-------PLEASE READ BEFORE COMMENTING, THKS-------: 1) *ADVICE* : These videos take effort (80-130hrs normally) and hifi reviewing isn't lucrative at my stage - so if you want impartial buying/system advice please support my sustainability by RU-vid Super Thanks (click on heart above), PAYPAL, or Patreon (see description links) - we can have Zoom chats / Phone calls etc. Plus, I don't have time to answer all advice and I'm starting the next video. 2) *COMPARISONS* : If you are asking me how does X compare to Y that I haven't reviewed - I only comment on my experiences so please check out previous reviews. 3) *BE NICE* : Comments that add to the discussion are really welcome - no nastiness and hate please.
I've been using the Chord Qutest for about a year now and I recently got the Spring 3 KTE. I was blown away by its performance as it was easily distinguishable from the Qutest. The black background, instrument/vocal separation, imaging & sound stage, the speed & dynamics; it was money well spent. I went w/ the Spring 3 because most of the reviews say the May while being the superior DAC is only slightly better by approx. 10% but double the cost. I feel I'm done w/ my chain at this point.
The difference of the spring 3 L2 that I borrowed was pretty emphatic a difference against the Qutest in the system I have too, as expected. Enjoy it. 😀🔉🎼 ten percent is about right!
@First Last If you're not in a rush you might wait for more reviews of the R26. I was aware of it being released but it was not available at the time when I pulled the trigger on the Spring 3. The price of the R26 being half the price looks good. I honestly didn't want to spend $3000+ on a DAC but here I am :/
@@mfgillia7606 Another thing that pushed me to the Spring 3 KTE was that the May would have required 3 boxes vs 1; the DAC, PSU, & PreAMP. Thats not exactly space friendly for my particular setup.
I am 7 minutes into this and have to stop to applaud your production efforts - and results! You are a nerd’s nerd and I say that with the utmost admiration. Very very well done!
Excellent review! Please make a video comparing Qutest's optical input vs coax or usb,soundwise!The difference in soundstage depth and smoothness is noticeable!!
I have used May DAC for about 600 hours. This DAC sounds very natural. Once you hear MAY DAC regardless of associated gear, you won't want to listen to ESS or FPGA DACs
It certainly does. Of course important to say that the FPGA is one part of the chain controlling other parts of the dac. So in the May, the FPGA controls the ladder, in DACs like chord the pulse array.
Thank you Simon for making this review: impeccable production values and insightful commentary peppered with wry humour. Alas, my ears are apparently not as golden as yours, nor those of your fellow audio enthusiasts. This sometimes troubles me because I'm a tech nerd and question what I'm missing in my audio gear choices. I have throughout my life enjoyed music of all kinds, have attended live musical events of all musical genres, and been present at stellar venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, Carnegie, local pubs with live performers and so on. Somewhat embarrassingly in the context of your upload here, I recently replaced my very old Total Bithead headphone DAC/amp with the £110 Aiyima T8 valve/tube headphone DAC/amp, and I must say I'm greatly impressed. Anyway, a big thank you for introducing me to Big Thief's Album "Capacity" - it sounds absolutely spectacular with my Sennheiser/T8 combo! Best wishes.
Truly one of the Best productions of audio review channels i also enjoy Golden Sound and the detail he brings. I suppose it helps being British ! Intelligent and understated, yet clearly expressed. The Joy of watching your videos and production quality is mind blowing ...you have set a new standard with Your style and clearly a big heart for these products such as Holo May KTE.
Great review! Felt particularly relevant to me since I'm getting a Holo May and am in need of a better source - leaning towards getting an Innuos ZENith! I noticed you said the sound was better from the Sonore opticalRendu/ultraDigital than the ZENith in your Holo Spring video - would you recommend that instead?
@@DeanCampbellusa Yes, got both and it's been a huge upgrade to my system coming from streaming on a phone or DAP (DAP is definitely better than phone) and the DACs I was using before (Chord Qutest and the iFi Pro iDSD Signature - both good DACs but May is on a different level).
@@intheflowapp thank you for your reply, would you mind telling me what cables you used to connect the May and the ZENith, and if you like them. Thanks, and enjoy listen to your system.
