The sonic difference between DSD512 and DSD256 is minimal but the processing power is more than double! In my opinion a i5 can just do DSD256 but i7 has no problem. It doesn't make sense to invest such a power PC to do DSD512; the noise, heat contributed to the over all performance. Not worth...

I'm not sure scaling up the number of cores up beyond a certain limit will help, you need to ask Jussi for advise. The thing here is, graphic card based on Nvidia 'Cuda' processing core can dramatically off load and make it more easier to up-sample to DSD512.

I suggest get a DSD model. Why? The are numbers of reasons: 1. Converting DSD to PCM has high ultra-sonic noise and require steep filter around 30kHz - If you getting a PCM version 2. Converting PCM to DSD does noise shaping and more gentle filtering above 50kHz - If you are getting a DSD...

Tim from KitsuneHIFi has posted some pics of Holo Audio Cyan, check out computer audiophile: https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/28637-holo-audio-spring-dac-r2r-dsd512/ Go to page 18.

@BadBanana, thanks!

Does your screen shows like this: DSD 2.8MHz/DSD 2.8MHz? Or If converted to PCM it will show like this: DSD 2.8MHz/24bit 192KHz, this means DSD 2.8MHz is converted to PCM 24bit/192kHz.

Can it do DSD natively without converting to PCM? I know previous models do convert to PCM... It will shows as DSD 2.8MHz/24 bit 192kHz on the screen. Can anyone confirm this?

Here is more in depth testing, quite interesting, many of so called 16/44.1k streaming are actually up-sampled to hi-res, many considered this as cheating. Any difference perceived is probably due to additional processing such as different type of digital filters used...

I cannot said which one is better but what I can said both sounded different. I've borrowed my friend's Mytek Brooklyn DAC, this is hardware MQA decoder up to 384kHz. When I compared 2L DXD 24/352.4 vs MQA, the master is a DXD of course, it turned out DXD sounded more 'dynamic', with a lot...

Firstly, MQA trade off resolution to give some high frequency contents above 22.5k and in return it gives smaller file sizes. Bob Stuart argued that modern digital audio cannot fully utilise the entire 24 bit resolution. As such, MQA uses the upper 6 to 8 bit of the '24 bit data' to encode the...

Hey guys, came across what looks like a little baby of the flagship Holo Spring Audio DAC. The new DAC is named as 'Sabretooth' Check out the link below: http://www.goshopping.com.tw/?app=Taobao&act=Pdetail&id=43699736922 http://m.zifzhu.icoc.me/index.jsp Looks like it is a R2R design...

Hey guys, came across what looks like a little baby of the flagship Holo Spring Audio DAC. The new DAC is named as 'Sabretooth' Check out the link below: http://www.goshopping.com.tw/?app=Taobao&act=Pdetail&id=43699736922 Looks like it is a R2R design, probably no linear compensation but has...

Nice setup, I can see you are a analog guy... Music is matter of personal taste and generally most of colleagues who listen to NOS DAC coupled with tube amps, it brings out the analog sound, my setup consists of Holo Spring NOS DAC and VTL tube amp...[/IMG]

​Most of DACs in the market are capable of doing good performance D/A conversion, even cheap off selves DACs like BB, AKM, Sabre and CL. All DACs uses OS (Over Sampling) digital filters that have a degree of ringing, therefore they come in many different type, fast, slow, ultra-slow, some even...

I wish Ares can seriously offer NOS, no harm in doing it, just have an option to switch to NOS, it gives users another mode of sound. Then I consider getting it for my desktop DAC with my Sennisher HD650

The impulse response is the measure how high the amplitude of peak and the dispersion. If all energy is concentrated at the peak, less dispersion (ringing) occurred. This translates to better transient response and less distortion. DSD is better because it doesn't use over sampling digital...

Yes it does, complex harmonics in music makes up waveforms that resembles 'square wave', if ringing is caused by over-sampling digital filters, it causes a phenomenon called transient intermodulation distortion. It is difficult to measure in real life but a square wave impulse response is a good...

Some real measurements of Holo Sring 'NOS' mode you can find here: **Real Holo Spring Measurements... There's many doubts in the measurements... first they never specify what kind digital data they pump into the Holo Spring. 16bit or 24bit? Which sampling frequency? NOS generally fare worse...

The manufacturer website stated it is 18-bit ladder DAC and can only able to do up to 5.644/6.144 (DSD128). The native DSD support is for XMOS XU208 chipset only. The driver Denafrips is a generic XMOS stereo USB driver from XMOS itself, called 'XMOS Stereo Driver', which is free to download. It...

Guys, this DAC is 18-bit ladder, not a true 24-bit found in Holo Springs. It doesn't have linearity compensation built-in, it requires two identical sets to this job! Moreover, it can't bypass the hardware OS, so basically it cannot do NOS. In Denafrips TW website specs can do up to DSD128...

If you have tried all the interconnects, then it is likely the analogue output stage is having some problem. What are you using as input? USB or SPDIF?

I have auditioned the unit and it sounds a bit warmer and thicker than iBasso DX80. There soundstage is not as wide as DX-80 but its full bodied sound is good for vocal. The navigation is easy to use, it took me about 10 mins to get it going. So far there's little lag and navigation is quite...

Have you compared subjectively to HQP vs AK4137? For me I've hard time telling the difference. I choose HQP because I've a lot options to play and tweak the sound I like. However, I find this DAC really shines when playback in its native sampling rate, i.e, NOS whether at 44.1k all the way 384k...

Converting PCM to DSD512 in PC requires hell a lot of processing power, while up-sampling DSD64 to DSD512 is less resources hungry. Please note that Holo Spring DAC also offer PCM to DSD256 conversion using its internal AK4137 SRC chip, this mode is called 'OS DSD'. If you up-sample DSD64 to...

I'm curious how Singxer SU-1 sounds compared to Holo Spring Audio DAC USB input. I'm reluctant to jump coz Singxer cannot do DSD512 natively via HQPlayer without Windows certified Thesycon ASIO USB driver. It can only do up to DSD256 via DoP. The Holo Audio Spring USB input comes with its own...