Holo Audio Bliss

[chesebert]

That's what you got out of that? You're hard to please, the man gave a complete refund (when he didn't need to)and said I could keep the item (he didn't need to do that either), and then you spin it, saying it speaks badly about the dealer? In what world does that makes sense or is appropriate?

Makes 0 business sense unless the cable is worth less than the shipping/handling cost. What’s the cable and how much did you initially pay?

 

[Mavwong]

Has anyone here tried to run their Holo Bliss and May or Spring setup with HQ player, with its 16,000,000 taps? From what I hear, that might actually sound better than a $20,000 Chord Dave and M-Scaler setup, since that "only" runs at 1,000,000 taps.

Haha，I come from Dave + Mscaler replace with May + Bliss (even without HQplayer which I also paid), now I am much happier and I got extra cash in my pocket.

 

[573017]

Haha，I come from Dave + Mscaler replace with May + Bliss (even without HQplayer which I also paid), now I am much happier and I got extra cash in my pocket.

How does the sound of the Dave/M-Scaler compare to the May/Bliss, either with NOS or HQ player?

 

[incredulousity]

No experience with Dave and M scaler here, but many of us with May or spring3/Bliss use HQP for upsampling, with excellent results. Put the DAC in NOS mode, and upsample in HQP to 768 or 1.56M, depending on the filters your computer can support.

 

[genefruit]

How does the sound of the Dave/M-Scaler compare to the May/Bliss, either with NOS or HQ player?

The Bliss doesn't really have a place in this comparision.

The Dave & M-Scaler combo can sound very similar to the May & HQPlayer combo or very distinct. The the beauty of the May & HQP is it provides you a full set of tools to experiment with PCM & DSD playback via HQP while leaving the May in NOS. The versatility was a big factor in me moving from Dave & M-Scaler to May & HQPlayer.

 

[573017]

I have a Bliss and Spring on the way, so I am trying to figure out if the extra hassle of using HQ player will be worth it. I hear it can be difficult to use because of the options to choose from and the amount of computing power required. For the people here who use HQ player, do you find yourself using it most of the time you are listening to music, or is it just something you use occasionally to spice things up?

 

[plumpudding2]

I have a Bliss and Spring on the way, so I am trying to figure out if the extra hassle of using HQ player will be worth it. I hear it can be difficult to use because of the options to choose from and the amount of computing power required. For the people here who use HQ player, do you find yourself using it most of the time you are listening to music, or is it just something you use occasionally to spice things up?

I exclusively use HQPlayer. For the Holo Spring the default filters are the best allrounders, no need to change. Literally the only thing you have to configure is setting the dac bits to 20 and you're good to go. Even your phone could upsample PCM. so that's not a problem either. Best 250 bucks I ever spent on audio.

If you ever get curious later you can start experimenting with DSD upsampling and different filters, but for someone daunted by all the options it is also definitely recommended over NOS.

One thing though, I find the HQPlayer UI to be so bad a Roon subscription is basically required to make it usable, but I heard recent updates improved it a bit.

 

[genefruit]

I have a Bliss and Spring on the way, so I am trying to figure out if the extra hassle of using HQ player will be worth it. I hear it can be difficult to use because of the options to choose from and the amount of computing power required. For the people here who use HQ player, do you find yourself using it most of the time you are listening to music, or is it just something you use occasionally to spice things up?

I've never used my May without it and if it didn't exist, I wouldn't have purchased the May. The compute is fairly reasonable if you're not trying to push the limits. SDM (DSD) mode with poly-sinc-gauss-long for 1x and poly-sinc-gauss-hires-lp for Nx filters, ASDM7EC-super or light shapers at 12.288M (DSD256) can be achieved on newish hardware and is a sweet spot of performance.

 

[genefruit]

I've never used my May without it and if it didn't exist, I wouldn't have purchased the May. The compute is fairly reasonable if you're not trying to push the limits. SDM (DSD) mode with poly-sinc-gauss-long for 1x and poly-sinc-gauss-hires-lp for Nx filters, ASDM7EC-super or light shapers at 12.288M (DSD256) can be achieved on newish hardware and is a sweet spot of performance.

