Holo Audio Bliss

This review is going to be short and to the point as I just want to get back to listening. I don't think there is much to say about Bliss other than "this is it". I got the same feeling already from SparkoS Aries to be honest, but its lack of enough volume steps kept me looking for an alternative. I feel that Bliss finalizes my search for a perfect solid state amp by adding enough steps in volume control and as a nice bonus adds this extra character in sound that I didn't ask for but that I very much welcome.

Features

I think Bliss has all the features that I would wish from my headphone amplifier. It has two balanced and one SE inputs; 6.3mm, 4.4mm, XLR outputs; it has remote; it has stepped relay volume control ranging from -72db to +12db; it has preamplifier with SE and balanced outputs; it has mute. I'm happy. The only thing I could come up with was that I think it would be nice if it remembered volumes of different outputs. Now they are all the same. However as I think I will be using just XLR 99% of the time, to me it's not critical, but it may be something that an active user of preamp could wish for.

Setup used

Qobuz -> Roon -> HQPlayer -(USB)> Holo May -(BAL)-> Holo Bliss -(BAL)-> Utopia/Susvara

My favourite HQPlayer setting for Susvara:

poly-sinc-ext2 | DSD7 256+fs | DSD1024
Jan Meier 650 / 13

This creates a massive and realistic soundstage and also tames down the upper region just a tad. Pure perfection.

Power and Susvara

My guess is that many of the readers of this review will be looking for an answer to question "Will it drive Susvara?", so I'll start with that.

Yes it does, Bliss is powerful. You can breathe again. Also, actually it shouldn't be a surprise as Susvara was used as a target when designing Bliss! As a reference: when I'm using Holo May in DSD mode (2.9Vrms from balanced) and also attenuate that signal -3db in HQPlayer, I'm normally listening somewhere -30db and -25db if I want to go crazy. I'm listening at -31db as I'm writing this review. -20db starts to feel quite uncomfortable and I very rarely go above -25db. This means that I have basically still 30db+ in tap (+12db max level) that I'm never using. If I didn't use HQPlayer and I used PCM from May (5.8Vrms), we could add 9db into these numbers. Yes, with Susvara.

I know that I have sensitive hearing and I've read some wild comments that some people have listened Susvara @ -5db, but I would be very worried about my hearing if I did that. However even if I did, I would still have 17db in tap which is actually quite a lot in terms of power. I'm very comfortably saying that Bliss has enough power for Susvara.

In terms of sound, Susvara sounds amazing from Bliss. End of story. It's authoritative, accurate and natural, never going harsh. The holographic and liquid nature of Bliss is amazing with Susvara and together they paint a soundstage that I have never heard before (especially when married with Holo May and HQPlayer).

Sound character

I would describe the sound of Bliss as very transparent, holographic and liquid (liquidity especially after 1h warmup). By holographic I mean that the placement within soundstage is good and I can basically hear shapes, not only direction of sound. Liquidity is a bit harder to explain. I would just describe it as lack of harshness, but it's different from smoothness. I think Topping A90 was smooth, but this smoothness comes with the cost of some added veil. I'd describe the difference so that smooth is like diving in foam and liquidity is like diving in water. In foam everything is smooth, but you can't clearly feel the borders of things. In water you can still feel the border of you and your surrounding clearly, but it's still always pleasing and "goes your way". This is in contrast to being against brushed metal for example. I think Hugo 2 was a bit like that. It was kind of unforgiving, non-negotiating and without sense of humor. Bliss is never dry or boring. It's Class-A.

VS SparkoS Aries

Purely sound quality wise Bliss is also the best headphone amplifier I have heard. Unfortunately I didn't have SparkoS Aries anymore when I got Bliss but I feel that they are similar in terms of detail retrieval and refinement. However this liquidity of Bliss makes the sound signature preferable (to me). Also the sound is more holographic which feels very classy and something that is about to spoil me. Aries and Bliss have both big soundstages, but placing within the stage is better with Bliss.

VS Singxer SA-1

I did have Singxer SA-1 when I got Bliss as I had bought it from classifieds as a temporary amp and I also wanted to give it a shot before ordering Bliss (it was Class-A, measured well and had good reviews). However SA-1 felt like a downgrade after Aries and when I got Bliss and I did A/B between SA-1 and Bliss, SA-1 felt toyish in comparison and the sound kind of lost it's grip of me. I did that A/B testing with Focal Utopia.

However I would still very warmly recommend Singxer SA-1 as I think it's amazing value in it's price point. I would personally upgrade my DAC first and only after that upgrade my amp. Jump from Qutest to May was much bigger change in my system than jump from SA-1 to Bliss. Not to mention jump from Aries to Bliss. Please also do note that I only bought Susvara after Bliss, so I don't know how much Susvara would lack with SA-1.

Summary

I think Bliss deserves a spot in solid state hall of fame. It has has both an amazing sound quality and an amazing character. It can run Susvara well, has all the necessary features and doesn't have any obvious flaws. For many it may be the end of the road in the search for a perfect solid state headphone amp.

It was for me.