[teknorob23]

Also something that I'm interested in: When used in May -> Bliss -> Utopia, can one get the volume low enough? With SparkoS Aries my only complaint has been that even the lowest volume setting is quite loud in this chain. I'm using HQPlayer so it's not a complete deal killer, but digital volume control just doesn't feel the right way at this level.

I used the serene kte with May and utopia for a long time as it was my favourite amp for utopia by some distance. Resolution, speed dynamics and tonal clarity were the best I’ve heard. The serene obvs has less power but listening around 70db I had the volume at around a third. I have switched to Diana TCs which are as hard ti run as the susvaras and at the moment I run them out of my 2 channel speaker outs. I’m only interested in the bliss for dtc and if I didn’t need the juice I would stick with serene as it’s the best preamp I’ve heard even compared to amps cost £15k+. I will definitely be keeping it on preamp duties.

For the record the serene was far more resolving than the ferrum stack, pass labs and benchmark. The volume is a work of art. I would be very surprised if the bliss doesn’t deliver similar level of performance just with more power.

Proof of course will be in the hearing, so hopefully not too long to wait to find out.

 

[XVampireX]

I also have the May and Utopia and like I already mentioned getting the Bliss though I have a more powerful amplifier Volot which is 16W at 32 ohms and it has 4 gain settings at low setting for the Utopia I can work around 10-12 on the clock give or take.
I'm sure Bliss will be fine for Driving the Utopia especially since it has a high and low impedance matching so shouldn't be a problem and the volume is also numerical so it should scale well for volume.

If based on what you're saying Serene was so Resolving and such, I guess Bliss should be just as good but dedicated headphone amplifier with more juice for the dynamics if lacking.

My Volot is also excellent for Dynamics, contrary to what people were saying, when the song requires it.

 

[teknorob23]

I also have the May and Utopia and like I already mentioned getting the Bliss though I have a more powerful amplifier Volot which is 16W at 32 ohms and it has 4 gain settings at low setting for the Utopia I can work around 10-12 on the clock give or take.
I'm sure Bliss will be fine for Driving the Utopia especially since it has a high and low impedance matching so shouldn't be a problem and the volume is also numerical so it should scale well for volume.

If based on what you're saying Serene was so Resolving and such, I guess Bliss should be just as good but dedicated headphone amplifier with more juice for the dynamics if lacking.

My Volot is also excellent for Dynamics, contrary to what people were saying, when the song requires it.

Flux had a magic touch and i'm gutted that i didnt pull my finger out and order a Volot. The FA12 is still one of my favourite amps. Correct me if i'm wrong, but doesnt the VOLOT have a similar tuning to the FA12, just with a far more resolving, powerful and bigger sound, similarly leaning to just the warm-side of "neutral". The Serene is closer to "neutral" or at least my interpretation of neutral, but still adding the tinest shot of warmth and consequently weight to the source component (in my case 90% of the time the May) compared to something clinical and to my ears lifeless like the benchmark. The serene is more tonally even handed than the bombastic but super enjoyable Ferrum stack, more resolving and cleaner than the Pass labs HPA1. From the those amps that i've been lucky enough to spend a decent amount of time with i would say the sparkos aries is the closest in tuning to the serene, but again the serene provides greater clarity and so far scales to match everything i've fed it with on the resolution front... BUT as i say the serene cant drive the Dianas. Saying that neither could any of the amps i mentioned, at least not when compared to running them out of the speaker outputs with my neurochrome power amp/ serene pre combo.

I appreciate this will read as an almost perfect example of a first world problem...But it is pain having to unplug my speakers everytime i want to listen to the Dianas and vice versa, enter the Bliss with more power and a sound which is hopefully as good or better than my current combo. Really looking forward hearing what everyone else thinks of it!

