[BearlyPizza]

Posting this here since it may be relevant to those considering either a Holo May or a Rockna Wavelight. (Previously posted on Wavelight thread)


I have owned a Wavelight previously and moved to a Holo May KTE, so I could provide some impressions! However, its been quite awhile since i've listened to the Wavelight, and the bridging setup is different. So take my impressions with a huuuge grain of salt. I know you guys have been wanting to hear about a comparison!

for the Wavelight it was connected to PC via Pink Faun OCXO i2s bridge with a Tubulus Argentus i2s cable
for the Holo May KTE it is connected to PC via JCAT USB card XE with a Shunyata Alpha USB cable

So they actually share more in common in that they both sound exceptionally high end as befitting their respective price points. Clarity, Details, extremely black background, Organic, and "Lifelike" voices are words i'd share with both! Regardless which one you go with, I do not think you'd be disappointed with either.

How I would describe both:
Wavelight:
-Extremely Black Background
-Slighty more forward on the highs and mids? and slightly lacking on bass impact. (It's just Decent) But the bass extension goes on for miles!
-Organic
-less power hungry (15 watts measured) and a warmup of a few hours from standby

*Holo May KTE*
-Even blacker background.
-Extracts details just a little bit more.
-Very balanced without being hot up top.
-Excellent bass impact with extension that is just as deep as the Wavelight!
-Very analog sounding
-43 watts power consumption and requires a traditionally long warmup time
-USB is superior to the Wavelight's USB IMO**

**While I didn't test the Wavelight's latency through video tests and FPS games, the MAY KTE had no latency issues over USB. I do love how well designed their USB implementation is! It sounded exceptional even going straight into the PC! So if USB is something you want, go for the Holo May. **

So the reason why I moved from the Wavelight is more of a personal issue with my ears rather than for sound reasons. After damaging my ears, they became more sensitive than normal, so highs and mids that are too forward can fatigue me. The Wavelight's highs and mids were just slliiiiiightly more forward than i'd like, but it shouldn't fatigue most people!
The bass impact was also slightly less than my previous DAC, which was an Audiogd R8, so it was a little disappointing.

Moving to the Holo May KTE pretty much balanced the mids and highs out and it brought back the bass impact! It's definitely staying as my end game! But again, take these impressions with a huge grain of salt since I haven't listened to the Wavelight in awhile! I consider it within the same class of DAC's as the Holo May, but I do prefer the Holo May KTE more. Major respect to both companies for innovative and wonderfully designed DAC's. It's a good time to be into audio!

 

[Baten]

43 watts power consumption ???

 

[BearlyPizza]

43 watts power consumption ???

Yes, quite a bit more consumption in comparison to the Wavelight and even moreso compared to Delta Sigma DAC's! I think the Audiogd R7 is one of the other DAC's off the top of my head that consumes around the same or more power.

The DAC box gets kind of hot (but still touchable), though the box with the transformers doesn't really get that warm.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Yes, quite a bit more consumption in comparison to the Wavelight and even moreso compared to Delta Sigma DAC's! I think the Audiogd R7 is one of the other DAC's off the top of my head that consumes around the same or more power.

The DAC box gets kind of hot (but still touchable), though the box with the transformers doesn't really get that warm.

Thanks for all the impressions, much appreciated.
How is the subbass extension of the May, You wrote that it has more slam and still great extension, and on the Wavelight you wrote that it has "extension that goes on for miles"
Does it feel like it extends a little deeper but with less slam?

Did you also test the oversampling modes of the May?
The Wavelight is the only Oversampling DAC I know of, which gets praise for the sound of the oversampling modes. (I'm a fan of Hybrid mode myself) while all other Oversampling DACs I know of are said to sound the best in NOS mode.

I really like some other "features" of the Waveligth, i.e. that it doesn't get hot and can therefore easily be stacked. Or that it doesn't need the long power on cycle until it sounds it's best. Certainly no features I was after before, but that turned out to be important now that I have it.

 

[BearlyPizza]

Thanks for all the impressions, much appreciated.
How is the subbass extension of the May, You wrote that it has more slam and still great extension, and on the Wavelight you wrote that it has "extension that goes on for miles"
Does it feel like it extends a little deeper but with less slam?

Did you also test the oversampling modes of the May?
The Wavelight is the only Oversampling DAC I know of, which gets praise for the sound of the oversampling modes. (I'm a fan of Hybrid mode myself) while all other Oversampling DACs I know of are said to sound the best in NOS mode.

