[inthere]

Ares thread over-hyped? Are you kidding? Why would you say it's over-hyped? I'd be interested to know whether you have even heard one?

The OP on the Ares thread preferred the Ares to a level 1 Holo Spring, not a level 3.
The Ares is a hell of a lot of Dac for the money, that's for sure.
And even better value with a 3 year warranty.

 
 He's saying it's over-hyped because the OP is obviously biased and the only one in that thread using superlatives when describing the Ares

 

[soundfanz]

   
 He's saying it's over-hyped because the OP is obviously biased and the only one in that thread using superlatives when describing the Ares

 
Really? And no one here is biased toward their Dac?  He likes the Ares better. Why do you have a problem with that? There are others that have heard both that agree. Others disagree. Who cares?
 
 Guess you haven't read the whole Ares thread. Plenty of folk, myself included, love the Ares.
 
Nothing worse than people who diss a product...that have never even heard said product. 
 
I've never heard a Holo Spring, but am sure it's a good bit of kit.
 
And maybe you should let the guy I quoted answer for himself? 

 

[thyname]

Really? And no one here is biased toward their Dac?  He likes the Ares better. Why do you have a problem with that? There are others that have heard both that agree. Others disagree. Who cares?

 Guess you haven't read the whole Ares thread. Plenty of folk, myself included, love the Ares.

Nothing worse than people who diss a product...that have never even heard said product. 

I've never heard a Holo Spring, but am sure it's a good bit of kit.

And maybe you should let the guy I quoted answer for himself? 

For quadruple Ares price, the KTE Holo Spring L3 better be better than Ares. Even if it 20% better I would be happy.

Having had Ares for a few days, gotta say, it is pretty damn ugly to the eye. Holo Spring on the other hand, is gorgeous looking. I saw it and played it in a meet up.

I can't post any comparison between the two, as I don't have the Holo yet, as I said before. Should arrive on Thursday according to USPS tracking info.

 

[MacedonianHero]

   
Nice setup!  I like the vinyl decals that Tim had made up - they're unique.  
 
I listened to the preview of Dark Side of Jazz at Chesky's site.  ...intriguing!  
 
I've been working out my Spring with "Jazz at the Pawnshop" in DSD.  It's a classic album with a lot of great performances - and I don't even really consider myself a Jazz person.  It's engaging because the SU-1/Spring/HeadAmp all come together to deliver a dynamic, lifelike performance.  

 
I've got some new HDMI cables to test out.  I'm going to being pulling my entire rig from its current living space so that I can try out a couple of "shorty" HDMIs. 

 
Jazz at the Pawnshop on DSD is brilliant! The second one has great tunes, but the sound quality does take a step back with some recording "anomalies" that can distract a bit. But Jazz at the Pawnshop "Late Night" is really good too. Being a trumpet player for over 35 years, I absolutely love jazz; with Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker and Dizzie Gillespie as some of my all-time favourites!
 
I'm sitting back with "Soul Brothers" by Ray Charles and Milt Jackson (Tidal Masters)...some awesome jazz for sure and when played with the KTE Spring DAC, it's like I'm there! This is definitely one impressive DAC for sure; just made the payment today, so the review unit won't be leaving my rack!
 

  It wasn't a break in, it was more like an uninvited, impromptu listening session.
BTW - You need to restock the bar - the topshelf liquor is empty!  

Lol, that's where my 18 year old single malt went? 

 

 

[inthere]

   
Really? And no one here is biased toward their Dac?  He likes the Ares better. Why do you have a problem with that? There are others that have heard both that agree. Others disagree. Who cares?
 
 Guess you haven't read the whole Ares thread. Plenty of folk, myself included, love the Ares.
 
Nothing worse than people who diss a product...that have never even heard said product. 
 
I've never heard a Holo Spring, but am sure it's a good bit of kit.
 
And maybe you should let the guy I quoted answer for himself? 