I own the Chord Dave, the Chord Mscaler, and the the Holo Audio May Level 3 KTE. I prefer listening to the May... with the Mscaler. The May sounds best in NOS mode. Oversampling in the May does not offer the best sound quality. But keeping the May in NOS and doing the oversampling outside the May works really well. Hence the use of the Mscaler. Since I already had it, it was a no-brainer to try it. I am very happy with the results. I may be selling the Dave but the May and the Mscaler I am definitely keeping.
Hey Enjoyed the video.. the one thing stopping me from getting the may is I hate large displays (font size) is there any way to make the mays fonts smaller? Either now or in future with a firmware?
I have this set up with my Spring 3 L2 and don't recognize my Jay CDT2-Mk2. I hear details and music never heard before on older CDs. Much much better than the other interconnects I used before with the Jay (including AES/EBU). In short total lack of digital artefacts with the I2S.
It’s a terrific DAC for sure. I have one and have found the inputs other than USB use the inbuilt PLL, whereas USB doesn’t use it. I find comparing the AES input to the USB input (from the same modded Auralic Aries streamer) yields better results from AES, but you do have to wait a bit for the PLL to lock, but it’s worth the lift in sound quality.
@@robertm8518 things have changed since that comment. The AES is muon AES by Network Acoustics, but the streamer is now Raspberry Pi with Ian Canada boards and clocks. Pretty darned amazing. Audiophonics in France have the range, RU-vid has the vids.
you can have true balanced out, without true balanced design troughout. As the flip of the phase in order to send a balanced signal can be done at the output. There are some costly DACs that do this like Chord Dave for instance. And Hugo TT2. They are both single ended design. But of course with true balanced outputs.
Just bought May DAC about a week ago, connecting with my G1 streamer, and the sound quality is very close to my CD player Luxman D10X , it is one of the best DAC at this price range you can find in the market, nothing else…
@@13thnotehifireviews7 I would consider taking the dCS Delius + Verona along with me if I were to go on holidays to the UK. I'm curious how it still measures up to todays DACs really. But for your design and 3D skills, indeed, where to go from here....
Sir, I so much appreciate your artful and sincerely upfront review of the May KTE which I currently dedicate to my head-fi system. How do find the Kinki EX integrated to work with the May on a sonic level in terms of character of each?? I have considered this pairing for my speaker system to use with my PureAudioProject Trio Classic Voxativ PiFe’s. Any thoughts observations you would care to share would be greatly appreciated. It looks as though you are channeling your outputs to Bucharts?
Thanks Mark. I think they work very well together. The depth of the Kinki and the same for the May. Plus Kinki is very dynamic and drives lots of speakers well. Not going as bass deep as the Hegel h390 - very slight , which is prob due to my pmcs and other speakers tested liking power (they are 86.5db sensitive) and the different power specs between amps , but some could prefer the Kinki over the Hegel I think because of depth soundstsging the Hegel doesn’t have as much. Releasing fuller thoughts when I get the Kinki (ooohh arr) video out soon.
Thank you Simon for your prompt response which is appreciated. I’ll look forward to your Kinki review. Another question I have about the Kinki is how is its sonic density, especially in mid range and upper bass, as well as its tone profile in general as you find it to be. If you could keep these questions in mind when you do your review and address those concerns it would be valued by myself and I believe others as well. Your creative review presentation on the May is quite engaging, thanks again.
Impressive production! I had the Directstream DSD for a long time - side by side with a Benchmark DAC3 - so deeply familiar with the sound of both. In the end (after more than a year) I concluded that the DSD was unable to retrieve minute details and dynamics compared to the Benchmark DAC3. The most notable difference was that DSD had a warmer less resolved the bass, lower dynamics, lower reverb, lower low level detail and some roll off in the highs. The DSD absolutely did make things sound much more analog because of this. In some cases, a recording would favour the DSD simply because the Benchmark was too revealing of studio sophistry or harshness from close miked studio techniques but overall the Benchmark DAC3 was clearly superior across my entire music catalog. I would be interested if you get a chance to review Benchmark DAC3. Categorization by price works for dealers (who may sponsor you). However listeners may be more interested in a video review comparison where you group by “presentation”. Furthermore, soundstage is a bit of a misnomer because a DAC with poor phase accuracy will have a wider soundstage which may be more appealing than a more accurate DAC (Depending on listener taste). Soundstage depth is more a function of the treble with more treble or presence emphasis being perceived as being closer and vice-versa. Keep up the good work. Would love to see a summary of DAC’s grouped by sound and presentation than by price.