I exclusively use HQPlayer. For the Holo Spring the default filters are the best allrounders, no need to change. Literally the only thing you have to configure is setting the dac bits to 20 and you're good to go. Even your phone could upsample PCM. so that's not a problem either. Best 250 bucks I ever spent on audio.

If you ever get curious later you can start experimenting with DSD upsampling and different filters, but for someone daunted by all the options it is also definitely recommended over NOS.

One thing though, I find the HQPlayer UI to be so bad a Roon subscription is basically required to make it usable, but I heard recent updates improved it a bit.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention Roon as I've gotten so used to it being the de-facto playback standard. Yes, you'll want to have Roon's interface to drive HQP playback, or at least I do.

 

[573017]

For the people here who use HQ player, do you have the HQ player set up a certain way with one set of settings and filter, and just use it like that always? Or do you sometimes use other settings and filters in HQ player because you know some music sounds better with other settings? Do you find NOS without HQ player is better for some music, or are you using HQ player 100% of the time?

 

[plumpudding2]

For the people here who use HQ player, do you have the HQ player set up a certain way with one set of settings and filter, and just use it like that always? Or do you sometimes use other settings and filters in HQ player because you know some music sounds better with other settings? Do you find NOS without HQ player is better for some music, or are you using HQ player 100% of the time?

Come join us at the dedicated thread: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hqp...s-rolling-thread.968141/page-12#post-17773844

And yes I change settings often, songs that need space and ambience get longer filters like sinc-L or Mx. Pop music with transients get Gauss-long or xtr-short-lp.
Also really like switching between the smoothness of DSD or the bite of PCM.
I only use NOS without HQPlayer when my ears are fatigued and feel assaulted by all the extra detail.

 

[genefruit]

For the people here who use HQ player, do you have the HQ player set up a certain way with one set of settings and filter, and just use it like that always? Or do you sometimes use other settings and filters in HQ player because you know some music sounds better with other settings? Do you find NOS without HQ player is better for some music, or are you using HQ player 100% of the time?

I use it 100% of the time. I have distinct file settings based on headphone and music style choices, which are easily save in a file that can be selected quickly from the HQP interface.

 

[EMINENT]

I have a Bliss and Spring on the way, so I am trying to figure out if the extra hassle of using HQ player will be worth it. I hear it can be difficult to use because of the options to choose from and the amount of computing power required. For the people here who use HQ player, do you find yourself using it most of the time you are listening to music, or is it just something you use occasionally to spice things up?

I am HQP enjoyer and upsample to DSD1024.
As much as I would love to have it another way, the experience I arrived at after much expense, trial and error, I would not exclude it as of today.
Just one of those things you got to experience for yourself.
You may get much enjoyment with less but there is a unique feature that presents itself at this rate that is still unmatched here.
YMMV

 

[plumpudding2]

I am HQP enjoyer and upsample to DSD1024.
As much as I would love to have it another way, the experience I arrived at after much expense, trial and error, I would not exclude it as of today.
Just one of those things you got to experience for yourself.
You may get much enjoyment with less but there is a unique feature that presents itself at this rate that is still unmatched here.
YMMV

Had my hopes up for 14th gen intel to not require extreme oveclocking for DSD1024 with EC-super/v3, but alas it seems to be terrible

 

[mfgillia]

I have a Bliss and Spring on the way, so I am trying to figure out if the extra hassle of using HQ player will be worth it. I hear it can be difficult to use because of the options to choose from and the amount of computing power required. For the people here who use HQ player, do you find yourself using it most of the time you are listening to music, or is it just something you use occasionally to spice things up?

When I first got my Spring 3 I was probably using HQP about 90% of the time. These days though often prefer going without it. If this is your first R2R dac then you may find the upsampling via HQP sounds much better and more impressive initially until you get used to NOS.

Regardless, if you are already using Roon then there's really no reason not to pick up HQP. As @genefruit stated, the basic PCM settings are easy to use and can be downloaded from Goldensound's Spring 3 youtube video here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/106xSVmY-4ct2IZMJX4jY81vZlkaNitU0. Later on can then start to experiment with DSD if your computer has enough power.