Yea almost all the reviews stated if you don’t basically come from a Dave or high end dacs it would be hard to notice.
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I find it crazy that this unit has been out for 5 years, all the reviews I watched were in 2019 20.
I just found it crazy that after watching the review with Zeos, that guy will sell you bubble gum from China as the best thing in the world and he used the 789 to compare to the JNOG and one other dac and he of all people said it’s hype or not worth the price tag.
Now I know we all don’t trust Zeos opinion and take it with a grain of salt. But to me it was shocking. Cause we know he would swear night and day about a sub $1000 unit and was like skip it on this.
Not sure if he had any other motives behind this conclusion. But after receiving so much praise from everyone else it just makes you wonder
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This could be of interest to some. Same guy who did the video @Earmuffs linked not too high above.
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Zeos says all DAC’s sound the same.
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Just speculating here but it could easily boil down to zeos not agreeing with adding thousands of dollars to a component to get an extra 5 to 10 % better quality and that percentage probably worsens if using other sub $1k components which if I’m not mistaken is what zeos used in that review.
Zeos reminds me of another reviewer cheap audio man which they both share a similarity of being very harsh on the expense of how much a component costs. Imo they are just making content for different sects within the audiophile community. I love both their content by the way but also I find most reviewers content very interesting too.
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All interesting things to consider. As it happens, I’m ready to purchase a DAC in this price range, but, without the ability to audition them, I’m still relying on reading reviews and consider other people’s impressions. To that, I certainly appreciate everyone’s insight.
The Morpheus, for example, has been on my very, very short, shortlist, but have been waiting on the Spring3 before pulling the trigger, being that the reviewers of the May have been so, idk, “absolute” in their praises. The Spring3 KTE version with the preamp option puts it roughly around the same price and feature set as the Morpheus, so I’m not sure it made the choice any easier, certainly without the ability to audition and compare them myself. I imagine there wouldn’t be a bad choice, per se, but when considering your (@Torq’s) comment about maximizing resale, it seems the prudent thing to do might be to try the Spring3 KTE 1st, judge my happiness, then sit or sell (while its hype is high) and move on to the next.
(I dunno, tho, selling gear gives me anxiety. Even now, I have a few things to sell and that gives me anxiety).
Appreciate your thoughts
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Resale is key with the every changing world of DACS in my book.
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I would jump in quickly if you want to try the Spring 3 and think you may not keep it, as the current price is an introductory one. Given the level of interest in the thing, if you bought now, and sold it after the introductory price period is over, you’d probably not lose anything.
Especially as you’d be able to put the unit in someones hands a lot faster than the quoted shipping time for new orders.
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Looking at kitsune, spring will jump by 300 if preamp included, 200 if dac alone.
There may be changes in pricing for the May in that they are listing higher prices in the text on the product page but if you do a checkout the price goes back to its typical one with the higher price struck out. Kinda like they’re offering a sale price. Is this future pricing? Is this a marketing ploy? Don’t know. The new price is 600 above typical list.
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Nice of them to provide a timetable.
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Is it accurate to say that the Morpheus offers upgradeable modules for future proofing similar to Metrum, while the Spring 3 does not? I’m not certain.
I would say yes, for the Morpheus since they do offer modules for : MQA module (standard not included)
I2S Module can be installed instead of the USB module free of charge.
The Spring who knows. Maybe a email to them.
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The DAC modules are, well, modular.
Of course, Sonnet/Cees would have to come up with a new, upgraded, DAC module for there to be anything to upgrade to. And pricing on such a thing if/when it happens is, of course, currently unknown.
On the Holo Audio stuff, excepting the Cyan, none of the other units have had “upgradeable” DAC modules. On the Cyan, the PCM and DSD modules were fully potted/enclosed with just the connector exposed, so were obviously intended to be swappable from the outset.
The Spring DAC has had it’s ladders/compensation circuits on a daughter board since the first version, and as far as I know there’s never been an option to upgrade that (either because no upgrades exist, or that part hasn’t changed between versions and the improvements with V2 and V3 are elsewhere on the main board).
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Finding a used spring1 or 2 for $2k or under seems pretty good right now.
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Thanks. We’ll see if I’m compelled to email Holo before July 18th.
For Metrum, they do the DAC2 and DAC3 module updates, which I understand advance/improve sonics, which I view as distinct from “feature” modules.
Reading Torq’s post now.
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@Torq, I’m curious where you’d ballpark the Holo May in your ranking of DACs. I know that 1) you haven’t spent much time listening to it, 2) that you think its an “excellent” DAC (I think this was in a thread on the SR1as). Is that “excellent” as in:
- “but probably not good enough to break into my top 10,”
- “might be in my top 10 if I listened longer,”
- “might be toward the very top if I listened longer,”
- “no opinion–haven’t listened enough”
There is an upgraded Morpheus in the works but maybe not an upgrade for the original. In 6-8 weeks I will have the Spring 3 KTE with pre amp to compare to the Morpheus that I have. 1 of them will have to go.
father of morpheus, no name yet
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I emailed about the modularity options (as @Torq mentioned, it is) but there was no comment if any upgrades will be given in the near future…
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I’ve had enough time with it now, on and off, to say that it’d make it into my Top 10. I’d slot it in between the Bartok and Yggdrasil (A2/Unison).
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