[eee1111]

Update. I've been running May powered on 24/7 but not playing music 24/7, and the temps are warm but not hot like before... I found using a fan affected the operating temperature, didn't sound right. It's been suggested that if heat becomes an issue, to put the DAC unit directly on the power supply, so it can act as a heat sink. So far so good, and May is opening up in detail, soundstage and bass is tightening. Absolutely love it, breathtaking!

Have you had any transformer hum?

as in the dac lis literally humming

mine gets hot but not too hot

 

[Timbuk2]

Have you had any transformer hum?

as in the dac lis literally humming

mine gets hot but not too hot

I haven't experienced any hum, no. I did experience a kind of static energy coming from the top of the DAC unit, after it was on all night, no music playing. I could feel the static as I moved my hand over the top. May also serves as an excellent hand warmer, ha! It went away when I started playing music, haven't seen it happen again. Does the hum go away when May isn't connected to anything except power? Maybe try powering up May in a different location, a friend's house, see if it still hums. Tracking those kind of things can be really frustrating. Tim at Kitsune may be a good resource for you as well, worth getting his opinion...

 

[BearlyPizza]

Well I’m not getting major issues with music sound. This is the first time I’ve had a piece o equipment make a humming noise.

I do think it was an electric load issue.

I’m fairly certain I fixed the issue but I’m definitely gonna try to use the emotiva for safety reasons. Ill need an electrician to come and just look at my setup to see if everything is good in my house.

Probably just loaded up the electric grid one one side way too much.

I had a humming issue after the 500 hr burn in mark and I wasn't quite sure what it was. Turning the dac off for a few hours and turning it back on rectified the issue, but would start humming again a week or two later.

I thought it was DC offset, so I got an emotiva CMX-2 to try and deal with it. I also had an iFi DC offset reducing adapter too that I tried putting behind the DAC. Unfortunately it would still buzz after 1 or two weeks of being left on.

I was almost close to sending it back to see what was wrong, but I tried one more thing.

Oddly enough, my iFi AC iPurifiers seem to be the only things causing it. (Maybe something to do with them being active?) After taking them out completely from my house grid, I didn't have any issues since and the may has been dead silent.

I have a Triple AC Enhancer (passive) from Akiko Audio instead which brought back a bit of the power conditioning I was missing after taking the iFi AC iPurifiers out.

So if you have any active power conditioning, might be a possibility too to consider if the hum comes back!

 

[eee1111]

I had a humming issue after the 500 hr burn in mark and I wasn't quite sure what it was. Turning the dac off for a few hours and turning it back on rectified the issue, but would start humming again a week or two later.

I thought it was DC offset, so I got an emotiva CMX-2 to try and deal with it. I also had an iFi DC offset reducing adapter too that I tried putting behind the DAC. Unfortunately it would still buzz after 1 or two weeks of being left on.

I was almost close to sending it back to see what was wrong, but I tried one more thing.

Oddly enough, my iFi AC iPurifiers seem to be the only things causing it. (Maybe something to do with them being active?) After taking them out completely from my house grid, I didn't have any issues since and the may has been dead silent.

I have a Triple AC Enhancer (passive) from Akiko Audio instead which brought back a bit of the power conditioning I was missing after taking the iFi AC iPurifiers out.

So if you have any active power conditioning, might be a possibility too to consider if the hum comes back!

oh yeah im gonna swiftly attack this issue. I just received it like 9 days ago. I did contact kitsune and they pointed me in the direction of the cmx-2. I will try it and see if it fixes the issue.

Crossing fingers it’s a simple fix and the cmx-2 works.

 

[TDinCali]

Hi Guys,

Looking for a little advice on optimizing my setup further. I’m currently running a Holo May Kitsune from an Auralic Aries G1 streamer. My Aries G1 is taking a 44.1khz 16bit flac signal 1 Mbps and and sending a 44.1 32bit 2.8Mbps file to the May via USB.

Am I providing the the dac with the optimal signal in this case or should the dac receive the basic stream from Tidal without the upleveling that the Aries streamer is doing?

Anything else about the setup that you think would provide an further benefits?

thank you!

 

[Palyodgree]

Hi Guys,

Looking for a little advice on optimizing my setup further. I’m currently running a Holo May Kitsune from an Auralic Aries G1 streamer. My Aries G1 is taking a 44.1khz 16bit flac signal 1 Mbps and and sending a 44.1 32bit 2.8Mbps file to the May via USB.

