[GoldenSound]

I have an Intona 2.0 which helped me with issues on my NUC. I just find it hard to believe that tweaks help when you have no real visible audible problems. But the original poster is convinced of that so I'm not one to ruin his fun..

Galvanic isolation will genuinely help many devices as it prevents any ground loops, DC offset, and noise of any sort from getting through. Not the May though, it already does this internally.


Intona USB isolator:

Holo May USB implementation:

(and underside for those curious)

It's a pretty serious USB implementation, fully in-house with FPGA&ARM CPU, and full galvanic isolation built in.
Put that with the PLL and jitter is.....well 'what jitter'? Everything is down at -170dB and that's just cause that's where I hit the limits of noise floor/FFT gain

 

[ThanatosVI]

Galvanic isolation will genuinely help many devices as it prevents any ground loops, DC offset, and noise of any sort from getting through. Not the May though, it already does this internally.


Intona USB isolator:


Holo May USB implementation:

(and underside for those curious)


It's a pretty serious USB implementation, fully in-house with FPGA&ARM CPU, and full galvanic isolation built in.
Put that with the PLL and jitter is.....well 'what jitter'? Everything is down at -170dB and that's just cause that's where I hit the noise floor of the analyzer

The May is one geniously crafted DAC

 

[lucasratmundo]

Galvanic isolation will genuinely help many devices as it prevents any ground loops, DC offset, and noise of any sort from getting through. Not the May though, it already does this internally.


Intona USB isolator:


Holo May USB implementation:

(and underside for those curious)


It's a pretty serious USB implementation, fully in-house with FPGA&ARM CPU, and full galvanic isolation built in.
Put that with the PLL and jitter is.....well 'what jitter'? Everything is down at -170dB and that's just cause that's where I hit the limits of noise floor/FFT gain

@GoldenOne Can USB reclockers (SOtM tX-USB-ultra, Innuos Phoenix, etx) bring meaningful sound quality improvements to the May?

 

[DJJEZ]

@GoldenOne Can USB reclockers (SOtM tX-USB-ultra, Innuos Phoenix, etx) bring meaningful sound quality improvements to the May?

I'm interested in knowing this as well.

 

[GoldenSound]

@GoldenOne Can USB reclockers (SOtM tX-USB-ultra, Innuos Phoenix, etx) bring meaningful sound quality improvements to the May?

No.
USB 'reclocking' is a bit misleading in what it does. It's not the same as reclocking SPDIF/AES/I2S as the timing of SPDIF/AES/I2S (synchronous) protocols directly affects the jitter of the DAC itself. Whereas asynchronous USB that is not the case.
Any USB hub is technically a 'reclocker' as it regenerates the signal and handles some scheduling tasks.

A USB reclocker MIGHT make a difference if your USB source is crap in various ways, such as a very poor slew rate/eye pattern, but it would need to be very bad in order to actually have an effect simply due to the asynchronous nature of USB.
It CAN make a difference, but in 98% of cases will not (and if it does then you've got something in your system you really want to get rid of).

In any case, the May actually also does this internally, you can see in the pic I posted that there is a chip with the holo logo on it right next to the connector. This is actually reclocking/regenerating the signal prior to it being fed to the main FPGA.
So any 'reclocked' signal will just get 'reclocked' again anyway and it'll make 0 difference.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

If wanting to get a USB tweak it'd be better to go for something that offers full galvanic isolation such as the intona usb isolator or ifi iGalvanic.

Would love to see your review of USB decrapifiers. Especially advanced models, like Innuos Phoenix.

 

[DJJEZ]

Would love to see your review of USB decrapifiers. Especially advanced models, like Innuos Phoenix.

Same. The innuous phoenix has been on my wants list for a while

 

[arnaud]

In any case, the May actually also does this internally, you can see in the pic I posted that there is a chip with the holo logo on it right next to the connector. This is actually reclocking/regenerating the signal prior to it being fed to the main FPGA.
So any 'reclocked' signal will just get 'reclocked' again anyway and it'll make 0 difference.

what?! Are you saying the may is reclocking the nice pure signal i feed it via usb?!
what a fraud, no wonder it sounds … good , actually. Ah nevermind. I overreacted

 

[Palyodgree]

GoldenOne thank you for your work and educational input , the USB section implemented in the May dac i think is leaps and bounds over the Innuos Phoenix reclocker, an expensive add on box that did boost the performance of my Innuos Zenith mk3 though shortly after the novelty wore off I realized there’s still was something missing. Using the Holo Audio dac there was suddenly no discernible differences between brands of USB cables , the factory supplied USB cable that came with the May dac was equally good to any other brands I had tried .

My next server directly clocked the USB section from the clock board and both boards were independently powered , this dropped the noise floor noticeably and playback was even more satisfying to my ears however seemingly expensive having a look inside , $8000.00 USD.

Anyway I recently listen to a Rockna WaveDream Net server I like much better however I’m going to wait for the up and coming Rockna Wavelight server scheduled to be on the market by years end .

 

[Ragnar-BY]

@GoldenOne in your last video I saw Isoacoustics Orea (or something similar) under your gear. Any impressions? Are you going to do a review on those? Actually, it would be very interesting to know if things like this could do any improvement in headphone setup.

 

[GoldenSound]

@GoldenOne in your last video I saw Isoacoustics Orea (or something similar) under your gear. Any impressions? Are you going to do a review on those? Actually, it would be very interesting to know if things like this could do any improvement in headphone setup.

Full disclosure: IsoAcoustics sent me those on a 'We'll send you a bunch of isolators if you have them visible in videos' basis.

Do they work? Yes, they genuinely do provide excellent vibration isolation and they also have professional oriented stuff which is commonly used for things like isolating studio monitors.

Will that make a difference to your gear? Depends entirely on the product.
A turntable? Yes definitely
Tube amp? Probably, moreso if it's in a speaker setup where vibrations could be picked up and played back due to microphonics
Solid state stuff? Almost certainly not. They have made 0 difference on any solid state gear I've tried, but did actually provide a slight benefit to the WA22. (Though it was on a desk so was more likely to be in need of some isolation than if it were on a rack)


BUT, they do look pretty gorgeous imo and aesthetics are worth something too

 

[iFi audio]

The sound with Ifi is thicker and more solid, rich in timbre. The width and depth of the stage have noticeably increased and the sound has become more transparent. Therefore, yes - there is influence.

Thanks

If wanting to get a USB tweak it'd be better to go for something that offers full galvanic isolation such as the intona usb isolator or ifi iGalvanic.

Galvanic isolation won't replace USB reclocking and vice versa, but luckily these utilities stack. If I had to start somewhere, galvanic isolation would most likely be my first choice.

 

[iFi audio]

Oops, double!

 

[vonBaron]

I2S in Holo May have Psaudio standard?

 

[iFi audio]

I2S in Holo May have Psaudio standard?

It may, but I'd check the manufacturer in the first place.