Ok, you win. ;) Well done mate. Great way to lay out the dac ratings too. You could use that to make another video that discusses their differences and similarities in more detail. One thing that's always on people's minds is, how close in quality can I get to the fill-in-the-blank that I can't afford if I buy the fill-in-the-blank that I can afford. It may not be exact, but I like ranking reviews that approximate the percentage difference, e.g., this less expensive dac may not give you quite as much separation as this more expensive one, but it will get you 90% there, etc... Just a thought...Definitely appreciate all the info you presented and the production, of course... It's not a competition, but that's 1000x more work than any other reviewer out there. I hope it gets you into that field if that's your goal.
Thanks very much Dylan, I did it as I was sweating my proverbial off with the heatwave on and couldn’t present with windows shut plus doing videos with lots of dubbed segments means loads more filming etc. But yes definitely a good idea to maybe revisit that, but watch all the reviews as I tend to make mention of benchmarks of products I review.
@@13thnotehifireviews7 I definitely know what you mean. You made good use of the time. Yeah, I just mentioned it partially because you could just reuse what you made, but it would of course be more work, so just a thought. I will watch more of your videos too. - Cheers P.S. If I could offer one piece of constructive criticism (and this only matters if you were going to submit the video somewhere for work): I would leave out all of the "scratchy film" and "old time film" effects to keep it more aesthetically focused. The 3D rendering and the raising of the blurred pane were most effective. Very often, less is more. Hope this doesn't offend. As you were doing it to please yourself, that's really all that matters. ;)
I like to use different effects and keep it original as often when you watch lots of audio reviews it’s same old and boring and not creative. Must be mind numbingly boring for them. Remember too I’ve heard the product when I present so it’s the least interesting bit for me but when I ad lib and add humour when im doing it well, that tends to keep me entertained. It’s a bit like “acting” in front of a camera , although what I say is honest…so much so I’ve been thinking of having a go at amateur dramatics. 😀
@@13thnotehifireviews7 That's a good attitude. If I ever started a channel I would have to keep myself entertained above all, otherwise it would just become another job. Also, though people really do want info, most people are watching as entertainment, so if you're not exactly an actor, you are definitely a presenter. Amateur dramatics? Why not give it a try? If nothing else it's a way to meet new people.
Nice review. I got the May L2, and am very happy with it. Agree on heat, so turned some extension feet on the lathe with some oak wood out of the yard. Gives it a bit more air flow between components. One complaint is that there is only a single COAX in. I would consider two the bare minimum. So have to resort to one tosslink connection.
So my current DAC is the SMSL SU-9 which sounds great to me but I am really tempted to buy the RME ADI-2 to replace it. what do you think? Love the vids. Cheers.... 👍
Wanted to ask about the quick comparison you mentioned between the Sonore Opticalrendu and the Innuos Zenith MkIII. Were you saying that the Sonore sounded better in your system? I have the Zenith MKIII server but was looking for an end-point in a different system.
I really enjoyed your video Simon. I bought my Spring DAC direct from Jeff Zhu when I lived in China in 2017 - made me see R2R as the DAC I really like. Would you compare it with a Denafrips Terminator Plus - with DDC? That is the combo I went for a year and a half ago. Like most of us I have not been in the position to compare with the May, but I am happy with my choice. Keep up the great work!
Nice review, not just repeating what others have already said. However, there's no description of sound differences between NOS and OS and it would also be extremely interesting to hear how external upsampling (Roon/HQPlayer) benefits this DAC, because if it does then it might be a true king of giving best of both worlds on demand (I'm wondering if it catches up to Dave then).
