I was in the same situation, still with the spring now. I highly recommend testing the Spring with the Singxer SU-1 via I2S. One which I conveniently got one on sale 
Holo Audio Spring R2R DAC
- Thread starter mtoc
- Start date
We shall see. I’m excited as the Yggy is on a short list of the DACs that I have always wanted to try but have never had the opportunity to listen to.
I full intend to as that is my current setup.I was in the same situation, still with the spring now. I highly recommend testing the Spring with the Singxer SU-1 via I2S. One which I conveniently got one on sale
Looking forward to hearing your impressions.
earnmyturns
Headphoneus Supremus
I own both (see my sig). If I had to choose, I'd probably keep the Yggy because its strengths are overall more balanced, I don't do DSD or server-side upsampling, only NOS at the source's sampling rate. But the Sprint KTE 3 with SU-1>I2S is incredibly engaging for headphone listening. You might have to flip a coin at the end of your 10 days
Well I am expecting the Yggy in 6-7 days and then I’ll do the in depth listen after 4 days of constant power which is what I read the Yggy needs for best performance. That actually gives me 9 days from that point until it may be coin flip timeI own both (see my sig). If I had to choose, I'd probably keep the Yggy because its strengths are overall more balanced, I don't do DSD or server-side upsampling, only NOS at the source's sampling rate. But the Sprint KTE 3 with SU-1>I2S is incredibly engaging for headphone listening. You might have to flip a coin at the end of your 10 days
The Yggy arrived yesterday and I’m about a day and a half into the constant power for optimal sound game. I’m very excited to see what happens in a few days and if the sound presentation improves.
(The review below is for a Gen 5/ Analog 2 Yggy)
Here's my review:
For those that are looking to demo the Yggy let me first start off by saying that the Yggy does need to warm up first. I conducted by review on day 4 of power up and I noted the following items on day 1 and 2 which were in large part resolved on day 4. I didn’t get to do a lot of listen on day 3 so unfortunately I do not have any notes from that day.
Day 1:
Harsh and super detail. Leading edge of notes was harsh and sustained notes were slightly grainy. Very airy and super instrument separation. Fatiguing.
Day2:
Much smoother and grain significantly reduced impact of the bass but doesn’t carry much of the tone. Still has weird problem with instrument integration. Better treble representation. Piano sounds more real. Bass is articulate but decay is slightly faster than what I prefer. High detail in the treble
AES vs USB (Yggy):
To compete the testing I first had to figure out which input on the Yggy to use. Traditionally, the AES input had been favored by most but the new USB Gen 5 interface is supposed to be a measure to close the gap with the AES input. To my ears, I found that the AES I put was still superior so all Yggy testing will be with that interface. The USB interface sounded slightly muffled and veiled like some of the background detail was suppressed. It is also worth noting that I am not using an AES cable. I don’t have one on hand so instead I am using a 1m Emotiva XLR cable.
System:
Spring: NetGear FS105 (Supra Ethernet) -> utraRendu (20G USB) -> SU-1 (Emotiva HDMI) -> Spring KTE (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> SRM-007ta -> SR-L700
Spring with speakesrs: NetGear FS105 (Supra Ethernet) -> utraRendu (20G USB) -> SU-1 (Emotiva HDMI) -> Spring KTE (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> HE-9 (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> Stealth 8
Yggy: NetGear FS105 (Supra Ethernet) -> utraRendu (20G USB) -> SU-1 (Emotiva XLR) -> Yggdrasil (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> SRM-007ta -> SR-L700
Yggy with spekaers: NetGear FS105 (Supra Ethernet) -> utraRendu (20G USB) -> SU-1 (Emotiva XLR) -> Yggdrasil (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> HE-9 (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> Stealth 8
***********
(Notes about the following impressions)
-All the following comment are when playing PCM
-Spring (P) denotes Spring DAC playing PCM with no upsampling
-Spring (D) denotes the Spring DAC playing PCM upsampled to DSD256 in Audirvana using the “best” preset and B(5th order)
-Only NOS mode was used on the Spring
***********
Treble:
They Yggy can be characterized as having crisp highs and good air between the treble when compared to the Spring. The Yggy does bring a slight amount of fatigue with this increased treble. This fatigue is still slightly present with the Spring (P) and gone with the Spring (D).
Mids:
The Spring (D) can be categorized as smooth, sweet and almost seductive in the mids with superb instrument fusion. The Yggy isn’t as liquid sounding as the Spring (D) but beats out to the Spring (P). The Yggy presents better instrument fusion than the Spring (P) but at the cost of some soundstage width. With both the Yggy and Spring (P) have the tendency to have every instrument fighting for your attention which can be distracting at times but on the plus side if you want to isolate a sound to concentrate is easier to initially find it. Overall the Spring (D) is the most engaging of the bunch.