 
Calm down, I'm not dissing anything, I'm telling you why the other guy said it was overhyped. The OP came on Head Fi and posted on one thread only, that seemed like something an employee of the company would do. 

 

[ZGojira]

   
Really? And no one here is biased toward their Dac?  He likes the Ares better. Why do you have a problem with that? There are others that have heard both that agree. Others disagree. Who cares?
 
 Guess you haven't read the whole Ares thread. Plenty of folk, myself included, love the Ares.
 
Nothing worse than people who diss a product...that have never even heard said product. 
 
I've never heard a Holo Spring, but am sure it's a good bit of kit.
 
And maybe you should let the guy I quoted answer for himself? 

I did some impressions a short while back if you are interested...
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/833690/denafrips-ares-r2r-discrete-ladder-dac-close-up-view/585#post_13364291
 
I'd probably do a proper comparison once the 68 has been burnt-in

 

[joseph69]

  I see the May is a more upmarket product. I missed that comment. Its interesting as I would not rate the current Spring with Singxer/HDMI cable cheap. As it seems we need the Singxer to get the best sound which I find somewhat disturbing with the addition off yet another box and cable. I already have the infamous Intona which does some things well and confuses others in the USB input sound. Its a bandaid after all. Why DAC manufacturers can't get the internal inputs right is puzzling. But guess progress in different areas is leap frogging product output.
 
This ultimately means not spending above a certain amount(for me $2000US in total) as it will soon become out of date, the curse of digital.

I didn't find this to be true at all.
The Spring sounds excellent via USB. 
If you would like to take it up a notch (which most are always looking to do in this crazy hobby) thats a different story. 

 

[soundfanz]

   
Calm down, I'm not dissing anything, I'm telling you why the other guy said it was overhyped. The OP came on Head Fi and posted on one thread only, that seemed like something an employee of the company would do. 

 
The guy lives in Russia. I doubt quite strongly that he represents the company. 
 
I don't see why you and others can't grasp the fact that someone may like something over something else? 
 
Like I said earlier, I'm sure the Holo Audio Spring is a good Dac. That doesn't mean another Dac from another company can't also be a good Dac.
 
And over-hyped at $598 US?
 
I don't think so.
 
@ZGojira- I read that "impression" against a Dac - 68 a  while back. 

 

[inthere]

  The guy lives in Russia. I doubt quite strongly that he represents the company. 

 
 He *says* he lives in Russia, I don't know him. 
 
 

  I don't see why you and others can't grasp the fact that someone may like something over something else? 

 
If I didn't I wouldn't have 12 DACs and thinking of buying the Ares. I think you are mistaken about me. 
 
This is a Holo Audio Spring thread. Sorry, but I don't want to talk about the Ares anymore here.

 

[Energy]

I accumulated similar thoughts when I saw him vouch for the Ares by only uploading listening 'impressions' videos in which had no verbal spoken words whatsoever.

This shows a person with little understanding of how sound works. Recorded audio is concentrated into a camera microphone and then further compressed by YouTube upload. It provides no REAL feedback worth listening to.



Everyone can have their own opinion though. I doubt the guy works for the company as I've personally seen him on the Russian audiophile long before Denafrips was popularized.

Anyways, I have heard the Ares from a friend who bought one. I brought my Holo Audio Spring over to his house for a few days for some listening sessions and the latter to perform marginally better, by 15% or so.. Both using USB of course. Adding the Singxer SU-1 into the mix and running i2S, the Spring was roughly 20-22% ahead. More natural sound, less treble glare, isolated instruments, realistic timbre, fast transients, less thumpy bass, wider and deeper sound stage, slightly better separation, and more precise imaging.

I'll say the Ares is the best equipment I found for under $1000 and that's saying a lot. If only it did NOS it wouldn't have been too far from the Spring.

 

[desik]

 
And over-hyped at $598 US?
 

