Would be great if you could please compare it to Dave ( volume matched of course ). This provides more insight into the differences among Dacs even if two peoples tastes are different. Thank you for the review.
Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org
Frankie D
OhmsClaw
In summary:
1) Invest in the pre-amp for the glorious triple stack.(another 3-5k?)
2) It is as good as we thought it was.
3) I like your analogies describing the user interaction with the gear (glass/magnifying glass/tv) however, it's with this I direct your comments regarding upsampling. Upsampling is a waste of resources and won't make a 720p source file 8K resolution. If there's any concern about roll-off through NOS playback one can better correct this with an EQ profile to establish a "flat" FR; RME engineers have provided these for 44.1/48Khz Slow/Super Slow(NOS) filters for their AKM and ESS chips. Nevermind, native files in excess of 90Khz will not exhibit this through NOS in the AF which brings us back to the actual point of high quality reconstruction filters via HQPlayer.
1) Invest in the pre-amp for the glorious triple stack.(another 3-5k?)
2) It is as good as we thought it was.
3) I like your analogies describing the user interaction with the gear (glass/magnifying glass/tv) however, it's with this I direct your comments regarding upsampling. Upsampling is a waste of resources and won't make a 720p source file 8K resolution. If there's any concern about roll-off through NOS playback one can better correct this with an EQ profile to establish a "flat" FR; RME engineers have provided these for 44.1/48Khz Slow/Super Slow(NOS) filters for their AKM and ESS chips. Nevermind, native files in excess of 90Khz will not exhibit this through NOS in the AF which brings us back to the actual point of high quality reconstruction filters via HQPlayer.
OhmsClaw
Lastly! I'll point out for those using primarily USB playback, the Holo DAC's don't support clocking but you can reclock and master/slave via a DDC and enjoy I2S interface and discover the wonder world of precision oven controlled/Rubidium/GPS clocks, go wild 
Also this serves as galvanic isolation on your USB interface.
(DISCLAIMER: USB Asynchronous transfer ALWAYS takes over clock duty and jitter management is PLL implemented and dependent upon the DAC's internal clock. PCM/Optical/Coax/Spdif are sample rate limited around 300Khz or below at 192 with DSD bottle necks between 128/256 DOP. I2S should allow up to DSD 1054 native.)
(DISCLAIMER 2: If you want to add external reference clocks to any chain the most important thing is synchronization & stability rather than drift accuracy. Reference lock between devices in this application is more important than the drift from NIST's atomic clock)
Phew... great review! Thanks for sharing.
Also this serves as galvanic isolation on your USB interface.
(DISCLAIMER: USB Asynchronous transfer ALWAYS takes over clock duty and jitter management is PLL implemented and dependent upon the DAC's internal clock. PCM/Optical/Coax/Spdif are sample rate limited around 300Khz or below at 192 with DSD bottle necks between 128/256 DOP. I2S should allow up to DSD 1054 native.)
(DISCLAIMER 2: If you want to add external reference clocks to any chain the most important thing is synchronization & stability rather than drift accuracy. Reference lock between devices in this application is more important than the drift from NIST's atomic clock)
Phew... great review! Thanks for sharing.
ZzZzZzZ
How is Rockna Wavelight in comparison to Holo Audio May?
Rayon
Happy to see this ignited some discussion! I'm definitely not a qualified reviewer worth May, but it was bugging me that no-one had made an attempt in head-fi 
I completely agree. I just didn't want to give people an impression that some other setups would be on the same level as this, because many of them aren't. That would be plain dishonesty. However, it doesn't mean that people couldn't enjoy other setups as well. I personally immensely enjoyed for example my Qutest -> Phonitor e -> HE6se v2 -setup. I'm also happy and grateful in my 5k$ car. 30 years ago such an car would had been used by CEOs and not too long ago people were riding horses. Not to mention being that horse...
I completely agree. I just didn't want to give people an impression that some other setups would be on the same level as this, because many of them aren't. That would be plain dishonesty. However, it doesn't mean that people couldn't enjoy other setups as well. I personally immensely enjoyed for example my Qutest -> Phonitor e -> HE6se v2 -setup. I'm also happy and grateful in my 5k$ car. 30 years ago such an car would had been used by CEOs and not too long ago people were riding horses. Not to mention being that horse...