I really like some other "features" of the Waveligth, i.e. that it doesn't get hot and can therefore easily be stacked. Or that it doesn't need the long power on cycle until it sounds it's best. Certainly no features I was after before, but that turned out to be important now that I have it.

1. So for the bass extension, I should've clarified that the Holo May Also extends just as well as the Wavelight! or as I said "for miles". I will edit my post to clarify! The only difference would be the impact (at least with my memory of the wavelight), which the Wavelight had less impact in comparison to the May.

2. I did test the oversampling modes of the May, but I didn't particularly prefer them over NOS. But I also only tested them for a short period of time, so I can't provide that much impressions on those. I preferred the sound Hybrid on the Wavelight too but NOS was a little easier on my ears.

3. Right, Wavelight has some inherent advantages that other R2R DAC's simply don't traditionally have for this level of sound quality! Low power consumption, shorter warmup time! Plus compared to the MAY it does have an analog volume control! And depending on your preference, the remote APP to control the Wavelight via Phone so you can technically mute or change the volume while in bed. Though the MAY does have a remote control, I personally have my phone with me most of the time.

The Wavelight has potential for the future since you can still get a Wavelight server when it comes out, and newer firmwares can potentially improve the sound even more! But that will be dependent on Rockna.

 

[Baten]

Yeah NOS mode is the way to go on holo audio DACs for sure.

 

[Toni-Mang]

New record day reviewed the may on youtube....i think we made a good choice...

 

[donato]

New record day reviewed the may on youtube....i think we made a good choice...

I've never watched one of his reviews before. I got pretty bored by a lot of the filler in there (was too long and I was more interested in the straight up review portions), but I did very much agree with him redbook 44.1/16bit really can sound amazing on this DAC and that you don't necessarily "need" higher res. Don't get me wrong, I certainly own my share of albums I've purchased from HDTracks or hi res streaming now, but redbook certainly can sound better than I thought it could. It was also interesting for him to describe how the additional detail/resolution affect the gestalt of the aural experience, something that I have struggled to describe as well.

 

[Toni-Mang]

The MAY arrived yesterday and after a short warm up time, I like to share some first subjective impressions:

Build quality is excellent, The DAC gets slight above lukewarm, the Power supply not as much.

Locking takes getting used to, but to get first impression, I swapped sampling formats.
If you stay in a format, then you are able to jump to different tracks from different albums without new locking. That was my main fear…so no issue here.

I have not tested different settings, it is the L1, out of the box, Nos, and default settings, JRiver/ DI20HE and PS Audio PWT both via I2S…

Most impressive, the Highs are completely connected and uncoloured. The R8 high frequency presentation in comparison sounds artificial and detached (and the R8 is imho already one of the better actors in this regards) … there is no artifical mispresentations left, each recording sounds different. This might be related to the design and measurement thing (THD)…

Width and depths is impressive, but too early to judge. The presentation is already very large and spacious, with lot of “humidity”, Bass is deep, defined and well controlled.
In my opinion, this might be one result of the oversized Power supply.

From this early point of experience, I can recommend the DAC without doubt…

 

[Flextreme]

The MAY arrived yesterday and after a short warm up time, I like to share some first subjective impressions:

Build quality is excellent, The DAC gets slight above lukewarm, the Power supply not as much.

Locking takes getting used to, but to get first impression, I swapped sampling formats.
If you stay in a format, then you are able to jump to different tracks from different albums without new locking. That was my main fear…so no issue here.

I have not tested different settings, it is the L1, out of the box, Nos, and default settings, JRiver/ DI20HE and PS Audio PWT both via I2S…

Most impressive, the Highs are completely connected and uncoloured. The R8 high frequency presentation in comparison sounds artificial and detached (and the R8 is imho already one of the better actors in this regards) … there is no artifical mispresentations left, each recording sounds different. This might be related to the design and measurement thing (THD)…

Width and depths is impressive, but too early to judge. The presentation is already very large and spacious, with lot of “humidity”, Bass is deep, defined and well controlled.
In my opinion, this might be one result of the oversized Power supply.

From this early point of experience, I can recommend the DAC without doubt…

Congratulations, this dac will really evolve the coming weeks. You will get your goosebumps moments for sure.

My May gets rather warm, would guess around 45c, but never 'hot'.

Forget about anything else but NOS, the build in oversampling is mediocre. If you want to EQ/oversample experiment with Roon/HQsampler.

But for now, just stay away from tweaks like that, let the May settle in and allow yourself to enjoy this magically good DAC.

 

[donato]

I'd second the use of HQPlayer (definitely better sounding than Roon upsampling).