Thanks Michal. I explained nos is clearly the one to go for, then described sq so I think I covered everything. I don’t get involved in format this or that beyond lossless cd. I don’t use hq player too and I don’t sit listening to this software and that comparing minutiae . I believe in cd quality at a minimum through a good dac. No hi res format can ever catch up to the quality of the dac at its base good / cd level - ie how it deals with cd - things like dealing with jitter, power supply, analogue output, noise and so on. The difference to the higher sample rate music is often small or relatively small to the quality of the dac so elaborating on this takes unnecessary time. Higher sample rate is good, but utilising highest sample rate through hq player probably utilises small changes and people think that hi res makes up loads to other DACs. It doesn’t.
@@13thnotehifireviews7 Fair enough, I get your point, it's of course fair to play the same thing through different DACs and compare the outcomes directly so that the potential buyer knows what they're getting out of the box. I was maybe thinking too technical in terms of how the May can also be used as a foundation for further tweaks/customisation (unlike non-NOS DACs). A very enjoyable review nonetheless and nicely visually done 👍
I use HQPlayer/Roon with my May KTE (via a Sonore optical Rendu and Matrix X-SPDif). The May's OS is very inferior to it's NOS. In my experience, there is no equal to HQPlayer for upsampling. The May sounds equally as good with PCM as with DSD, though I generally prefer PCM. It is indeed the king of being the best of both worlds. For what its worth, I recently added a Cary SLP-05 preamp, and I always audition new gear at 44.1KHz. It is so magical I have not yet found the need to oversample.
@@joshua43214 Thanks for sharing that. What changes in sound do you notice when upsampling using HQPlayer before sending the data to the May to be processed in its NOS mode? Would I be correct in predicting that sound contours get more defined and detail retrieval (or at least the perception of it) is higher? If so - would the main benefit of NOS be that it's "smoother" or are there other strengths that might make upsampling unnecessary or even undiserable? Thanks.
Nice review...the halo may looks very nice and decent price...never had the chance to hear it...however , I had the chance to demo the aqua la scala and formula DAC's in my system...so glad i had the demo first before selecting....because the la scala is very nice but I would not have selected it over my already present DAC...then i tried the formula and let me say that it's a game changer but at a costly endeavor...so I would say don't waste your money on other inferior DAC's...save up and get the formula and I can assure you will be happy with waiting...and If possible get a home demo in your own system...
Thank you for your excellent detailed review. As usual, your observations are right on. I do like the MAY KTE. However, as is usually the case, once you've experienced a superior product, it's difficult not to be spoiled. MAY KTE is a great R2R DAC. MSB Technology Discrete DAC, at more than twice the price of the KTE, is superior. In my case, after experiencing MSB's Reference DAC (ten times the price of the MAY KTE) in two auditioning session, the MAY KTE is only adequate in comparison. As is often the case with Ultra High End gear, unaffordability is the only caveat that makes us settle for what we can afford.
Thanks for the review Simon. I find your updated DAC table and reviews quite useful and informative, as I am in the market for upgrading the weakest link in my system, the DAC. I am between the Holo May and the Denafrips Terminator Plus. Are you planning on reviewing that one as well? Your comparison between both would be much appreciated.
Thanks Giovanni, glad I’m helping. Yes I know Alvin at vinshine and hoping to review terminator. I’m doing a Kinki studio amp review at the moment that he distributes. ….I’ll be back . Lol 😂
I agonized over this choice for a long time. I went with the May KTE in the end because it is supposed to be more "musical" and less analytical than the Terminator Plus. The other thing that convinced me was the difference in how resistors are chosen. In the Terminator, the resistors are matched to as identical as possible. In the May, the entire ladder board is characterized after assembly which allows for precision way beyond any other ladder DAC.
Take a look at the review done by anadialog he is a trusty reviewer and gave a fair review of the Holo May against the Denafrips. I chose the Holo May based on his review bcs of the characteristics he described, he concludes one is not better than the other there are just differences and that parts up to you and I think that true.
I was going to buy a Spring 3 KTE but recently starting thinking it might be worth stretching the budget and going for a May Level 2 (Jeff Zhu's own product so to speak). I wonder if it's worth it? I appreciate Spring 3 KTE has much of the May 2 technology but still.
