[joseph69]

Pls explain clearly. Now I use Inakustik NF-803 RCA interconnect

You switched the L/R interconnects and the issue moved from 1 channel to the other, correct?
If so, this means you have a bad interconnect.

 

[Bachstr]

If you have tried all the interconnects, then it is likely the analogue output stage is having some problem. What are you using as input? USB or SPDIF?

 
I haven't tried the XLR interconnect yet. I have already tried​ USB input and SPDIF (SU-1 --> coaxial --> Holo Spring DAC). Similar results.
The RCA interconnect is no problem if I use built-in DAC of CXA80 amp.
My amp have Input impedances​: balanced 50 kOhm​/unbalanced 43 kOhm, and voltage output of Holo Spring DAC: 2.5Vrms (RCA)/5Vrms (XLR), does that matter?

 

[Superdad]

  Do you need a guinea pig?? I  am all for modding!  Or if you want to point me to which component needs replacing I can give it a whack!

Sorry, but I am not going to be doing this.  Changing surface-mount components is not my thing and is not entirely trivial. 

 

[TimeLord]

My Spring Level 3 came today. I'm excited to have received it and I'm starting to put it through its paces.
 

 

[Energy]

  My Spring Level 3 came today. I'm excited to have received it and I'm starting to put it through its paces.

 
Nice setup! What amplifier is that might I ask?  Are you using your SU-1 with I2S?
 
Looks good! You must be enjoying your setup right now!  It'll open up even more given the next couple of weeks. 

 

[TimeLord]

   
Nice setup! What amplifier is that might I ask?  Are you using your SU-1 with I2S?
 
Looks good! You must be enjoying your setup right now!  It'll open up even more given the next couple of weeks. 

Thanks. The amp is the Cavalli Liquid Gold and yes I am using the I2S.
 
It sounds good straight out of the box, but I am expecting it to continue improving over the next month. Luckily, I was able to extensively audition the L3 with my own gear before purchasing it, so I knew what to expect.

 

[lukeap69]

Thanks. The amp is the Cavalli Liquid Gold and yes I am using the I2S.

It sounds good straight out of the box, but I am expecting it to continue improving over the next month. Luckily, I was able to extensively audition the L3 with my own gear before purchasing it, so I knew what to expect.

Whata bloody good combination! Enjoy.

 

[mscott58]

Thanks. The amp is the Cavalli Liquid Gold and yes I am using the I2S.

It sounds good straight out of the box, but I am expecting it to continue improving over the next month. Luckily, I was able to extensively audition the L3 with my own gear before purchasing it, so I knew what to expect.

Exact same stack I'm running - SU-1, Spring L3 and LAu. Good stuff. Enjoy

 

[T Bone]

Thanks. The amp is the Cavalli Liquid Gold and yes I am using the I2S.

...and you casually forgot to mention the Focal's 

  Coveted by just about everyone who knows!
 
That's a really sweet setup you have.  Enjoy!

 

[TimeLord]

Whata bloody good combination! Enjoy.

It took me a while to figure it out, but I finally got there. Thanks.
 

Exact same stack I'm running - SU-1, Spring L3 and LAu. Good stuff. Enjoy

Thank you.
 

  ...and you casually forgot to mention the Focal's 

  Coveted by just about everyone who knows!
 
That's a really sweet setup you have.  Enjoy!

Thanks T Bone. The Utopia is damn good. I highly recommend it.

 

[despinos]

Hello,
I have a Holo Spring DAC, and would like to integrate it into a home cinema, with movies played and stored in a HTPC, running Kodi and Jriver.
 
The idea is to use the HOLO for the LR front channels (and for stereo music) and do the other Digital to Analogue conversion of surround channels with other device/s.
 
It's like replacing the PRE-PRO (or receiver) of a Home Cinema with an HTPC an external DAC solution, but integrating the HOLO in the solution.
 
Ideally it would work with lossless 5.1 audio formats (such as DTS Master, decoded in the PC).
 
 
For what I have read, I might require an external clock to use more than one external DAC at the same time. Th HOLO does not have a "clock in" input, so that's discarded.

 
Anyone has integrated the Holo in a multichannel setup?
 
 
 

 

[Sherwood]

The HOLO doesn't have certifications to decode any of the common multichannel soundtrack formats, even if it had the channels.  You would need to separately decode each channel to PCM, then run a separate HOLO for each pair.  DTS Master HD has 8 channels, so you'll need 4 separate HOLO DACs.Unless you're just talking about using the HOLO to decode the front LR, and then using your receiver to decode the rest.
 
Even then, though, this is not really workable.  I've never seen a receiver that can be set to mix an analog signal (from a DAC) with a digital signal from a PC, even if you could rig Kodi to simultaneously send audio out of USB and HDMI, say.
 
I would abandon this plan.

 

[leeg]

I've been wondering kind of the same questions...Is there a way to use the Spring with a 2 ch preamp (which I haven't bought yet...I'm presently just using the XMC as my 2 ch pre and HT)  integrated to my HT processor/a Emotiva XMC-1.  No HT bypass on the XMC 1.  
The goal is to use my 2 ch setup/preamp, but to be able to use these two channels in my HT setup.
 
Here's the XMC's specs:  http://emotiva.com/products/pres-and-pros/xmc-1

 

[noshortcuts]

I use an external DAC for music in my HT system. I also watch some movies in 2 channel to utilize the DAC (especially older mono/stereo movies). The HT preamp and amp are used with the music source and DAC. But that's for 2 channel listening and when using more channels the external DAC is not in the chain.

 

[despinos]

  The HOLO doesn't have certifications to decode any of the common multichannel soundtrack formats, even if it had the channels.  You would need to separately decode each channel to PCM, then run a separate HOLO for each pair.  DTS Master HD has 8 channels, so you'll need 4 separate HOLO DACs.Unless you're just talking about using the HOLO to decode the front LR, and then using your receiver to decode the rest.
 
