upscaling to 32FS (PCM1536), Sinc-L filter, with LNS-15 noise shaper, I was immediately stunned. I seriously had a smile on my face listening to this record some more. There was a bigger sense of space. The music sounded even more lively, and even more grand. The sharp edges softened a bit, but not to the point where they were dull and blunted, but just right. It sounded all-natural, organic, and grain-free. (this is only partially a joke)
I ended up listening to a lot more jazz music the rest of the night and was equally impressed and happy with my purchase so far. It’s only the first day, so there’s going to be a honeymoon phase. We’ll see how long it last!
Now, with that all said, here’s some things I did not like:
The Remote Control is really attractive. It is all machined metal, with copper metal buttons that stand-out and look great! But, they rattle, and they rattle a lot. They also make a loud click when pressed, which I do find quite annoying. For such a nice looking product, I wished these little things were taken care of.
The display looks great. It really does from afar. But if you look closely at the glass panel, there is a noticeable difference in color and even an easily visible band where the OLED display ends, and where there is no display. I think it would have been better if Holo made the cut-out narrower to cover up this visual oddity, which is mostly visible when the display is off.
And that’s really about the biggest gripes I’ve had so far. I’ll try to come back with a full review when I have more time with this unit.
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How are you liking the AMP-13R ?, I’ve heard good things about it
The AMP-13R is great. Its pricey but I use it daily and don’t have any urge to upgrade it at this point in time. The small form factor and abundance of power is fantastic. Only downside is it has too much power for IEMs, as you won’t have a lot of volume play with it even on low gain, unless you use a pre-amp before it (which I can do now I guess).
I wrote a full review of it earlier this year when I got it:
For Headphones.com:
Bakoon Amp-13R Integrated Amplifier - Review
And on my personal blog (its the same review):
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Would love to hear your thoughts vs the Pegasus once you spend more time with it.
Some of us don’t have any….yet. So, don’t hog all the Holo !!! 
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While I do like the Pegasus, I did end up returning it yesterday after I spent a bit of time listening to both of these. Of course there is a 2-3X price delta between the two!
Things I like about the Pegasus over the Spring 3:
-Smaller form factor.
-Runs cooler + less warm-up time from what I can tell
-Silver color (though the Holo gear is quite attractive, and one of the few black gears I like)
-Cheaper.
Things I like about the Spring 3 over Pegasus:
-Increased depth and layering
-Resolution is improved
-Sounds even more natural and smooth
-Neat OLED display
-Has remote + preamp (optional)
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I figured the Holo would stay! I’ve been avoiding pulling the trigger myself, but it’ll happen someday soon.
How do you like the Azure?
I love it. If I didn’t already own the Bigger Ben, I’d think the Azure was endgame. It sounds amazing with the Spring 3. Just a bit “dry”. Very nice reference amp.
Some people feel it doesn’t have enough power, it drives my RAD-0s just fine.
Basically the only “negative” thing I can say is that it doesn’t sound quite as good as the tube amp that costs about 4 times as much when you add in the cost of the tubes I’m running.
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