HiFi is always better than other gear when you own it, unless you review and sometimes the case, other times not. In this case emphatically yes at price point, so far. It’s a bit like hire cars - no matter what is the faster car on paper, hire cars are always the fastest in the world. 😂🤣
Ok I have to replace my Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ with this! Already confirmed with KItsune no tarrif or import (unlike Doge). Guess the USA distributor has that built into price. Also good to see Audiophonics mention. I have a Class D e-purify module based amp from them and it kicks ass---bi-amping with Marchand crossover and tubed monoblocks.
Where did some of the comments go? Anyhow, my question is how to you remember the sonic signature of kit you’ve owned in the past (TT2, etc.) when you make comparisons …I find it difficult enough when I A/B kit over the same evening! Just curious …
When I normally do a review I listen every evening for an hour or two with the same or very similar gear in the same environment. I’ve used same kit for many years (see kit used in description). With this review I built up experience over 5-6 weeks. If you just a to b over an evening it’s not enough, not for purposes of review at least. If it’s close and I can’t remember I don’t tend to say but if the character is obvious I do. I also write copious notes of the same musical tracks. At the end of the day it’s about what impresses most and I’d exercise caution about those who talk of memory of acoustics being short lived.
Re comments, I remove them if they seek to (or could be seen to) disparage me or my subscribers or don’t add to the conversation for benefit of readers, per abuse policy I have - in description. I don’t mind people who don’t agree with me and debate and discuss and/or justify opinions, but otherwise there is no point to those comments, and it just undoes the effort that goes into what I do.
We “experience” music though, don’t we, in real time. That’s why I A/B over extended time periods. I have a TT2 and would love to compare with a May, but if I understand correctly, in the UK we need to purchase and not demo (the May, that is)?
@@paulhifi6616 not a persuasive argument for reasons of memory. If you look at comments on hifi forums and RU-vid they are littered with - I have this product which is better than my last product which they no longer have. Does that mean they are wrong. Distance selling allows returns. Cheers
Perhaps it's ignorance but I have no idea why there is a legion of audio products with BNC inputs and virtually no equipment with BNC outputs so why the BNC input on everything? I have a CD transport with only SPDIF out and a streamer going into my DAC with SPDIF Coax out. I need two SPDIF inputs on my DAC but instead must use either a specialist cable with BNC and RCA ends, or use an adapter that I can hear degrading the sound. Luckily, Denafrips will put two SODIF inputs on their Pontus II and the Ares already comes with to RCA inputs.
tbh brands who use bnc, obviously want to take advantage of the 75ohm connection which we might as well have if the output has it. I’ve seen bnc on the digital outs of lots of audiophile stuff.
I think it’s about ten percent but apologies I might have got the wrong end of the stick , if you want to email me - Simon at 13th note dot net, I’ll fill in blanks
@@13thnotehifireviews7 My apologies wherever any wires were crossed, I understand though, surely because RU-vid climate has gotten pretty rough (☣️), but truly I meant no offense in my first response nor even in my second, just was little taken back. I'll start by saying thanks for your review, I did see where you mentioned the May being the more musical and the spring more so a sense of decay was present; again, I just was trying to get a greater feel, more specific, for how big of an upgrade that was, based on other reviewers (and users) that surely, yes cannot always be trusted and maybe they've confused me in one direction or the other; but one still tries to glean what they can. Anyhow, now you have answered that, so thanks again for the time.
Thanks too Josh, you are perceptive, you get a lot of trolls doing this and sometimes it’s easy to get a bit defensive at times . No worries at all, my bad.
I wish Holo Audio would refine its size. It has such a wide footprint... 430mm x 300! If it were 300 x 300 that would even be better. Make a thicker version and stack the components on 2 PCBs, if necessary.
I think I agree with you. When I did open the case there is lots of empty space. They are probably buying in the cases and fit the electronics around that.
It’s pretty analogue sounding so far as DACs go, not sure about the other as haven’t tried but this is a pretty good value DAC considering all it does.