 

[Rayon]

Flux had a magic touch and i'm gutted that i didnt pull my finger out and order a Volot. The FA12 is still one of my favourite amps. Correct me if i'm wrong, but doesnt the VOLOT have a similar tuning to the FA12, just with a far more resolving, powerful and bigger sound, similarly leaning to just the warm-side of "neutral". The Serene is closer to "neutral" or at least my interpretation of neutral, but still adding the tinest shot of warmth and consequently weight to the source component (in my case 90% of the time the May) compared to something clinical and to my ears lifeless like the benchmark. The serene is more tonally even handed than the bombastic but super enjoyable Ferrum stack, more resolving and cleaner than the Pass labs HPA1. From the those amps that i've been lucky enough to spend a decent amount of time with i would say the sparkos aries is the closest in tuning to the serene, but again the serene provides greater clarity and so far scales to match everything i've fed it with on the resolution front... BUT as i say the serene cant drive the Dianas. Saying that neither could any of the amps i mentioned, at least not when compared to running them out of the speaker outputs with my neurochrome power amp/ serene pre combo.

I appreciate this will read as an almost perfect example of a first world problem...But it is pain having to unplug my speakers everytime i want to listen to the Dianas and vice versa, enter the Bliss with more power and a sound which is hopefully as good or better than my current combo. Really looking forward hearing what everyone else thinks of it!

I'm absolutely amazed, if Serene brings more clarity than Aries. Listening to it, I've been already sure that it's like 99,999% of the theoretical maximum of what the laws of physics allow

 

[teknorob23]

I'm absolutely amazed, if Serene brings more clarity than Aries. Listening to it, I've been already sure that it's like 99,999% of the theoretical maximum of what the laws of physics allow

i think you'd be right in most situations and systems but when compared directly using resolving partnering kit in every part of the chain, switching from the aries to serene i could hear instant improvement in overall clarity across the board. I'm talking about small margins, but enough that given the choice, once heard i would find it hard to go back from. The difference in tonal clarity particularly stands out, whereby you can far better hear the nuance/ change in the tone of note from its initial impact through its decay. I totally appreciate i'm pretty OCD about this and of course my user priorities are not typical in that i'm using my kit to evaluate things we make where i want to be able to hear any impact on sound that even the smallest of tweaks might cause.

 

[XVampireX]

I don't know if FA-12 cause I didn't go to their mid-tier amps but it feels to me like Volot is rather Neutral, with maybe a touch warmth but maybe that also comes from the DAC, or maybe even not exactly warmth but smoothness with dynamics where needed. I don't know Utopia are capable of more than this, but I'm interested to see what a set like May KTE and Bliss KTE would bring to the table as Synergy.

I was just commenting on the dynamics of Volot because somehow somewhere they compared Volot to Oor\Hypsos and they said that Oor has more punch... hmmm....

 

[SlothRock]

I used the serene kte with May and utopia for a long time as it was my favourite amp for utopia by some distance. Resolution, speed dynamics and tonal clarity were the best I’ve heard. The serene obvs has less power but listening around 70db I had the volume at around a third. I have switched to Diana TCs which are as hard ti run as the susvaras and at the moment I run them out of my 2 channel speaker outs. I’m only interested in the bliss for dtc and if I didn’t need the juice I would stick with serene as it’s the best preamp I’ve heard even compared to amps cost £15k+. I will definitely be keeping it on preamp duties.

For the record the serene was far more resolving than the ferrum stack, pass labs and benchmark. The volume is a work of art. I would be very surprised if the bliss doesn’t deliver similar level of performance just with more power.

Proof of course will be in the hearing, so hopefully not too long to wait to find out.

Thanks for posting this! Makes me even more excited that I got my order in early . Very interesting that you found the Serene far more resolving than the Ferrum stack, I'm excited to compare the Bliss to my OOR/Hypsos. What about bass impact? The Ferrum stack is fantastic at adding some of that warmth/extra bass punch which is something I've loved about it. Would you describe the Serene as punchy + extremely resolving?

 

[sparkylarky]

Thanks for posting this! Makes me even more excited that I got my order in early . Very interesting that you found the Serene far more resolving than the Ferrum stack, I'm excited to compare the Bliss to my OOR/Hypsos. What about bass impact? The Ferrum stack is fantastic at adding some of that warmth/extra bass punch which is something I've loved about it. Would you describe the Serene as punchy + extremely resolving?

can't wait for your posts comparing the Bliss to the Ferrum stack

 

[teknorob23]

Thanks for posting this! Makes me even more excited that I got my order in early . Very interesting that you found the Serene far more resolving than the Ferrum stack, I'm excited to compare the Bliss to my OOR/Hypsos. What about bass impact? The Ferrum stack is fantastic at adding some of that warmth/extra bass punch which is something I've loved about it. Would you describe the Serene as punchy + extremely resolving?