Rayon
@GoldenOne has made a review in YouTube in which he does comparison to Dave and WaveDream Signature:
That should at least give you some indication. I've also seen multiple comparisons to Dave in several occasions, google is your friend on that: https://www.google.com/search?q="holo+may"+dave
@GoldenOne has made a review in YouTube in which he does comparison to Dave and WaveDream Signature:
That should at least give you some indication. I've also seen multiple comparisons to Dave in several occasions, google is your friend on that: https://www.google.com/search?q="holo+may"+dave
Rayon
I don't know what exactly in HQPlayer contributes most to the sound, but I quite often like the effects and it's a good tool in the toolbelt IMO. I put it in the same category with tube gear. It (most probably) can't give you back what's taken away, but it can alter the sound in ways that you may like.
I don't know what exactly in HQPlayer contributes most to the sound, but I quite often like the effects and it's a good tool in the toolbelt IMO. I put it in the same category with tube gear. It (most probably) can't give you back what's taken away, but it can alter the sound in ways that you may like.
winders
Upsampling is NOT a waste of resources. If you think this then you don't understand the reasons for doing so of the benefits.
kumar402
As you go up in chain, quality of DAC takes precedence over amp. Thats my opinion.
Nice Review
Nice Review
shwnwllms
Great review. When you get tired of ext-2 in HQP give gauss-long (1x) / gauss-hires-lp (Nx) a try (linear phase). I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
szore
I like your philosophy but you left out cables and power conditioners.
Mista Lova Lova
The May seems like the best of both worlds in terms of being able to switch between true NOS and either internal or external oversampling. And it seems that with the HQPlayer it might be able to compete with the Dave + MScaler at half the cost. But then - what kind of amp would be good enough not to degrade the sound coming out of the May in any way? Does one really need to spend as much money on an amp as the one you mentioned in the review? The price then starts getting close to the Dave.
Aeolus Kratos
Superb write-up. I just have a Spring 3 DAC but the sound is soooo good that I'm not looking for an DAC upgrade in a foreseeable future. No surprise May DAC sounds that great.
Rayon
I spent a lot of time with that combo but in the end I just started to deviate more and more towards ext2 after exhausting all the other options. There is something in ext2 that "is right" to me.
Yes. I just think this information is hidden in the noise.
I actually went other way around
I spent a lot of time with that combo but in the end I just started to deviate more and more towards ext2 after exhausting all the other options. There is something in ext2 that "is right" to me.There be dragons...
Rayon
All I can say is that with May you can at least be certain that all the potential of your amp will be used to the max. Personally I would rather go with May + SMSL SH9 now and update the amp later if I feel like something is missing as then you KNOW it's the amp and you didn't waste too much money during the upgrade steps. Also you can find really nice amps from classifieds section with serious discounts. Never buy new if you can't afford losing 40% of that money when you change your mind. That's how I got my Aries (and Utopia, and May!) as well. Good gear is like good cheese and wine: it just get better during proper burn-in process
Rayon
Also I would argue that it's not 100% certain that everyone would prefer Dave+MScaler over May+HQPlayer+X. Also: with May you are not paying for the amp. What if you have Susvara? You need another amp anyway. What if you like tubes? You are going to buy an amp anyway. Also May+HQPlayer offers more flexibility to sound.
You forgot the price of the MScaler...
Also I would argue that it's not 100% certain that everyone would prefer Dave+MScaler over May+HQPlayer+X. Also: with May you are not paying for the amp. What if you have Susvara? You need another amp anyway. What if you like tubes? You are going to buy an amp anyway. Also May+HQPlayer offers more flexibility to sound.
Rayon
I don't see May as "poor man's Dave", but more like "poor man's MSB" (which also is a R2R DAC). When you buy Dave, you basically buy filters, noise shapers and FPGA à la Robert Watts (with good other components of course). Those are very different approaches to DAC design. May also took a design approach that they focus on making NOS as good as possible, which makes it a perfect target for HQPlayer.
The Dave+MScaler vs. May+HQPlayer game is actually quite complicated and those systems are very different under the hood and have very different strengths and weaknesses. They both sound good but in different ways and for different reasons.
The Dave+MScaler vs. May+HQPlayer game is actually quite complicated and those systems are very different under the hood and have very different strengths and weaknesses. They both sound good but in different ways and for different reasons.
Rayon
Thanks! I just meant that it gives constant 2.9Vrms power out, which means that with powerful headphone amp and sensitive headphones you will reach very high volumes already when the volume button is at 8 o'clock, which makes adjusting volume really difficult. However, compared to somewhat standard 2V it's not much different. I had the same situation with Qutest.