A friend of mine brought his Dave over to compare to my kte may. Unfortunately he doesn't have the m-scaler, but from my place, we used Roon with HQPlayer feeding into my Lumen U2 mini with LHY audio's LPS. HQplayer did a lot with the May but less so with the Dave. The improvement in detail was obvious. At the end of the day the Dave simply wasn't worth 3x the money. It may not have even been better. And we both said this for the same reason, the mids in the May are outstanding as was the realism of the instruments. (My friend who is a professional musician said that that the instruments on the May sound more like the instruments there supposed to be) Now neither of us are giving up our equipment. But he's not too happy with paying as much as he did. We never tried playing any music without the HQPlayer. Nonetheless it was an interesting couple of hours
Thanks for your feedback Paul, though I’m pretty happy with the way I described it, giving enough and keeping it concise at the same time. Also a different price bracket dac too. Although for you.. essentially it boils down to (Ares 2, Venus 2 and Pontus 2), comparatively, a wider sound with the Denafrips, more tonally thick but a bit smeared and less dynamically astute. Very good detail and imaging with treble very good and neutral, if slightly warm dac. Fine and great with certain types of music - acoustic, jazz etc. The May is slightly less warm tonally, less smearing but more dynamic with bass and more depth in the sound stage but timbrally more accurate. Again it’s good with treble and never bright and imaging is good too. Separation in musical layers is more accomplished with the May and it resolves more than those denafrips DACs. But it’s a very natural dac that is more the all rounder because it copes better with music that isn’t as slow. It depends on the system as to which is most suitable and which tastes are involved.
I personally didn’t think it needed much but I’m not much of a believer with electronic burn in. Speaker run in yes, but with circuits ? I did play it a lot and left it on before I came to final conclusions anyway.
@@13thnotehifireviews7 My current ordeal with Ares II would challenge that TBH! Strange how some DACs just perform from Day 1, yet others take forever.
@@johnratcliffe6438 I donno, I think it’s a lot to do with bias because people tell us it should happen and we are expecting it. Could two people pick out two dacs, one ofwhich it’s said benefits from long running in and another not….I doubt it. Speakers I have heard differences but it’s gradual to find it hard to gauge but get the same speakers which haven’t been run in and swap over and it is immediately obvious. I say to people don’t worry about it. It’s one of those audiophile pretentious things that’s not worth worrying about.
@@13thnotehifireviews7 I can only talk about my own experience obviously, but it is real in this instance. I've dipped in and out every 3-4 days for an hour or less. The presentation has absolutely changed. I can't explain it. But it is absolutely real. My other DAC (Metrum Acoustics Adagio) or any of my other components have just worked from day one and not changed.
It seems like now you need to dab in the crown jewels of DAC, so MSB and dCS. MSB's Discrete, Premiere, Reference all dominate May & Dave. Also, you already know Bartók, but higher models such as Rossini and Vivaldi are much more dominating over the market.
@@13thnotehifireviews7 Ok, I understand, thanks for responding. I wouldn't be able to afford such DACs either way, there's just something appealing about the potential completeness of your list (the one we see at the end) at it's top part of range :)
@@Peace_Guard I don’t like the videos too where you post ultra premium products which get click bait views. I’d much rather people watch to get truthful views on stuff which unfortunately doesn’t seem to get hits - often people just want bias confirmation videos to suit their buying patterns and it’s all about the more brands featured the more the channel grows. I hate that aspect of RU-vid.
When comparing this DAC with the Chord TT2 for headphone listening (which I believe you don't have much experience in), I'm wondering what kind of amp I'd need to buy with the May to match the TT2's supposedly great built-in amp? The May seems to be the way to go in terms of getting the best of both worlds - R2R NOS and upsampling (especially external); however, the TT2 comes with an amp that I believe ensures that the amplification process does not degrade the DAC's extraordinary sound. With the May it seems that there's always that worry that "I might not be experiencing its full potential because of my amp not being good enough". Would you have any thoughts on that? 😃
Great video and eval...Crappy digital, cold, non musical dac...Had it for over a month and I couldn't run from it fast enough. Anyone who holds this thing in such high regard has not heard truly musical gear. Lots of texture, and detail but the way it flows out of the speakers is cold, lifeless, digital and just not musical. No idea what all the fuss over this dac is all about. Other than the build quality there is nothing to get so excited about. Anyone wanting to know how this DAC sounds, read above, and go listen to a Chord TT2, sounds like with maybe a little of the Dave splashed in..If you like Chord sound you will like this.
