Holo May DAC in da house
A buddy lent me his Holo Audio May DAC to listen to and burn in for him. It's been here about 10 days now and is sounding better every day. This is the Kitsune Tuned Edition model, with dual mono power supplies in the external power supply chassis.
https://photos.imageevent.com/puma_c...-May-DAC-3.jpg It's sounding pretty nice, clean, quiet, and neutral, but it's changing from time to time as it burns in. I've heard it needs approx. 500-600 hours to fully burn-in. |
There has been a lively thread with over 800 posts on the Holo May KTE DAC over at the PS Audio forum. I've been impressed by how much of it is positive and I'm looking forward to your thoughts as it burns in.
Its basic signature is set pretty much from the beginning but there is an extended period (they've discussed 500-1,000 hours) before it fully comes into its own. |
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Yes, I've heard it need something like 600 hours or so to burn in. It's clear that it's going through some changes as it burns in. It started out kinda "sharp and zingy" right out of the box, then got warm and wooly for a while, and now it's settling down a bit. It still reminds me more of my Schiit Gungnir MB than it does my Lampizator Baltic-3. |
This DAC has interested me for a while now. The reviews I have read have been very positive. Startlingly good is the impression I get. Outstanding measurements.
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Hi Puma Cat, any updates on the May? I have a Spring and am thinking about moving from Spring into May to take full advantage of my Heritage Specials (although the Spring definitely is no slouch!)
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The May is still running in...I'm running it even when the system is off just to get hours on it. However, I had an audio buddy come over today and we listened to the Holo May for most of the time, and it sounded nice and all, and then we listened to the Lampizator Baltic 3. Both of us concluded ...get the Lampizator. :D |
Rob
I've owned the May KTE since April so mine is well over 1000 hours. If you like the Holo sound then the May KTE will be a big improvement over an earlier Spring and according to reports even over the current Spring 3. I also own a fully tubed DAC like the Lampizator and it is just different from the May in it's basic presentation. So it comes down to the presentation type you prefer and if the tube aspects of a Lampizotor type of DAC are acceptable to you or not something you want to deal with. I can switch back and forth between the two as I haven't found a reason to sell the tubed DAC. You just have to decide which direction you want to go in. I chose the May KTE and Puma chose the Lampi as a primary. Neither choice is wrong. |
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To be clear, I don't own the Holo May DAC, so in my case, it's not a matter of choice; it's simply on loan from a friend to listen to and get some hours on it. I'm listening to it a lot and enjoy it and fully understand that it may change (improve) considerably as it gets more hours on it. I do own the Lampizator. |
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Completely understand that you are just "breaking it in" for a friend. It is going to change a bit more but I didn't find it to be radical though I may have missed a lot of it as I put it in a spare room connected to an old OPPO 970 and an unused and unpowered preamp and let it run 24/7 for 21 days. I listened to it for about six hours out of the box and while it wasn't bad you could tell it needed seasoning. When I had the transformer mod done on my Directstream Sr. a few months back it got the same treatment. I don't think it will ultimately change which DAC's presentation you prefer at all. It's like when Ted Smith told everyone about upgrading the transformers in the Directstream the first group that did it talked about how it made it "a completely different DAC." Well it didn't. It made it a better version of itself and what Ted intended to start with but it still doesn't play on the same field with the May or the Aqua La Voce S3. The La Voce being a similar concept DAC as the Directstream with 7 years newer technology and better parts.
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The little Puma Cat is now resting comfortably on my E.A.R. 324 phonostage. ;) BTW, Ivan, I bought some used Stillpoint UltraMinis from kennyb123 a while back, and they provide a nice improvement to my little Pass AmpCamp amps, which now that they are run in, sound glorious (I run them as a pair of bridged monoblocks). Frickin' Nelson Pass is a genius, I tell ya what...:thumbsup: I'll post a pic tomorrow when I have some light in the room. |
Well, I bit the bullet, pulled the trigger and all that and put in my order for a May DAC. I currently have a Holo Audio Spring 1 KTE DAC that I took a chance on a few years ago and have been very happy with. However, I upgraded speakers to Dynaudio Heritage Specials a few months ago and it seemed time to do a bit of upgrading and see what they can really do. I was planning on doing some auditioning of different options but two things changed that. First, at least for me, once you’ve listened to a good R2R Ladder DAC it is very addicting. Even more relevant though, is that I discovered that Kitsune HiFi, the US arm or Holo Audio has an upgrade program and I was able to trade in my Spring dac for what I paid for it less 15% so right off the bat I saved about $2K. That would let me buy the May for about 3.5K. And a nice little feature of the trade-in program is that you keep the Spring until you receive the May so I’m not left without a dac for 5 or 6 weeks (although I have Bryston BDA-2 as a back-up that clearly doesn’t suck). I’ll update when the May arrives.
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Fortunately, I still have the Spring to get me through the first half of that.
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