Whazzzup
Headphoneus Supremus
Interesting didn’t know that about r2r. Now just a question concerning over sampling? That’s different from upsampling so bartok oversamples?
An exploration of Chord DAVE, MScaler, Qutest, and Holo May, HQPlayer
- Thread starter GoldenSound
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sajunky
Headphoneus Supremus
Welcome. Oversampling is actually upsampling. A former is a commercial term, typically associated with upsampling by integer 2x, 4x, 8x etc. (as advertised on CD players). Upsampling can be at any factor. There is also other term 'resampling', it also include 'downsampling'. More technically these are cases of a sample rate conversion which can be a regular 'synchronous' (SRC) or 'asynchronous' (ASRC).
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Tubewin
1000+ Head-Fier
Anyone try the Denafrips Gaia or the Hermes with the May? Wondering if either could improve sound quality, coming from a matrix spdif2 with Uptone LPS i2s. Also wondering if it's worth not using the PLL with I2s if I had the Gaia to avoid the locking time for differing sample rates on songs. I normally listen through Amazon Music, Qobuz, and sometimes Tidal and the May PLL locking time could become annoying.
sajunky
Headphoneus Supremus
PLL on I2S can actually add more jitter, depends on a quality of a source clock. I2S clock can be used directly or a large FIFO can be deployed to synchronise clocks without PLL like in Denafrips DACs. Perhaps you should try DI-20HE with an optional 10MHz external clock and forget about PLL. The best DDC for $1k and few times more.
gancanjam
100+ Head-Fier
Certainly those are great DAC choices and worth the audition. I never had a chance to listen to MScaler, Rockna and Tambaqui and hoping someone will have it in the Socal can jam meet the next weekend. I had listened to dcs bartok $16K with HP amp an year back when I was looking for an AIO, I did not liked dcs Bartok + Luxman P1U amp combo as Luxman was making all the FP spectrums too smooth to my liking especially for EDM genre but did liked dcs Bartok as AIO, it was sounding similar to Simaudio Neo 430 $5K AIO with Bartok being bit more dynamic, bit better transients and having more micro details while bit thinner compared to Simaudio and end of the day the price difference was not justified with no significant difference to my taste hence did not bought dcs bartok for my HP (only) needs.Perhaps Bartok is more compulsive proposition for network streamer/speakers needs.
With my memories, the WOW ! this is special effect so far for me in the ascending order ,
1) Holo May + HQPlayer + Simaudio / WA33 amp
2) Dave + Simaudio amp
the Hmm..Its really NICE effect so far for me in the ascending order ( Your order may vary per your listening preference) ,
1) dcs Bartok AIO
2) Holo May DAC + Simaudio / WA33 amp
3) Dave AIO
So when you compare Holo May with other DACs, use HQPlayer as well and make an objective conclusion as that can tilt the table towards Holo May.
One call out on HQPlayer I would like to make is, I did not had time to wear the critical listening hat to judge the upsampling output to conclude the musical notes correctness, timber quality, instrument realism etc. to deep dive into the "quality" of HQPlayer output. It's like there is a saying that, any good pasta can be made as great pasta by adding generous amount of cheese
so anything upsampled through HQPlayer was sounding great in Holo May but how "correct" the HQPlayer software makes it sound is another discussion !
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I've owned or auditioned the following DACs:
dCS Bartok
dCS Vivaldi
Gryphon Audio Kalliope
Rockna Wavedream
Chord M-Scaler + DAVE
Holo May KTE
My favorites were the Holo May KTE and Chord DAVE+ MScaler.
dCS Bartok
dCS Vivaldi
Gryphon Audio Kalliope
Rockna Wavedream
Chord M-Scaler + DAVE
Holo May KTE
My favorites were the Holo May KTE and Chord DAVE+ MScaler.
Tubewin
1000+ Head-Fier
Did you prefer straight NOS or Hqplayer on the May?
I actually never used HQPlayer. I hear rave reviews about it! And I have been recommended to try it. Maybe one day. I'm more of a stereo listener. What I can say is that all the talk about the difference between The Holo May KTE's NOS and OS modes to me are minimal at best. And I consider myself to have pretty discerning ears. While I preferred the NOS (to me it provided a smidgen more ambiance and a slightly wider sound stage). The May KTE's OS was very good too! In fact, it reminded me more of the dCS Bartok. The sound stage was still wide, but a tad more focused, and the micro-dynamics were a bit more pronounced.
