I have been comparing the may to my previous dac, musical paradise mp-d2(1500 as configured) with my Abyss ab1266 tc and audio gd master 9 amp.
Before I start I want to provide a little bit of background. I started this hobby with iems. In the portable world, I have listed to all totl dap, cables, iem, and portable amps under the sun. However, the market for full size electronics are much much bigger and I have only one dac to compare it with. Since my older dac is far from mainstream, my comparisons probably hold no usable information for many. But since this dac has very little coverage, I will write mine.
The tone between the two dacs are very similar with a natural holographic sound. Out of the box, I listened quickly to some tracks on Tidal(which didn't help) and didn't notice any changes. I was afraid I could have used the money on a cable or amp which changed a tone more noticeably. To better compare the two dacs, I plugged in both dacs to my pc and connected both to my amp. With this setup I could go from one dac to another without cable changes.
The first thing I noticed was the bass. It was the most controlled impactful bass ive heard on my headphones. I was planning to change my amp because of the lack of body on the master 9(its a very flat amp) but with the addition of the dac, I don't feel the need anymore.
The midrange was smoother and cleaner but more forward on the may. I hadn't noticed before but the mpd2 had a slight distortion or haze in the vocals.
Compared to the may, the mpd2's highs sound a little flatter with less texture and was a bit dryer
While the quality and quantity change in the bass was the most noticeable, I can most appreciate imaging and sound stage from the May. When playing fast and complex tracks, the mpd2 tends to flatten out to a wall of sound while on the may, the different sounds tend to float in their spaces around my head. the stage on the may is also larger in width, but significantly deeper.(this may be from the changes in the bass where it is easier to feel the bass fill up the stage). Hight of the stage tended to be similar.
While these are the things I noticed during my critical listening sessions, throughout the day, my headphones were "disappearing" more often. All the changes mentioned above were small incremental changes, but when added up, they push my system over the edge to where it is able to trick my brain. With my goal to get my system to sound as natural and real as possible, the changes the May brought was substantial. With diminishing returns, the cost is high for that small push over the edge. But to those already interested in this dac, I'm guessing that last 1% is very valuable.
While I wish I could compare this to the terminator and r7he, and the Dave to give more practical purchase decision making information, all I can say is that the May is a neutral smooth dac with outstanding imaging/staging. It is free of digital sheen and is full of ambiance and air. Compared to a distant memory of running my headphones on the Hugo TT, the hugo might have had a tad more microdetail but was nowhere close to sounding as natural or fluid.
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask
I have the May placed on top of my amp which gets hot. The May in this configuration runs hot but just cool enough to keep your hands on them. The amp I cant keep my hand on for over a couple seconds. I bet this config is not the best but due to space issues it will have to do for now. The Wavelight seems like a r2r in the same price range. I wonder how it would compare.
