[JackD]

In the end you may not think the preamp module sounds "better" in your system but it will sound different and gives you options depending on your mood. Or if in the end you prefer the module in your setup then money in the bank.

[WGH]

The Spring sounded thin and bright.  The May is full sounding and neutral.

Everything I have read says the Spring is very, very close to the May. There must have been some bad mojo happening (or one of the oversampling options was engaged by accident) if the Spring sounded terrible, which would be one bad review vs. 100's of positive reviews. I do get the impression that the Spring has a lively sound and with the internal Serene preamp it will have a clean, clear you-are-there presentation.

I have read the difference between the Spring and May is more than 0.05%, maybe 10% but for some of us that 10% is where the magic happens. I have heard many stereos that have compromising setups and/or bad rooms that kill the magic no matter what electronics are used.

Stereophile Review - May 3, 2023
https://www.stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-60-denafrips-terminator-plus-denafrips-gaia-holoaudio-spring-3-page-2

"The Spring 3's overt solidity and spot-on pitch and timbre recovery made all my guqin experiences feel brilliant and natural, most especially Liu Shui's composition "Flowing Water" performed by Wu Wen'Guang on Ancient Classics of Qin Han and Wei Dynasties 770 BC–580 AD (16/44.1 FLAC, China Record Corporation/Qobuz). Reproduced by the Spring, the sound was not only vigorous and timbre-correct; it was larger, more expansive, and more intense energy-wise than it was through the dCS Bartók or the Terminator Plus."

"... with the Spring 3, the little Falcons kicked up a very hornlike, dub-sized rumpus, giving steel drums and spring reverb a satisfying, physical presence in my room. My other DACs do not produce this level of Jamaican "sound system" expansiveness through my backpack-sized Falcons."

"In terms of build quality, engineering intelligence, and the ebullient character of its solid, stirringly vital sound, the HoloAudio Spring 3 is equal to or better than any DAC I've used. Bravo Jeff Zhu."

[2bigears]

  that last 10 will never be on my mind. But if your room isn't set just right for playback, you ain't gonna get it. Your a luckey duck if your room is treated well and the air leaves nothing to chance. Then the electrons and WAVES sing like they should. 

[Ron D]

Sorry for the mistake, not a Holo May but a Holo Audio Spring V3 KTE.  Not sure if this makes a huge difference or not...

[whydontumarryit]

Sabaj a10d
Probably not your style since it has no distortion, noise, or jitter. It does have xlr main out, a preamp, aheadphone amp, BT and it's $300. It may even last a year or two since it isn't a Topping or SMSL.

[VinceT]

There is a lot of favorable reviews of the Weiss 501. Pretty heafty price tag, they just released the Weiss 204 for under 3k. Not much out on the new Weiss 204 yet, something to pay attention to as more reviews come out. The little that is out there says it hangs with the 501 with sound quality.

[WGH]

Sabaj a10d
Probably not your style since it has no distortion, noise, or jitter. It does have xlr main out, a preamp, aheadphone amp, BT and it's $300. It may even last a year or two since it isn't a Topping or SMSL.

There is a lot of favorable reviews of the Weiss 501. Pretty heafty price tag, they just released the Weiss 204 for under 3k. Not much out on the new Weiss 204 yet, something to pay attention to as more reviews come out. The little that is out there says it hangs with the 501 with sound quality.

Not picking on these particular posts, the DACs mentioned probably are good choices, just noticing that if everyone starts recommending every DAC that gets a favorable review without any personal experience this is going to be a very looong thread without any practical purpose.

The June 2023 Stereophile has a review of the new PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream MK2 DAC. I spent an afternoon listening to this DAC at a friends house, it is a perfectly adequate DAC but nothing special. The system could be set up better, the huge room has echos and speakers are too far apart so no solid center image. I didn't get the "Wow, I gotta have that DAC" feeling.

I was mentally comparing it to my HoloAudio May KTE with HQPlayer upsampling to DSD256 so the bar was very high.

[2bigears]

  the room is the speaker. Waste your money of $$$$ gear without a decent room. Near field with monitors and subs might be away around that ?  But the big name ladder dacs are getting all the juice now.
         My 4000 offer was shut down on an asking 4300.  Crazy world.  Ha.   

[kmmd]

the mini is for directing the music. 1500 CDs in my storage device. I know zero about Roon. Can you pick and choose from your library with Roon ?  Whenever you upgrade the dac, the source should match ,, 

Yes, my setup was the same.  External SSD > Mac Mini > USB to DAC.  I suppose that you’re using iTunes as your player.  If so, then Roon will be a step up. Yes you can easily select artists, songs, etc and setup your playlists in Roon.  However it is a subscription based service, but I haven’t needed to use it for years.  My servers / streamers have internal SSDs for my library.

Regarding your setup, which VAC pre do you have?  I’d never replace my Master pre in my setup, and I have a Pass Labs X250.8 main amp…for now.  The DAC in my main system is the Holo Audio May KTE.  Happy so far, but things may change

[GeorgeAb]

         My 4000 offer was shut down on an asking 4300.  Crazy world.  Ha.   