Tubewin
1000+ Head-Fier
"The May KTE's OS was very good too! In fact, it reminded me more of the dCS Bartok", Wow, that's high praise indeed. I should be getting mine in two more weeks... Do you still own the May? If not, what dac did you replace it with? Thanks for your insight by the way.
Yes. I still listen to it every day. I think you'll; enjoy it. Just give it the prerequisite time to break in (400-600 hours of play).
I tried the hermes with it and unfortunately it was outperformed by the pi2aes.
Though both are then outperformed by the May's internal USB.
The locking time did end up annoying me a bit, but only when using Linux desktop (it was the same story across all distros I use: Pop!_OS, Solus, Manjaro, and ElementaryOS). On Windows 10 and Server 2019, it was near flawless and locked in very quickly and without issue.
Despite the seemingly longer locking times with Linux DE’s, I would still classify it as the epitome of a first-world problem. Sort of like complaining your Lamborghini does 0-100km in 3.6 seconds vs 3.2
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tamahome77
1000+ Head-Fier
GoldenOne, Do you think the audio-gd DI-20HE will outperform the pi2aes?
toddrhodes
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Not sure how helpful I can be since I'm a speaker listener, not headphones, but I do use HQP and a Holo May KTE, and came from a DF Venus II. As well, I just tried a Zen DAC V2 Sig as a comparison to May KTE...
Yea, I know. It was never about thinking they'd be similar. But I was curious what kind of impact HQP was having on my overall experience with May KTE. Because with it, it's pretty special. I use a PC as noted in my signature for just HQP processing, DSD256 / ASDM7EC / poly sinc gauss long. I use a Zen Stream as an NAA (and because of how utterly thrilled I am with it, is why I decided to toss a Zen DAC V2 into the pit and let it tussle with May KTE).
And while I will say I can't quite quantify how much of what I really enjoy about the current HQP/Zen Stream/May KTE combo is due to HQ Player... I can say that using the exact same settings into the Zen DAC confirmed for me that it's not just HQP working magic here. Zen DAC was fine. I would never say it's bad or not even "not really my taste." It's just not on the same level, to no one's surprise, as May KTE. And even hoping HQP might equalize some of that?
It didn't. So I guess at the end of the day - it's truly a matter of everything working as a whole. I already knew this but sometimes a little reminder never hurts I guess.
And as an aside - I played with a few different HQP NAA endpoints. Mostly Pi-based, running either GentooPlayer or Jussi's NAA image, and using good or even downright fancy power supplies. Zen Stream with the included iPower PSU dispatched all the previous ones with ease. I think it is absolutely no small part of the overall "magic" i hear from it + HQP + May KTE. So I'd wholeheartedly recommend it as an NAA if anyone is looking for a reasonably priced one. I use Roon as my frontend, if that makes any difference.
Yea, I know. It was never about thinking they'd be similar. But I was curious what kind of impact HQP was having on my overall experience with May KTE. Because with it, it's pretty special. I use a PC as noted in my signature for just HQP processing, DSD256 / ASDM7EC / poly sinc gauss long. I use a Zen Stream as an NAA (and because of how utterly thrilled I am with it, is why I decided to toss a Zen DAC V2 into the pit and let it tussle with May KTE).
And while I will say I can't quite quantify how much of what I really enjoy about the current HQP/Zen Stream/May KTE combo is due to HQ Player... I can say that using the exact same settings into the Zen DAC confirmed for me that it's not just HQP working magic here. Zen DAC was fine. I would never say it's bad or not even "not really my taste." It's just not on the same level, to no one's surprise, as May KTE. And even hoping HQP might equalize some of that?
It didn't. So I guess at the end of the day - it's truly a matter of everything working as a whole. I already knew this but sometimes a little reminder never hurts I guess.
And as an aside - I played with a few different HQP NAA endpoints. Mostly Pi-based, running either GentooPlayer or Jussi's NAA image, and using good or even downright fancy power supplies. Zen Stream with the included iPower PSU dispatched all the previous ones with ease. I think it is absolutely no small part of the overall "magic" i hear from it + HQP + May KTE. So I'd wholeheartedly recommend it as an NAA if anyone is looking for a reasonably priced one. I use Roon as my frontend, if that makes any difference.
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