Hey Holo DAC owners. I am a happy new owner of a used Spring 2, and just tried MQPlayer for the first time. I am beginning to understand the hype.
However, I can find no way or information on upgrading the USB Driver or Firmware on MacOS. I have HQPlayer set to 1.536K but the Spring 2 is “limiting” it to 768K. My understanding is this can be improved with FW but I find zero info for doing so on Mac…am I missing something obvious?
This is a windows only feature (updating the HA Spring FW I mean), you don’t need a driver for OSX. I am a fan of OSX, the creators and curators or the Holo gear are not. Borrow a windows laptop from a family member or friend if you don’t have one. Great DAC btw!
Thanks for the info @1IH I have been gently let down to this fact by some other friends in audio…I happen to have a Surface Pro for work and will attempt it on that.
And yes, loving the DAC for sure.
Any word on the Bliss headphone amp? Its supposed to be similar circuits as the pre-amp Serene.
At least 2q next year. I would imagine even longer given the current supply chain issues.
Yeah, I was kinda surprised by this one…not what I expected to hear, lol. Not saying anything one way or another about Lachlans’ take as I have zero experience with any of this gear. Was just super surprised to hear Spring3 kte described as “muffled” (compared to Yggy) after only seeing praises from pretty much every review I’ve seen of it. Curious to hear any members opinion that have experience with these dacs.
Just finished watching that. I can see where he might say that if he’s partial to the more analytical sound of Chord gear. I had the DAVE and M Scaler and sold them as I liked the Holo May KTE better in my system. I always enjoy watching his reviews…
Do you think a better amp – I think he used the Burson Soloist – would have changed the outcome? He said he preferred the headphone out on the MScaler + TT2 vs. May + Soloist. I wonder if a better amp like a DNA Stratus or higher end Ampsandsound would have made a difference.
Does anyone know what headphones he used?
He used a Burson Soloist 3X Grand Tourer for comparing all the DACs.
I watched it yesterday, so I might be misremembering, but I think what he said was a little surprising, but wasn’t too out of whack, given how subjective this is.
I believe he said that both the May and the TT2 are TOTL, and that subjectively he preferred the TT2, whereas others might prefer the May. The Yggy and Spring are peers and were at least one rung down from those 2 (in his opinion), and he preferred the Yggy to the Spring. And in his opinion, the Spring was not a baby May, which was really the only truly surprising thing I heard, given what I’ve read.
Then he concluded that he liked the amp section of the TT2 enough that he preferred a TT2 and MScaler to an equivalent-costing combo of May and SS amp.
Edit: I don’t have any skin in the game, as I’ve only heard the Yggy (which I own) and I’m happy with it.
Interesting. I went from BF2 to YGGY and wasn’t super impressed, nothing really stood out with the YGGY to the point i went back to the BF2. The Spring 3 was better sounding to me than the BF2 or YGGY. The May to me was a very mild to the point where I couldn’t tell coming from the Spring.
I don’t have a foot in the game when it comes to high end Chord products. I’m not going to spend 15k on Chord products to find out.
We are all different.
I have Holo Spring KTE and Soloist 3XP combo. I use 4 Sparkos opamps + supercharger and for me the smoothness of R2R NOS + class A + mid-range focus of sparkos really help to smooth out the pairing my 1266 Phi TC.
Lachlan uses a Susvara so perhaps it’s fair to say the pairing with TT2 is a better synergy based upon his use case. He also prefers to Vivids to Sparkos at least on the output stage so he has a preference towards a bit more treble forwardness and air.
I just thought it was an interesting alternative take than what everybody else has to say about May / Spring 3. I think his criticism is fair and he was able to articulate his opinion which is always helpful.
In case anybody else has a Spring 3 / May and has been wondering if you’ve reached “end game” here’s an epic review from our guy Mon.
He clarified in a comment that:
I tested these DACs with the Soloist GT (not the basic Soloist) and Sparkos Labs Aries so $2.5k and $3k amps as well as the Bottlehead Mainline and Elekit TU-8200R.
But didn’t mention what headphones he used.
Now, this is most interesting. I read a review of a new Burson amp w/rollable opamps (is this it?), and had 2 thoughts:
I had a big Burson Soloist (the preamp/amp, very powerful) 4-5 yrs ago and thought it was borderline bright
I love the sound of Sparkos opamps (SS3602s)
And wonder if those opamps would make this new Burson an amp I can live with. The design has just about everything I would want, but the sound was an unknown to me
So your comments are most interesting…
You might want to move this conversation to the Burson Soloist 3XP thread or Burson thread.
This is also an interesting video from Lachlan on Burson op amp rolling.
I’ve never heard the original Burson products nor can’t comment on the og soloist. I wouldn’t consider the house sound Burson has currently bright except for perhaps the Conductor 3xp/xr which is their AIO. I liked it mostly but found their Dac section to not be in my taste. It was still competent but I found their amp stage to be much more appealing.
X2 on the sparkos 3602 it’s a beast of an op amp and I’ve rolled 4 into my soloist. i’ve had the burson V6 classics, vivids, and sparkos. I want to try the staccatos as well.
can’t answer that question
I can say once I got the supercharger + sparkos this made me stop my amp shopping for pairing with 1266 Phi TC. I went through a dozen midfi amps prior to it. I’ll keep an open mind for the Volot, Soloist GT, and Oor+Hypsos but I haven’t seen anything about their performance making me want to spend 2.5k. A used Niimbus for the right price would get me though.
Good luck!
I’ve heard the TT2, HMS, Spring 3 KTE, Qutest in my home. I’ve visited the Schiitr multiple times, bringing my gear.
My preferences are as follows.
At this level, all the DACs are capable and worthy of a medal. It may come down to preferences, pairings including DAC output voltage, musical genre. That said, Lachlan’s take is in the minority and not aligned with my experience.
I currently own the Spring 3 KTE. It hits my ears’ and wallet’s sweet spot.
I may eventually sell the Qutest.
Select gear used: RAD-0, VC, Stratus, Mogwai SE, MZ2. You will find that all these amps have single ended inputs only, not XLR.
Nice shot and bitrate!