Am I providing the the dac with the optimal signal in this case or should the dac receive the basic stream from Tidal without the upleveling that the Aries streamer is doing?

Anything else about the setup that you think would provide an further benefits?

thank you!

To improve your streaming sound quality look into the English Electric switch followed by this passive device manufacturer Network Acoustic Eno along with their Ethernet cable’s. I had a demonstration low behold it works by effectively cleaning up noise ..,.Nice set up BTW.

 

[chrisdrop]

Hi Guys,

Looking for a little advice on optimizing my setup further. I’m currently running a Holo May Kitsune from an Auralic Aries G1 streamer. My Aries G1 is taking a 44.1khz 16bit flac signal 1 Mbps and and sending a 44.1 32bit 2.8Mbps file to the May via USB.

Am I providing the the dac with the optimal signal in this case or should the dac receive the basic stream from Tidal without the upleveling that the Aries streamer is doing?

Anything else about the setup that you think would provide an further benefits?

thank you!

Nice setup
Clearly you are ready to go all out so …
Tube amp alternative (sorry couldn’t resist - even though you have a sick amp!)
Power chain (dedicated circuit, Topaz, etc)
Have you tried the May with M-scaler? HQplayer even?
The USB chain on the May is very solid so I’d not worry about the source too much
Are you using local files at all or all streaming ? Local files may give small edge …
You might not want to stack the devices like that as they may wiggle and wobble each other even a bit which is less than ideal
.. that is all I’ve got - enjoy the beauty!

 

[TDinCali]

Thanks Gents!

I will look into all the suggestions so far.

I have not tried the M-scaler or HQplayer with the Holo May. I’ll look into it.

I’m doing 100% streaming currently.

 

[Slim1970]

Hi Guys,

Looking for a little advice on optimizing my setup further. I’m currently running a Holo May Kitsune from an Auralic Aries G1 streamer. My Aries G1 is taking a 44.1khz 16bit flac signal 1 Mbps and and sending a 44.1 32bit 2.8Mbps file to the May via USB.

Am I providing the the dac with the optimal signal in this case or should the dac receive the basic stream from Tidal without the upleveling that the Aries streamer is doing?

Anything else about the setup that you think would provide an further benefits?

thank you!

Is the May KTE closer in tonality to the TT2 or the Sagra in your opinion?

 

[TDinCali]

Is the May KTE closer in tonality to the TT2 or the Sagra in your opinion?

Hi Tim,

That’s tough for me to say since I didn’t do any direct a/b testing with the two dac’s. I also listened to each with a different amp, so really tough to make a comparison. If I had to pick, I’d say the Sagra is closer in tone to the May than the TT2.

Take care!

 

[TDinCali]

Just a quick update from me.
I added the network eno and cables so far and have been listening casually for the past week. I went back to my chord TT2 and M-scaler setup in another room and wow… this obviously is not an apples to apples comparison but wow how much better the Auralic, Holo May and Bakoon combination sound compared to directly listening out of the TT2 and m-scaler combination. That is a worth while and noticeable difference.

I believe cost wise it’s a 30% difference but way worth it in my opinion.

 

[DJJEZ]

Just a quick update from me.
I added the network eno and cables so far and have been listening casually for the past week. I went back to my chord TT2 and M-scaler setup in another room and wow… this obviously is not an apples to apples comparison but wow how much better the Auralic, Holo May and Bakoon combination sound compared to directly listening out of the TT2 and m-scaler combination. That is a worth while and noticeable difference.

I believe cost wise it’s a 30% difference but way worth it in my opinion.

What about the TT2 and Mscaler in dac mode with the bakoon

 

[Palyodgree]

Just a quick update from me.
I added the network eno and cables so far and have been listening casually for the past week. I went back to my chord TT2 and M-scaler setup in another room and wow… this obviously is not an apples to apples comparison but wow how much better the Auralic, Holo May and Bakoon combination sound compared to directly listening out of the TT2 and m-scaler combination. That is a worth while and noticeable difference.

I believe cost wise it’s a 30% difference but way worth it in my opinion.

I know ! Crazy ehh.

 

[TDinCali]

What about the TT2 and Mscaler in dac mode with the bakoon

Damn it, you’re going to make me drag that system between rooms and hook it up?!?

very well, for science.

 

[chrisdrop]

What’s the current consensus on May and HQPlayer ? Yes or no? What % of your catalogue do you prefer with HQPlayer?