[Peaceofmind]

Thanks, yes Philippines is 220V. Nice to know the DAC can be easily switched between foreign or domestic input voltage.

 

[greenkiwi]

One other question. Is this DAC considered a true fully balance DAC?

i.e. two full ladders for right, two full ladders for left (and the same duplicate ladders for DSD)?

 

[lukeap69]

There is quite a jump in price from Level 2 to Level 3 - is the sound improvement major?

 

[doctorcilantro]

Can someone speak with authority as to the output stage? Is there any difference in XLR vs. SE? 
 
Discrete output?

 

[bimmer100]

  Can someone speak with authority as to the output stage? Is there any difference in XLR vs. SE? 
 
Discrete output?

 
 
Analog output stage is discrete output.
 
input has opamp
 
The spdif receiver is AK4118A chip.
 
          The output stage contains I/V conversion and LPF. These two parts use similar structure but different specs.
The opamp is used for input stage and class A discrete buffer component is for output stage. That discrete output stage is working in class a. So when you touch the PCB, you will find it’s very hot. The output voltage is 2.5Vrms for single ended output and 5Vrms for balanced output. The single ended is RCA. Balanced is XLR. They all use the same output stage. Yet XLR output is highly recommended if you plan to listen to DSD512 native.

 

[Cobold]

Does anybody know if this is available in Europe?
 
 
Cobold

 

[bimmer100]

  Does anybody know if this is available in Europe?
 
 
Cobold

Due to strict rules of sales to Europe, We have avoided sales to europe. We believe there is some VAT tax license or something we need to apply for if we do decide. But it's possible we can arrange drop shipping from china to europe. I don't know the details of that yet.  "maybe?" I can look into this more.

 

[Cobold]

Would be good to know if this is possible and which version would be available.

Cobold

 

[crooner]

Looks like a superb DAC and certainly unique in it's implementation of DSD. I am looking to upgrade from my two year old Resonessence Labs Concero HD. I really like the Resonessence Labs house sound but I am tired of waiting for the new Veritas to be released. I am a fan of the older Burr Brown ladder DACs (PCM-63 and 1704), and the very first Philips TDA1540 as found in my vintage Philips CD100 clone, the original Marantz CD63 CD player.
So this new DAC is really tempting to me. DSD is an absolute requirement, since I have a nice collection of DSD files. Are the Windows drivers already available?

 

[audiobill]

Here's the response I received directly from Tim regarding Windows drivers - Windows drivers currently support dsd256 over DoP, and the final Windows drivers are to be released mid September. They are tested and functioning with full dsd512 native with HDMI i2s and usb input.

 

[bimmer100]

Looks like a superb DAC and certainly unique in it's implementation of DSD. I am looking to upgrade from my two year old Resonessence Labs Concero HD. I really like the Resonessence Labs house sound but I am tired of waiting for the new Veritas to be released. I am a fan of the older Burr Brown ladder DACs (PCM-63 and 1704), and the very first Philips TDA1540 as found in my vintage Philips CD100 clone, the original Marantz CD63 CD player.
So this new DAC is really tempting to me. DSD is an absolute requirement, since I have a nice collection of DSD files. Are the Windows drivers already available?

 
Well, most recent update is that we were finally approved from microsoft for an OFFICIAL signed windows 10 driver. This was NOT easy. But the release date will be early october. This date should be pretty solid now that microsoft has responded finally.  We have an evaluation driver for windows on our website that allows DSD512 native in windows and functions perfectly fine except a random beep once in a while to remind you its evaluation. But it's enough to prove the dac is purely capable of dsd512 native in windows.
 
The firmware is officially updated to support DSD512, and also support for Microrendu is available now. But may require an update to your microrendu. We worked directly with Jesus @sonore to get this sorted. 
 
All the customers are currently using the EVAL drivers when they are doing DSD native. otherwise the standard drivers are perfectly suitable for most things.
 
Our hang up is...do we pay 1-2grand for drivers that only support windows 7 and sorta kinda 8.1 and 10 if you force install them some back door sort of way? and this would only be for 3 weeks... then pay an additional 2 grand for the official microsoft signed drivers? Well, we figure the EVAL drive is OK for a few more weeks. We are definitely moving on this as fast as "WE" can move. Microsoft was like dealing with apple.... lots of hoops to jump through apparently. But we did it, it will be released for all our customers. a solid windows 10 signed driver!!! 
 
I will post again when I have an exact day for it's release. You'll find it posted on our site the day it's available.
 
 
.

 

[crooner]

That's excellent news.
Hopefully we'll get to read some reviews of the DAC very soon.
I may be ordering in the next few weeks.
I like the fact that it doesn't offer any kind of volume control, as I prefer to use my vintage Marantz 7C tube preamp.

 

[XVampireX]

It's interesting, a potential buy for me, I like how it looks and cool R2R chip thing how it's designed, quite clean, in other high-end DACs that I've seen there also some other gold encasing or something for the chip.
 
I would like to hear some more comparison against some of the popular DACs like Yggdrasil, like TotalDAC, like Pavane (I know there is a short comparison but it doesn't say much it says it gets close but is not better than Pavane, what does that mean?) perhaps a comparison of the more expensive one, the Chord DAVE (Even though TotalDAC is also around there)
For the DSD part it's a two birds with one stone. And let me tell you for the money the aesthetics of it are looking premium.
 
Specifically as a comparison between Auralic Vega and the Holo Audio Spring DAC, I'm missing in Vega some parts of the sound, with the Vega it sounds a bit too rounded, the question is with the Spring DAC, does it sound Rounded or does the sound have meat (Sharp edges that give definition to the sound) ?
 
For the Bass in Auralic Vega I do feel like it's good bass but I feel I can find even better, again probably related to the previous question.
 
Thanks for any feedback
 
P.S: This DAC is not in the high-end forum, why?

 

[crooner]

It does look very clean. The discrete resistor boards are proprietary so no off the shelf monolithic DAC chip is used. The chassis seems to be standard steel or aluminum and not milled from a billet of aluminum like other fancy brands use.
 
I still don't understand why Schiit dissed DSD in their DAC's. Perhaps because their off the shelf multibit DAC chip doesn't do DSD. And also in some kind of effort to "standardize" High Res audio confining it to PCM only. DSD would have to be an afterthought for them, so I guess that's why it was left out...

 

[audiobill]

Here is a shipping time update. I ordered my HoloDac through Kitsume. My Holo Spring level 3 was given to DHL Hong Kong on Sept 3rd. It is in The U.S. And should be delivered to me tomorrow Tuesday the 6th.

I hope that you received it on time as expected. Any updates on its performance? Hopefully you're immersed in the experience and enjoying it, TIA for sharing your impressions!