Anyone interested in the May should definitely read @GoldenOne 's fantastic review/comparison - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/an-...-mscaler-qutest-and-holo-may-hqplayer.952934/

 

[Toni-Mang]

I kept the MAY running for the last 36h, with different sample rates. A few minutes ago I listen to caribou - swim (highly recommendation), played with the ps audio pwt, via i2s.
@Flextreme i like to share your word "magical"...it is the first time, that the musical density and forceful presentation of a dac in my chain is as thick as from vinyl.
There is no digital angularity left....The large and bodied presentation in depth and width, cool...i did not change tracks and enjoyed the whole cd. After that i heard a dsf x64 from Depeche - Ultra, also the complete record, from the DI20HE also I2S (had to swap L/R for DSD in the DI). My system made a sigificant step in digital reproduction...the MAY is a very impressive tool.

 

[GoldenSound]

I'd second the use of HQPlayer (definitely better sounding than Roon upsampling).

Anyone interested in the May should definitely read @GoldenOne 's fantastic review/comparison - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/an-...-mscaler-qutest-and-holo-may-hqplayer.952934/

This ^^
The may's internal OS is really "just ok". Though I don't actually think its bad. In fact comparing in an AB against other DS dacs (which I do using an XLR switchbox and roon grouping) its still better. So its not that the OS is bad, its just that the NOS mode is really really good. Clearly a lot of work has been put into it.

If you do want to use OS though, use something better. I've been playing around with the Chord Hugo M-Scaler and i've found that HQPlayer's "Sinc-M" filter sounds absolutely identical to it. But then HQP can go to 1.536mhz, whereas MScaler is limited to 192khz with non-chord dacs (384khz technically but I'm not aware of any DACs that have SPDIF inputs that go that high).

Either the MScaler or HQP are miles better than internal OS. Though this is also the case for pretty much any other dac I can think of, including DACs which specifically focus on quality of oversampling like the DAVE.

I personally find that HQP OS and the may's NOS are simply slightly different offerings. I cannot pick a favourite and both sound excellent, suiting different music.

Roon's OS though is...I'd say slightly better than internal OS, but its nothing amazing either. Roon just uses basic SoX oversampling so its nice to have but HQP is definitely a better choice

 

[Flextreme]

This ^^
The may's internal OS is really "just ok". Though I don't actually think its bad. In fact comparing in an AB against other DS dacs (which I do using an XLR switchbox and roon grouping) its still better. So its not that the OS is bad, its just that the NOS mode is really really good. Clearly a lot of work has been put into it.

If you do want to use OS though, use something better. I've been playing around with the Chord Hugo M-Scaler and i've found that HQPlayer's "Sinc-M" filter sounds absolutely identical to it. But then HQP can go to 1.536mhz, whereas MScaler is limited to 192khz with non-chord dacs (384khz technically but I'm not aware of any DACs that have SPDIF inputs that go that high).



Either the MScaler or HQP are miles better than internal OS. Though this is also the case for pretty much any other dac I can think of, including DACs which specifically focus on quality of oversampling like the DAVE.

I personally find that HQP OS and the may's NOS are simply slightly different offerings. I cannot pick a favourite and both sound excellent, suiting different music.

Roon's OS though is...I'd say slightly better than internal OS, but its nothing amazing either. Roon just uses basic SoX oversampling so its nice to have but HQP is definitely a better choice

I like your conclusion. I'm already supremely happy what the May and HQplayer can do, so no additional FOMO for me.

BTW: I still appreciate Mays NOS mode very much. However, I prefer to use moderate EQ. As a result I like Roons upsampling (precise, minimal phase), which sounds very similar to Bit Perfect NOS. However, with electronic music, I currently use HQplayers 'poly-sinc-long-mp' filter which favors transients (also less natural, but really exciting) over soundstage , together with my Naim amp, this is 'peak PRaT': my Susvara never sounded to fast.

It is really nice to have this HQplayer option and other filters available. I can easily imagine my preferences changing over time.

 

[Flextreme]

I'd second the use of HQPlayer (definitely better sounding than Roon upsampling).

Anyone interested in the May should definitely read @GoldenOne 's fantastic review/comparison - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/an-...-mscaler-qutest-and-holo-may-hqplayer.952934/

Just finished reading the review, very nice. I can imagine the review process being rather tiresome, often differences are subtle or difficult to pinpoint.

Goldenone previous posts about the May resonated with me when I was on the lookout for a Denafrips Termitor Plus initially: the May was not only less expensive, USB does not need to be 'fixed'. Very nice to see the May is coupled with the Susvara.