Bass:
The Yggy has near perfect bass control but the mid bass was weak. The runner up in the bass control depart was Spring (P) and the tertiary was the Spring (D) which was slightly deficient in both control and quantity. The Spring (D) was smooth in the bass registers though, similar to how it was in the mids, but it was missing bass definition. It is worth noting neither of the Spring tests had a perceived deficiency in the mid bass area.
Speakers:
The Yggy proved to be my overall favorite of the three different instances that were tested. In my opinion, speaker imaging and sound stage were clearly above the Spring (D) and Spring (P). The Yggy portrayed a complete wall of sound that seemed to extend beyond the equilaterally oriented monitors. By comparison, the Spring’s sound stage did not extend beyond the speakers. Yggy imaging was very tight and controlled and the only real negative thing I can say about it is it tended to lump too many things tightly into the center when I felt they should have a little more lateral separation. One other minor ding related to the Yggy was its representation of voices crossfading from one channel to the other. I felt the crossover between the channels did not track smoothly and seemed to jump from the edge, to the center, and then then opposite edge when the singer walked from one side to the other.
DSD->PCM for the Yggy:
The DSD to PCM conversion done by Audirvana was not great. I would say the native DSD playback in the Spring beat out the DSD->PCM conversion every time.
Summary:
Spring- For the Spring DAC almost every instance was improved by upsampling to DSD vice using the native PCM file. The Yggy consistently beat the Spring when it the file wasn’t upsampling. DSD files converted to PCM for playback though the Yggy greatly diminishes their sparkle so I would avoid that if possible. So what’s the bottom line?
Head-fi system recommendation:
If you intend to only play PCM and not upsample to DSD – get the Yggy
If you have DSD media that you cannot live without – get the Spring and upsample everything to DSD
Speakers:
If you primarily listen to speakers – get the Yggy
Here's my review:
For those that are looking to demo the Yggy let me first start off by saying that the Yggy does need to warm up first. I conducted by review on day 4 of power up and I noted the following items on day 1 and 2 which were in large part resolved on day 4. I didn’t get to do a lot of listen on day 3 so unfortunately I do not have any notes from that day.
Day 1:
Harsh and super detail. Leading edge of notes was harsh and sustained notes were slightly grainy. Very airy and super instrument separation. Fatiguing.
Day2:
Much smoother and grain significantly reduced impact of the bass but doesn’t carry much of the tone. Still has weird problem with instrument integration. Better treble representation. Piano sounds more real. Bass is articulate but decay is slightly faster than what I prefer. High detail in the treble
AES vs USB (Yggy):
To compete the testing I first had to figure out which input on the Yggy to use. Traditionally, the AES input had been favored by most but the new USB Gen 5 interface is supposed to be a measure to close the gap with the AES input. To my ears, I found that the AES I put was still superior so all Yggy testing will be with that interface. The USB interface sounded slightly muffled and veiled like some of the background detail was suppressed. It is also worth noting that I am not using an AES cable. I don’t have one on hand so instead I am using a 1m Emotiva XLR cable.
System:
Spring: NetGear FS105 (Supra Ethernet) -> utraRendu (20G USB) -> SU-1 (Emotiva HDMI) -> Spring KTE (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> SRM-007ta -> SR-L700
Spring with speakesrs: NetGear FS105 (Supra Ethernet) -> utraRendu (20G USB) -> SU-1 (Emotiva HDMI) -> Spring KTE (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> HE-9 (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> Stealth 8
Yggy: NetGear FS105 (Supra Ethernet) -> utraRendu (20G USB) -> SU-1 (Emotiva XLR) -> Yggdrasil (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> SRM-007ta -> SR-L700
Yggy with spekaers: NetGear FS105 (Supra Ethernet) -> utraRendu (20G USB) -> SU-1 (Emotiva XLR) -> Yggdrasil (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> HE-9 (Norne Silvergarde SC XLR) -> Stealth 8
***********
(Notes about the following impressions)
-All the following comment are when playing PCM
-Spring (P) denotes Spring DAC playing PCM with no upsampling
-Spring (D) denotes the Spring DAC playing PCM upsampled to DSD256 in Audirvana using the “best” preset and B(5th order)
-Only NOS mode was used on the Spring
***********
Treble:
They Yggy can be characterized as having crisp highs and good air between the treble when compared to the Spring. The Yggy does bring a slight amount of fatigue with this increased treble. This fatigue is still slightly present with the Spring (P) and gone with the Spring (D).