Jeez, calm down everybody. I only asked for a comparison.

 

[desik]

I accumulated similar thoughts when I saw him vouch for the Ares by only uploading listening 'impressions' videos in which had no verbal spoken words whatsoever.

This shows a person with little understanding of how sound works. Recorded audio is concentrated into a camera microphone and then further compressed by YouTube upload. It provides no REAL feedback worth listening to.



Everyone can have their own opinion though. I doubt the guy works for the company as I've personally seen him on the Russian audiophile long before Denafrips was popularized.

Anyways, I have heard the Ares from a friend who bought one. I brought my Holo Audio Spring over to his house for a few days for some listening sessions and the latter to perform marginally better, by 15% or so.. Both using USB of course. Adding the Singxer SU-1 into the mix and running i2S, the Spring was roughly 20-22% ahead. More natural sound, less treble glare, isolated instruments, realistic timbre, fast transients, less thumpy bass, wider and deeper sound stage, slightly better separation, and more precise imaging.

I'll say the Ares is the best equipment I found for under $1000 and that's saying a lot. If only it did NOS it wouldn't have been too far from the Spring.

Thanks for impressions. a few clarifications:
 
1. Spring level what?
2. Spring was run through NOS or OS?
3. When you added SU-1, I assume both were run through SU-1. Did Ares + SU-1 improve?

 

[Energy]

Thanks for impressions. a few clarifications:

1. Spring level what?
2. Spring was run through NOS or OS?
3. When you added SU-1, I assume both were run through SU-1. Did Ares + SU-1 improve?

1. Spring level 1 & 2 (level 3 is only 2-3% better, but that may just be from the silver transformer which can add either more detail or brightness that can be perceived as having more detail). Level 1 and 2 sounds the same IMO. I found no difference with the Jensen capacitors.

2. NOS (you'll most likely always listen to this setting, i guarantee it)

3. Both default USB, but then ran with coaxial RCA. Spring showed more improvement from use of a DDC than the Ares. Not to say the Ares didn't improve with the use of the Singxer SU-1, but if I were to get the Ares, I'd just stick to the cheaper Singxer F-1. No point in using a DDC that's more than half the cost of the DAC itself. In that case I would just save for a Spring even if it meant I'd be using one without a DDC. The advantages with the higher priced unit is still worth it.

SETUPS I RECOMMEND
Performance: Denafrips Ares + Singxer F-1
High Performance: Holo Audio Spring + Singxer SU-1
Ultimate Performance: Holo Audio Spring + Uptone ISO Regen (or iFi iGalvanic 3.0) + Singxer SU-1

Cheers,
Tim

 

[rudra]

  Hi, can you make a comparison with Ares? The whole Ares thread is over-hyped, maybe you could give some more realistic impressions. How much better Spring L3 is?

 If you had listened to the ARES and the Holo and made your observation I would have taken it differently(In a positive way).
 
For e.g. every one raves about how good the ZMF Omni HP is. I have one. For me it is not a $899 headphone. It is more like a $500 - 600 HP. I rather prefer the EMU teak. Horses for courses.
 
Look hard enough and you will eventually get someone who will validate what you are looking for.
 
Peace out.

 

[desik]

 
 If you had listened to the ARES and the Holo and made your observation I would have taken it differently(In a positive way).
 
For e.g. every one raves about how good the ZMF Omni HP is. I have one. For me it is not a $899 headphone. It is more like a $500 - 600 HP. I rather prefer the EMU teak. Horses for courses.
 
Look hard enough and you will eventually get someone who will validate what you are looking for.
 
Peace out.

Very good observation.
 
Offtopic, I also had Omni and was disappointed. Prefer TH-X00 with a well matched amp. Emu Teak should sound even better, no doubt. But Omni was launched before the two, so this explains. Also LCD-2 that was always technically superior suffers from other issues. Audio world evolves quite fast, faster than CPU market for sure. It's nice to live in these times.