The Serene is to all intents and purposes linear and transparent representation of the source and chain running into it, whereas the Ferrum presents a slightly coloured rendition of the source, all while still being highly resolving and very enjoyable. The serene while being transparent somehow manages to add impact, drive and weight to the bass, all without ever sounding exaggerated or uneven. Its kind of everything the Benchmark isnt, in that the benchmark is also transparent, uncoloured and nearly as resolving, but just sounds dead by comparison.

If the Bliss follows suit with the same characteristics as the Serene, then the transport and source you play through it will have a big impact on what you hear out of it. The good news is that its the perfect compliment to the May and i would expect the with Spring too. If i were selling it i would include it as the 3rd box with May, because it lets you hear everything the May's got, just with a bit more speed and low end drive and touch more space too.

Cant believe we've got to wait a month to find out for sure.... damn i hope the Bliss isnt Holo's first lemon!

 

[incredulousity]

It will be a long month, but I expect Tim has some in reviewers' hands long before that, so at least we get some detailed impressions.

 

[ericx85]

Caved and ordered. That amp is the definition of one and done. Don't have my May anymore only because I just didn't like it when I had to use it without HQPlayer, but if there's one thing no one can deny is that Holo knows how to build insanely good gear (I'll probably end up getting May 2 whenever it becomes a thing lol).

 

[XVampireX]

Caved and ordered. That amp is the definition of one and done. Don't have my May anymore only because I just didn't like it when I had to use it without HQPlayer, but if there's one thing no one can deny is that Holo knows how to build insanely good gear (I'll probably end up getting May 2 whenever it becomes a thing lol).

You felt like you were missing out? I don't feel like I'm missing out without the oversampling though HQPlayer definitely adds to the sound in many different ways, but it's not a deal killer and HQPlayer while a great application a bit too complicated to use unless you know what you're doing or have the time to play around with it.

It will be a long month, but I expect Tim has some in reviewers' hands long before that, so at least we get some detailed impressions.

GoldenSound should have one tomorrow, the crazier part is that since GoldenSound has also ordered the HM1 which apparently many claim to be the best thing since sliced bread, and if Bliss matches it on sound, Bliss is literally a steal.

 

[Nighthawk7397]

I am holding out to see some reviews, really interested in the comparison with the ferrum stack and the ahb2. Hell maybe even the zahl-hm1 or riviera aic-10 if anyone ever gets them in the same room lol.

Definitely going to be a long month until then though!

 

[SlothRock]

Caved and ordered. That amp is the definition of one and done. Don't have my May anymore only because I just didn't like it when I had to use it without HQPlayer, but if there's one thing no one can deny is that Holo knows how to build insanely good gear (I'll probably end up getting May 2 whenever it becomes a thing lol).

I love my Spring 3 solely used in NOS and don’t feel it’s worth the extra $2-3k for that 5-10% improvement from the May, BUT if they release a May 2 that has equally good hardware upsampling as they have for NOS I think I may cave and get it lol. I just don’t want to be bothered figuring out HQ Player and want to play direct out of Qobuz with no hassle (which sounds incredible as is right now)

 

[Delta9K]

I love my Spring 3 solely used in NOS and don’t feel it’s worth the extra $2-3k for that 5-10% improvement from the May, BUT if they release a May 2 that has equally good hardware upsampling as they have for NOS I think I may cave and get it lol.

I feel the OOR stack & Bliss when it arrives on scene are both price appropriate and technically commensurate with the Spring3 KTE, but stepping into a $6K+ DAC be it a May, Rockna, Baltic3 etc. etc. then the Ferrum, Bliss and other $3.5 - 4K amp offerings would most likely be out classed and a bit of a miss match (long-term).

FWIW I am speculating and have not heard the Bliss yet nor are there any reviews of SQ so all is up in the air.