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New Holo Audio Cyan DAC/AMP: listening impressions and PCM/DSD poll

Would you be more interested in the PCM or DSD module for the Holo Audio Cyan DAC/AMP?

  • PCM

  • DSD

Results are only viewable after voting.
Dec 7, 2017 at 12:04 PM Post #91 of 289
BLacklWf said:
Is there big difference between DSD 512 vs DSD 256 with poly-sync-xtr or poly-sync-xtr-mp? My 4 core (8 virtual core) i7 6700 plays those filters fine for DSD 256 - at around 45% cpu processing. But, obviously it stutters heavily on DSD 512. I wonder if there is a big difference between DSD 512 vs 256 to warranty CPU and motherboard upgrade.
Click to expand...

It's a big enough difference for me to spend $500 more on the CPU. I would only recommend it for those who were already in the process of building a computer may it be for games or software editing.
The XTR filter offers more detail and linearity of sound. After having a chance to listen to it I wouldn't go back. That's how much I prefer it over the two stage version. Probably would spend up to $1000 just for it.
 
Dec 7, 2017 at 2:47 PM Post #92 of 289
Energy said:
It's a big enough difference for me to spend $500 more on the CPU. I would only recommend it for those who were already in the process of building a computer may it be for games or software editing.
The XTR filter offers more detail and linearity of sound. After having a chance to listen to it I wouldn't go back. That's how much I prefer it over the two stage version. Probably would spend up to $1000 just for it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input! i9 7960x or Ryzen 1950x is tempting...
 
Dec 7, 2017 at 3:30 PM Post #93 of 289
BLacklWf said:
Thanks for the input! i9 7960x or Ryzen 1950x is tempting...
Click to expand...

Intel's choices are more expensive and will run much hotter due to their crappy thermal paste. AMD will have hard soldered indium content.
I say this because it's most likely impossible to run a fanless computer while using any one of these CPU's but you can minimize fan speed.
 
Dec 9, 2017 at 3:54 AM Post #94 of 289
Well here's more details

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Dec 9, 2017 at 2:04 PM Post #95 of 289
Some pictures.

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I like the R2R ladder design and how they have an aluminum shell to balance out ambient temps from influencing the resistors individually due to hot-spots. This helps the resistors measure more accurately and deviate less over it's lifespan. Also like how there's a toroidal transformer cover to help with magnetic radiation and possible hum to sensitive audio circuits nearby. Looks like Jeff Zhu really took a lot of attention into creating a beast DAC/AMP in a small form factor.
 
Dec 10, 2017 at 2:44 AM Post #99 of 289
I have decided to go with AMD. I am trying to get the best cost/effective solution for me. I have T+A DAC8 DSD and I don’t want to spend more than I spent on it for hqplayer machine. I will probably go with 1920x if I find one for good price and significantly lower than 1950x.

Is there any recommendation what memory to buy to allow over locking and best utilization of CPU? (E.g. 8gb, 16gb chunks..)
Is there any recommendation for x399 board to get the best from the CPU? (If all boards are the same for performance that’s fine)
Any other tips? (SSD, graphics card, ATX for audio, etc.)
 
Dec 10, 2017 at 5:56 AM Post #100 of 289
sbenyo said:
I have decided to go with AMD. I am trying to get the best cost/effective solution for me. I have T+A DAC8 DSD and I don’t want to spend more than I spent on it for hqplayer machine. I will probably go with 1920x if I find one for good price and significantly lower than 1950x.

Is there any recommendation what memory to buy to allow over locking and best utilization of CPU? (E.g. 8gb, 16gb chunks..)
Is there any recommendation for x399 board to get the best from the CPU? (If all boards are the same for performance that’s fine)
Any other tips? (SSD, graphics card, ATX for audio, etc.)
Click to expand...

Great. Get the 1920X. I would disable multi-thread and run using 12 cores / 12 threads.

Memory can be two sticks running in dual channel 2133mhz. Even though I had a 32GB quad channel kit that ran at 3200mhz, I ran two sticks in dual channel 2133mhz and it still worked. Music still plays smoothly. It's only when I took another stick out and used single channel did it begin to lag. Didn't perform any better if I increase the single stick frequency to 3200mhz. So yeah.. you'll need at least dual channel (two sticks). Doesn't really use much of the memory at all so i would advise two sticks of 4GB each equaling 8GB total. That should be enough. I checked memory usage while HQPlayer is up-sampling DSD and it's pretty low and easily negligible.

My 1950X runs at 40-60% utilization so without four extra cores yours will be around 60-80% workload of the CPU being used. The utilization will be half if you turn on the multi-thread but I've found it off to be more optimized in using total effective L3 cache. If your music lags with multi-thread off then try enabling it again. As long as it doensn't stutter everything should be okay. I recommended turning it off first since that method would be more optimized for HQPlayer because it'll stick to a single thread for utilization rather going back and forth between threads which can cause timing delays. They all perform similar. Some have extra expansions, others have more VRM for overclocking purposes. If you're only making a music pc then just get the cheapest X399 you can find. The X399 Taichi from ASROCK should be the cheapest.

I would probably use an M.2 over an SSD. less electricity, cleaner circuit. Graphic card isn't needed. You can find the weakest one there is or find a motherboard that comes with on-board graphics (HDMI, displayport, DVI, VGA). What is an ATX for audio?

I do recommend getting an iFi iGalvanic to separate the DAC from the PC through galvanic isolation but that'll cost you $350. Plug it into a USB 3.0 socket.
 
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Dec 16, 2017 at 1:29 PM Post #102 of 289
Are there any early impressions? How does this fare against the Gumby?
 
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