Even then, though, this is not really workable.  I've never seen a receiver that can be set to mix an analog signal (from a DAC) with a digital signal from a PC, even if you could rig Kodi to simultaneously send audio out of USB and HDMI, say.
 
I would abandon this plan.

 
--------------------
 
EDIT: this is in particular for people using an HTPC for movies. (you need the HTPC, which does not exclude also using a separate music source, such as CD player or Streamer). So it may work if you have just HTP or HTPC plus a dedicated music streamer). Will not work without a HTPC with Jriver installed (or equivalent. Kodi? no idea, maybe) .
 
I think I found a solution from a thread in the Jriver forum:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=99428.0
 
Posted by user "mwillems" (with some minor edits from myself to clarify)
" [...]
So you need a DAC with at least two analog output channels and at least a single SPDIF output that can play something different than the analog outputs (is independently assignable).  Most such devices have a USB or ADAT input.
You'd then do your crossover filtering in JRiver and output 4 different channels audio from JRiver to the four output DAC; two channels would come out of the analog outs, and two channels would come out of the SPDIF output, which would go to your "main DAC" with the SPDIF input.  You'd then have four channels of analog output synced.  You won't be able to use your Main DAC as the clock "master" unless it has a digital output, it will have to be the clock "slave" of another DAC with a digital output.
 
It would look like this:
 

 [i]JRiver  -->USB?--> 4+ Channel Audio Device (the "Pro Dac", e.g. Scarlet 6i6)--> 2+ channels analog--->preamp/amp                                      |                                      --> SPDIF --> Other DAC (edit: e.g. HOLO Spring?)--->preamp/amp [/i]

 
 
 
An example:  I have a Steinberg UR824.  It has 8 analog outputs, and 2 SPDIF outputs (each representing two channels) for 12 total channels out (it will do more channels with ADAT, but let's bracket that out it's not relevant).  I can assign different audio in JRiver to all 12 output channels.  But to take advantage of those extra 4 SPDIF channels I'd need to have DACs with SPDIF inputs on the other end.  Those DACs will play whatever I assign to their channels in JRiver, so they don't need to be the same as my 8 analog channels.
If you're existing devices just have SPDIF outputs as a "passthrough" of their digital input, that won't help you any.  This is why I pointed out above that a single multichannel interface is usually much easier to manage.
[...]"

 

A simple, cheap and flexible solution for 5.1 may be using something like the (about 250 USD) Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 receiving (USB) fed by Jriver. From the Scarlett, a couple of channels can be passed in digital (spdif) to the Holo audio DAC. The other channels (e.g. 2 surround, center, subwoofer) would be converted to analogue in the Scarlett, and then send as analogue from its (4 analogue RCA) outputs to a preamp. For more channels (more than 5.1) , preobably just use a Scarlett 18i20 in same way as it has more outputs.
 
DTS and Dolby decoding would be done by Jriver (added .dll "plugin" may be required for their HD formats?
EDIT: apparently Jriver recent versions have LAV filter to decode HD formats...).
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Blu-ray
"Please Note: Versions of MC prior to 20.0.100 did not include the LAV DTS decoder capable of decoding DTS-HD Master Audio. For older versions of MC, please see the Arcsoft DTS Decoder article."
 
 
In the Jriver forum, they propose that solution for active filtering, because one user wants to use separate dacs for the Highs and Lows of his/her speakers.
My guess is that similar thing can be done for multichannel movies audio (or SACD), IF jriver can output those channels decompressed from their Dolby or DTS format into separate channels (routed through USB to the external multichannel DAC) in a format that all DACs (e.g. Scarlett and Holo) can understand.
 
Will it work? Well, If you look at minidsp website, they put as an example of use of their multichannel UDAC-8  to connect it to an HTPC with Jriver to convert digital to analogue of a multichannel (using the DSP-room correction option) with DTS and Dolby decoding done at the HTPC.
https://www.minidsp.com/applications/60-audio-streaming/251-udac8-jriver
 
A "limitation" of the UDAC-8 multichannel DAC is that it has no (independent) digital outs, so it cannot (easily) be combined with another dac (e.g. the HOLO). HOWEVER, I', quite sure by now that with a Pro audio multichannel DAC (Scarlet, MOTU, etc), which has digital outs independently asignable for wahtever channels you want,  that DAC combination (Scarlett and Holo, daisy chained) may be possible, so that each DAC is asigned to the channels you want for conversion to analogue.
 
Expending more, maybe it can be possible to use a pro DAC with two digital outs   (Steinberg UR824.?) so that we can decode 4 channels with our desired DACS (holo or other) , and leave the DACs in the Pro device for the less important channels.
 
Now that HOLO "DIY" DACs modules have recently been announced, it may be possible for example to build a HOLO multichannel DAC at reasonable price, and use it together with a Pro, multichannel DAC solution (e.g. Scarlett 6i6 as cheapest for 5.1) combined with an HTPC and Jriver. I think that a 4 channels HOLO (with two spdif inputs and two stereo HOLO DAC modules inside) could be used for 4 channels, fed from  the 2 spdif OUTs of a Steinberg UR824 (or similar), iththe source been HTPC/Jriver and all channel "contents" set in "Jriver DSP-room correction (not sure)" menu. A nice thing is that this solution can be (partially) escalable, if you have a Pro multich DAC with more than one digital out compatible with the Holo (e.g. spdif), then you can add more Holo Dacs (or just the DAC modules with independent Spdif in...) for additional movie channels.
PS: as you see, there's no Receiver or separate Processor involved, with the HTPC and Jriver doing all "processing" (and the external DACs doing their thing)