Do it! (easy to say that when its not your money) $4,300 CAD is tough, but he paid $4,985CAD plus VAT and it is the hottest DAC on the planet. Mint Spring VK3 KTE + preamp module, good feedback, it looks solid. I do agree crazy world.

If $ are a large driver, I am still going with bang for the buck choice of DS1 for $1,500CAD less if not more. PS Audio sold thousands of those units (with good reason) so there are a ton out for sale and if someone wants to sell they'll likely negociate. A few folks in this thread have owned both and they preferred the Holo Audio DAC so if you are like me you will always be wondering what you are missing. Therefore my statement "Do it!".

[2bigears]

  I don't know shit about Roon.  Does it bypass the mini while using my storage device and it serves up my library like iTunes ?  Must look into. My pre is VACs easy on the pocket about 6 grand model. It has a phono I don't mind also.  I also use the mini to add CDs to the library. Still have 1000 to add.   

[GeorgeAb]

the mini is for directing the music. 1500 CDs in my storage device. I know zero about Roon. Can you pick and choose from your library with Roon ? 

I don't know shit about Roon.  Does it bypass the mini while using my storage device and it serves up my library like iTunes ?  Must look into.

Yes, Roon allows you to pick and choose from your own library as well as seamless integration with Qobuz or Tidal. Searches can be performed on your library based on artist, title, year released, type of music, record label, your own tags, an on and on. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHvKGyQ_lOo

[2bigears]

  thanks very much. I'm looking into Roon now. So I run Roon with my mini and dac and it sounds better ? That's the part I don't get ?  iTunes is bad ?   Anyway,  thanks for the great tip. 

[GeorgeAb]

thanks very much. I'm looking into Roon now. So I run Roon with my mini and dac and it sounds better ? That's the part I don't get ?  iTunes is bad ?   Anyway,  thanks for the great tip. 

Yes, Roon software would run on the mini. Many use a NUC computer with a linux operating system (roon provides at no cost) that is made just for running Roon. So you turn it on and Roon application is just there, no word processors and other applications. It is a dumb utility so you just turn it on and off.

Not sure if the SQ will improve from using Roon. Now your perspective DAC upgrade; definitely! Roon is an streaming user interface, music magazine, and on and on. It does DSP well so it may make your room sound better.

I cannot answer if iTunes is bad, but I do prefer the redbook standard of 44.1KHz 16bit as a minumum. iTunes has been 256Kbps the ACC standard (so some compression from the red book (CD) standard, but my underestanding is they are now using Apple's version of lossless (ALAC) so they are using 44.1 16bit up to 192KHz 24bit.

For me what roon did was organize my library and open me up to streaming using a good looking fairly intuitive interface, that I can turn on and forget about. Hope this helps.

[Rusty Jefferson]

... Whenever you upgrade the dac, the source should match....

2bigears, you're not going to get all the benefits of a more expensive dac with your current digital front end, imo. If you have a good room, and it sounds like some good electronics, you need a source that matches them. Remove the Mac Mini and get a good streamer (perhaps an Innuos or a Lumin as examples), get the dedicated Roon Core running on an i7 Nuc on the network.  You said you have 1500 cds on a storage device. Is it a NAS? Are all the files in .WAV or "uncompressed" FLAC or AIFF (same size file as .WAV)? A NAS or a dedicated server with storage would be preferable to storing on a computer.

Once you have those basic pieces in place, you'll need another piece(s) to help eliminate network noise. Either a high quality switch(s) and/or fiber optical converter (SOTM, Sonore, Innuos, Synergistic Research). It sounds crazy, but a high quality switch and your current dac on a good network will sound much better than any dac mentioned in this thread on your current digital setup, imo. Get the foundation in place then if your dac isn't cutting it, you can upgrade it and actually reap the benefits. 

[rif]

I have a wyred for sound 1v2 with femto clock and couldn't be happier.  They also have a more expensive 2v2se model.

[2bigears]

  holy moly now we are getting good !  I can ditch the mini and get a machine that rips and streams and do the Roon thing while keeping my old dac for now. I was going to buy a CD player, a dac but this eliminates both and saves $$$$ big loot. I can get a better dac down the road after hearing this. Good lord all you guys are good. A cd should take 5 minutes to rip ?  My mini seems to rip faster. I am going lossless. With Roon I can import the CDs I've ripped so far and carry on. No need for a cdp. Saves 4 large right there. You gents are saving me $$ but I bet a good ripper and streamer ain't cheap as , as always. Ya get what ya pay for ! 

[charmerci]

When I ripped all my CD's, I just did it while I was on the computer doing other things in the computer. Yeah, it may have took longer (months?) but I wasn't bored, sitting around waiting for them to pop out.

[whydontumarryit]

Or Logitech Media Server. Open source, no subscription fees.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Or build a desk top computer with premium parts like I did to use as music server.  I use Audirvana, non subscription service as my music player which I feel sounds better than Roon unless using HQ player imbedded and then it is a wash.  I remote into my desktop with Windows Remote access via a laptop or phone.  My desktop does not need a video card and it sits next to my stereo rack.  For about $1300 you can build a nice computer with a low noise, low ripple power supply.  Or buy a nice NUC.  I have about 9 TB's of music stored in my computer with an external drive for backup. I use JRiver to rip cds'.  I would put my custom PC up against any streamer.