[Khragon]

Higher.

My wallet just ran away screaming...

 

[paulpaul]

I am a Lampizator L4 user. I can't find any comparison between Lampi's DAC and Spring. Any Lampi's users switched to Spring can share their Pros and Cons?

 

[ericr]

This week @Torq (thanks!) has loaned me his SU-1 and a 6 inch HDMI cable in order to feed my Level 1 Spring with an i2s signal.

Impressive!

The Level 1 has stepped up it's game. I've spent too much on this hobby over the last while, so it looks like I may have to sell some of my other gear (sigh).

 

[ahmadfaizadnan]

Higher.

interesting. I guess I should wait for the new dac and see which should I get, that or the lvl 3

 

[bflat]

interesting. I guess I should wait for the new dac and see which should I get, that or the lvl 3

You won't have much trouble selling your Level 3 if you decide to upgrade later. It is up there with Schiit Yggy in terms of resale value.

 

[ahmadfaizadnan]

You won't have much trouble selling your Level 3 if you decide to upgrade later. It is up there with Schiit Yggy in terms of resale value.

I am deciding my end game setup. I am gonna get the 240v because I am going back to my home country in less than a year. The shipping cost is something to consider. So, I might gonna choose either one I guess.

 

[bflat]

Impressions at 300 hrs of burn in:

Chain is Mac Pro -> Audirvana (No Upsampling) -> AQ Carbon USB -> Kitsune Edition SU-1 -> I2S -> Level 3 Holo Spring -> Kitsune XLR Cable -> iFi iCan Pro (Tube Mode) -> Headphonelounge T2 Balanced Cable -> Fostex TH900 MK2 w/Lawton Level 1 Mod (except ear cup dampening material is stock)

Shout out - Tim at Kitsune is an exemplary hi end audio company. I asked a lot of questions and he responded quickly and really took his time to explain his answers in great detail. I would put Kitsune up there with Red Wine Audio, Headphone Lounge, Schiit, Mr Speakers, and Lawton Audio in terms of customer support, audio knowledge and a shared passion for all things audiophile. I'm still amazed at how these guys run their business since customers are calling 24x7!

Impressions

Music - Jazz, Prog Rock, Folk, Pop (for burn in only LOL) 50% Redbook, 40% Hi Res, 10% DSD

Note - Except for my Mac Pro and TH900, all of the chain was purchased concurrently so I have to go with my imperfect memory and different components comparing what I had before.

Prior to my new gear, I was satisfied with a Teac UD-503 and ALO CDM combination with my TH900. What kept me from absolutely loving this setup was the following:

• Bass was good, but too tight and fast for my tastes. Sounded more like BA IEM drivers. I knew the TH900 had more to give me here with the right chain.
• Mids were forgettable. Mids were there but that's all I can say. I think most TH900 owners would agree mids are laid back and some would say recessed. ALO CDM with Mullard tubes helped a little here, but still nothing remarkable for the mids and I thought that was as good as it could be with the TH900.
• Highs - the Lawton mod help to tame the hot treble of the TH900 and AKM4490 based UD-503 plus the Mullard tubes of the CDM smoothed treble further. But this is my main source of contention for the total chain - highs did not sound cleanly separated and the highest frequencies sounded smeared, especially in background cymbals and high hat. I didn't know where the limitation was coming from - the whole chain or a specific link in the chain.
• Soundstage - really good, but wider than deeper.
• Transients - good, but not great. Complex drum solos tend to get a little loose and out of control.

Thus, began my rebuild. I was really hoping that I would keep the TH900 because it's so comfortable on my head and based on others' impressions didn't seem like I was getting the full performance.

New Chain of Level 3 DAC (NOS mode) and iCan Pro (Tube mode) Balanced end to end

In short - exceeded all my expectations! All the things bothering me before have been addressed except for treble (see details below), but I definitely got more than I was expecting.

• Bass - this is a very strong, masculine, but controlled bass. Extension is remarkable and gives the impression of physical sensation even at moderate listening levels. This is the missing part of the legendary bass of the TH900 I've been waiting to hear. There is an amazing amount of bass textures and separation that gives a 3D level of experience.
• Mids - biggest surprise of all! Hello mids! I don't know how, but mids have come forward that is as close to a night/day difference that I think anyone would notice. This is not about warm, lush mids. No, it's about presence and focus. Thinking back to my old chain, the mids were diffused which sounded thin and recessed. The improvement is most noticeable with vocals. Front and centered positioning (or slightly left or right depending on how the sound engineering intended), but such focus and clean separation from the lows and highs.
• Highs - best details I've heard in any of my prior equipment. All of the metallic sounds from percussion instruments or metal strings of guitar or piano are just amazing. Separation is crystal clear but layers accurately with the rest of the frequencies. Only one minor issue - yes, the TH900 is still a little hot in a good way. There are no distortions (except poor recordings) or harshness, just a little more quantity than is comfortable to me. It is very close to where I want to draw the line of sparkle to fatigue. Or put this way - I am perfectly fine if listening in the morning or mid day. However at night when my body starts telling me to go to bed, the highs start sounding fatiguing. If I go by EQ setting, I'm talking -1 dB at 8 kHz and -2 dB at 16 kHz. It's that close. I am going to revisit this at the 500 hr burn in mark.
• Soundstage - very well balanced and I would describe as "immersive". Not intimate like I'm in the middle of the band, but a couple rows back of the stage. As a former musician, I prefer this as I love to hear all the technical abilities of each musician. Listening to Hi Res Rush brings joy to my heart thinking back to the days I went to their live concerts. Yes, I'm old LOL.
• Transients - holy cow! drums are amazing. Most accurate presentation I've heard and makes me listen to drum featured tracks at sound levels that can't be good for my ears! This probably has more to do with the iCan Pro, but absolutely too good not to mention in the DAC impressions.

