In these days of near instant messaging I suppose I just need to relax. Nothing urgent, just Tim's advice before placing an order and the Kitsune Hifi site does say it could be 7-10 business days for a reply.
What is the sound quality difference between L2 and KTE May? I've had the spring 3 KTE for a month, while it sounds fine, I'm thinking about taking a chance and go with the May.
There may be an answer somewhere here, but struggling to find any info ...
Does anyone know if you can run May at 1.536M 24bit on a Mac? I can run up to 768k 24 bit, when I go above that it starts distorting and I need to go down to 16bit. I've read that it's a driver / kernel issue on Linux and it works fine on Windows, guess it also affects Mac OSX? Anyone managed to find a fix?
I believe the ENOB for the May is 20 and that should be the setting in HQP. I ran HPQ 1.536M 20bit Sinc-M out to my L2 May via USB from a 2012 Mac Mini that was also my Roon server. I did have issues with some USB cables though. The stock one that came with the Holo May worked best and I still use that over some fancier USB cables I tried.
From @GoldenOne's quickstart guide on Discord: 5, DAC Bits: What bit depth HQPlayer will Dither to. This is useful because no real DAC is accurate to 24 bit, and so being able to dither to the TRUE accuracy of your dac means dithering/noise shaping is operating at the most effective level. You can calculate your DAC ENOB (effective number of bits) here if you know the SINAD: https://www.everythingrf.com/rf-calculators/sinad-to-enob-calculator
If you don't know, set it to 19, or 20 if it is a very high-end DAC.
What is the sound quality difference between L2 and KTE May? I've had the spring 3 KTE for a month, while it sounds fine, I'm thinking about taking a chance and go with the May.
I don't have a Holo DAC but am considering buying the Spring KTE 3 w/ preamp or May with Serene. I think I 'might' be wondering if I were missing OS since the 3 is only NOS. I don't want the complexity of the HQPlayer to get OS and want this to be simple, not a part time job........... simply turn it on and enjoy!
I don't have a Holo DAC but am considering buying the Spring KTE 3 w/ preamp or May with Serene. I think I 'might' be wondering if I were missing OS since the 3 is only NOS. I don't want the complexity of the HQPlayer to get OS and want this to be simple, not a part time job........... simply turn it on and enjoy!
You can also use the upsampling in Roon or Audirvana if you want to switch from OS with minimal effort. It's just a DSP toggle in the Roon playback interface.
Edit: still not as easy as having the OS mode toggle button the front of the DAC, but a good tradeoff if you want to spend a lot less on the Spring3/pre setup.
You can also use the upsampling in Roon or Audirvana if you want to switch from OS with minimal effort. It's just a DSP toggle in the Roon playback interface.
Yup! Easier alternative than HQP which is an added expense and is pretty unintuitive.
I most often listen in NOS and use HQP when I want to upsample. You can see my settings attached.
I haven't messed with the Roon OS but I would prob just set it to "Max PCM Rate" which ends up being 768k (I don't think Roon goes higher), with a "Precise, linear phase" filter.
im still learning.......but this is how I've been seeing things.
I have holo may and through hqplayer it upsamples everything to 1.5mhz
to go into more detail.......
You can make your own rules for sample rates. I like to keep everything at 44.1 as a baseline.
I downsample files that are natively higher. Roon downsample files to 44.1 before hqplayer gets its hands on them and upsamples it.
some stuff in my library has crazy sample rates I like to keep everything at 44.1. It seems to sound better when files are Converted to 44.1 as a starting point before hqplayer does its magic.
If that makes any sense.
so in the sample rate conversions settings I downsample to 44.1 if rates are already at crazy higher natively. Everything being sent into hqplayer is 44.1.
I believe the ENOB for the May is 20 and that should be the setting in HQP. I ran HPQ 1.536M 20bit Sinc-M out to my L2 May via USB from a 2012 Mac Mini that was also my Roon server. I did have issues with some USB cables though. The stock one that came with the Holo May worked best and I still use that over some fancier USB cables I tried.
From @GoldenOne's quickstart guide on Discord: 5, DAC Bits: What bit depth HQPlayer will Dither to. This is useful because no real DAC is accurate to 24 bit, and so being able to dither to the TRUE accuracy of your dac means dithering/noise shaping is operating at the most effective level. You can calculate your DAC ENOB (effective number of bits) here if you know the SINAD: https://www.everythingrf.com/rf-calculators/sinad-to-enob-calculator
If you don't know, set it to 19, or 20 if it is a very high-end DAC.
Worth noting that there is a bit of debate as to whether you should use SINAD or dynamic range for calculating this.
For most (but not all) delta sigma dacs the two are usually very similar. But r2r dacs can often have much higher dynamic range than SINAD so the numbers can be different.
Yup! Easier alternative than HQP which is an added expense and is pretty unintuitive.
I most often listen in NOS and use HQP when I want to upsample. You can see my settings attached.
I haven't messed with the Roon OS but I would prob just set it to "Max PCM Rate" which ends up being 768k (I don't think Roon goes higher), with a "Precise, linear phase" filter.
im still learning.......but this is how I've been seeing things.
I have holo may and through hqplayer it upsamples everything to 1.5mhz
to go into more detail.......
You can make your own rules for sample rates. I like to keep everything at 44.1 as a baseline.
I downsample files that are natively higher. Roon downsample files to 44.1 before hqplayer gets its hands on them and upsamples it.
some stuff in my library has crazy sample rates I like to keep everything at 44.1. It seems to sound better when files are Converted to 44.1 as a starting point before hqplayer does its magic.
If that makes any sense.
so in the sample rate conversions settings I downsample to 44.1 if rates are already at crazy higher natively. Everything being sent into hqplayer is 44.1.
Thanks. I was just playing around with it, and landed on max pcm indeed. I cannot use Hqplayer in my setup 2, as there is no laptop involved, just the Roon Nucleus. But the Roon upsampling is very easy indeed, with the iPad. Just need to figure out what sounds best to me...
I have read and have learned quite a bit here and on some other digital audio forums. Frankly a lot of this is beyond my understanding and that's fine as well. I just want a great DAC and to learn more about these offerings from Holo and this forum is where I can read as much or little information as I am willing to digest.
Perhaps my TT2 / MS combo is good enough and I should not scratch the R2R itch with the angst of what version, May + Serene or HS 3, to buy!
I have read and have learned quite a bit here and on some other digital audio forums. Frankly a lot of this is beyond my understanding and that's fine as well. I just want a great DAC and to learn more about these offerings from Holo and this forum is where I can read as much or little information as I am willing to digest.
Perhaps my TT2 / MS combo is good enough and I should not scratch the R2R itch with the angst of what version, May + Serene or HS 3, to buy!
FWIW I went directly from the TT2/MS to the L2 Holo May and do not regret it one bit. Stopped looking for DACs in fact. But these things are all preferences after all and I do still have a Hugo 2/2go as a source for my tube amp if I want a bit of Chord in my life
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be wondering if I were missing OS since the 3 is only NOS. I don't want the complexity of the HQPlayer to get OS and want this to be simple, not a part time job........... simply turn it on and enjoy!