Mids:
The Spring (D) can be categorized as smooth, sweet and almost seductive in the mids with superb instrument fusion. The Yggy isn’t as liquid sounding as the Spring (D) but beats out to the Spring (P). The Yggy presents better instrument fusion than the Spring (P) but at the cost of some soundstage width. With both the Yggy and Spring (P) have the tendency to have every instrument fighting for your attention which can be distracting at times but on the plus side if you want to isolate a sound to concentrate is easier to initially find it. Overall the Spring (D) is the most engaging of the bunch.
Bass:
The Yggy has near perfect bass control but the mid bass was weak. The runner up in the bass control depart was Spring (P) and the tertiary was the Spring (D) which was slightly deficient in both control and quantity. The Spring (D) was smooth in the bass registers though, similar to how it was in the mids, but it was missing bass definition. It is worth noting neither of the Spring tests had a perceived deficiency in the mid bass area.
Speakers:
The Yggy proved to be my overall favorite of the three different instances that were tested. In my opinion, speaker imaging and sound stage were clearly above the Spring (D) and Spring (P). The Yggy portrayed a complete wall of sound that seemed to extend beyond the equilaterally oriented monitors. By comparison, the Spring’s sound stage did not extend beyond the speakers. Yggy imaging was very tight and controlled and the only real negative thing I can say about it is it tended to lump too many things tightly into the center when I felt they should have a little more lateral separation. One other minor ding related to the Yggy was its representation of voices crossfading from one channel to the other. I felt the crossover between the channels did not track smoothly and seemed to jump from the edge, to the center, and then then opposite edge when the singer walked from one side to the other.
DSD->PCM for the Yggy:
The DSD to PCM conversion done by Audirvana was not great. I would say the native DSD playback in the Spring beat out the DSD->PCM conversion every time.
Summary:
Spring- For the Spring DAC almost every instance was improved by upsampling to DSD vice using the native PCM file. The Yggy consistently beat the Spring when it the file wasn’t upsampling. DSD files converted to PCM for playback though the Yggy greatly diminishes their sparkle so I would avoid that if possible. So what’s the bottom line?
Head-fi system recommendation:
If you intend to only play PCM and not upsample to DSD – get the Yggy
If you have DSD media that you cannot live without – get the Spring and upsample everything to DSD
Speakers:
If you primarily listen to speakers – get the Yggy
Last edited:
pichu
500+ Head-Fier
can someone please explain simply what the SU-1 is for? Does it act as a seperator between the computer and the DAC? I have a Shiit Eitr. Is it essentially the same thing?
yes, it is the same category of product as an eitr. they are called digital to digital converters (ddc). the su-1 has more outputs than the eitr and more importantly has an i2s output that many folks believe is the best sounding output, especially when using a spring dac.
pichu
500+ Head-Fier
So do you think the Eitr would be good with the Holo Spring 3? Or should I leave the Eitr out
i don't own a spring dac, but the overwhelming sentiment is that the su-1>i2s>spring dac is a fabulous combination and allows you to play any file type (including DSD512). this combination is maximized if you use something like hqplayer to upsample everything to DSD512 (or DSD256 if your computer doesn't have the horsepower).
the eitr is a great piece, for sure, but you are limited to PCM. just from frame of reference, i've got a yggy with the gen5 board (same board as in the eitr) and live happily.
pichu
500+ Head-Fier
So currently i got 2 iFi Jitterbugs parallel to eachother in my laptops USB ports.
Then I have it running to a Shiit Eitr which goes to my Topping D30 DAC
Im really wondering for my planned upgrade if this would work
Jitterbug to a Shiit Eitr via USB
then Shiit Eitr to a Singxer SU-1 via Coaxial
then a Singxer SU-1 to Halo Spring 3 via i2s
anyone have any thoughts on this? I plan on getting the Halo Spring DAC no matter what. The purchase in question is really only the Singxer SU-1 and the i2s cable
Then I have it running to a Shiit Eitr which goes to my Topping D30 DAC
Im really wondering for my planned upgrade if this would work
Jitterbug to a Shiit Eitr via USB
then Shiit Eitr to a Singxer SU-1 via Coaxial
then a Singxer SU-1 to Halo Spring 3 via i2s
anyone have any thoughts on this? I plan on getting the Halo Spring DAC no matter what. The purchase in question is really only the Singxer SU-1 and the i2s cable
Sell everything in front of the Singxer SU-1 and put some $ back in your pocket. The SU-1 is all you need.
As a Singxer/Holo owner I can attest that there is no appreciable benefit to "daisy chaining" USB products infront of the Singxer SU-1
pichu
500+ Head-Fier
i see you run a USB isolater before the SU-1? Is that an exception
Users who are viewing this thread