Other Comparisons

Unfortunately, the only other R2R DAC I've owned was the Gungnir MB and that was some time ago and it was paired withe Mjolnir 2 and my headphones were Mr Speakers Ether C. I did not get a wow factor and gave myself about 6 months to see if the sound would grow on me. I even went to the extreme of finding "holy grail" tubes. What all this had in common was I purchased on pure hype. Certainly a lot of hype was deserved and both Schiit and Mr Speakers are well respected companies. But I found the whole chain lacking in dynamics and emotions. Bass was short of physical sensation, mids were not as focused and layered, and the highs were really good but a little too tame and less detailed. This is all from memory. However, when deciding between keeping the Schiit and Ether C setup and tweaking further to selling while the market was still hot for both, I decided to sell with absolutely zero regrets. I did consider buying the Mjolnir 2 again but that was only because I still have some compatible tubes. Glad I didn't!

Conclusion

This go around, I spent an enormous amount of time reading up on impressions from multiple sources. There was no way for me to audition so I had to find common impressions and take them as fact. It's interesting that I ended up with relatively unknown components of the Level 3 DAC and iCan Pro. The latter being more on the recommendation from Tim at Kitsune. While my initial feeling of my prior chains was "hmmm", my emotional feeling now is more like "my precious....." LOL.

Thank you Headfi community and especially @Torq for the amazing impressions.

 

[earnmyturns]

All of the metallic sounds from percussion instruments or metal strings of guitar or piano are just amazing.

Somewhat different chain

microRendu+LPS-1>SU-1>KTE 3>Neurochrome HP-1>MrSpeakers Ether C Flow​

listening to a recent acoustic guitar hi-res issue:

Guitar string dynamics are outstanding. The physicality of the instrument and of the playing come beautifully across as when I've sat front row a few feet away from a great player such as Julian Lage or Sérgio Assad (composer of the first work on the album).

 

[whirlwind]

Tim said my level 3 should ship at the end of the month.

 

[bflat]

Tim said my level 3 should ship at the end of the month.

Almost there! Patience is indeed required for the Holo DAC. Your reward for waiting patiently to receive the Level 3 is another 500 hours of burn in. I just crossed 400 and I think I'm done as I can't tell any difference is sound past 300 hours. But I also never let my microwave finish it's timer so not the most disciplined person.

 

[Energy]

Somewhat different chain

microRendu+LPS-1>SU-1>KTE 3>Neurochrome HP-1>MrSpeakers Ether C Flow​

I reckon the setup will sound better if the LPS-1 was used on the SU-1 instead and a regular iPower on the mRendu. Just my 2 cents.

 

[earnmyturns]

I reckon the setup will sound better if the LPS-1 was used on the SU-1 instead and a regular iPower on the mRendu. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks, but I don't have the time and patience to do the required power-supply surgery on the SU-1, and both my extensive listening and a very reputable reviewer have found the standard SU-1>I2S>KTE 3 setup worthy. Even the step up from microRendu+LPS-1>USB>KTE 3 to my current setup was rather small. In general, I stop at anything that requires taking gear apart. I did a lot of that back when I had lots of spare time and little money, but these days, spending a lot of time for teeny SQ improvements is a bad investment.

 

[whirlwind]

I thought mine would be waiting for me when i came home from vacation this past friday.

I e-mailed Tim and he said that 6 dac's were suppose to ship out July 1st.
One of those dac's showed some leakage in the transformer, Tim said my dac did not, but that he would not ship any of these out until new silver wire was gotten from the supplier and all 6 of the transformers were redone.

I commended him for the pro active approach. More companies should practice this approach, even though it must be hard to not ship something that test ok.

Tim also, said he would send me a $250 power cord and another gift for the delay in shipping.

This morning he e-mailed and said mine has shipped...I am thinking I should have it tomorrow.

Thanks for everything Tim!

I am debating whether to use RCA anolog interconnects or to go for digital coax interconnects.....what is everybody using with this dac.....not sure if there is much benefit using digital coax or not.

Any opinions are welcome....thanks.

 

[ZGojira]

I am debating whether to use RCA anolog interconnects or to go for digital coax interconnects.....what is everybody using with this dac.....not sure if there is much benefit using digital coax or not.

50cm AES/EBU 110ohm interconnects from balanced outputs No particular reason, just had some and the length was good....

Just use whatever is easier to get your hands on. For such short distances, the differences should be minimal if any.

 

[bfreedma]

What's been the typical turnaround time (order to delivery) for recent buyers?

My 7-10 day delivery estimate from another vendor is entering it's 3rd month with no ability to get an ETA. If Holo Spring has been reliable with their estimates, I'll likely cancel my current order and purchase a KTE.