Holo Audio May KTE Dac
- Thread starter audioarcher
- Start date
Well, to get mine it took one month and a half. When they say that they have in stock, are the parts for built them, the units are not. In a month and one week (5 weeks) the unit is finished and ready to ship, the one week or to get the unit to your hands.
I live in Costa Rica, so first the unit was shipped to Florida and then here...patience and the waiting time was nothing for the quality sound and the quality built of the unit. This is my very first time that I have this stage, having the voices projected to the air with an incredible sense of realism from a digital source. The harmonic texture, the timbre, the size of the musical instruments between them, the is not congestion at all while playing any kind of music...there are so many new things that I never was aware that I could have this quality sound here with me! Yes, I am very very happy with the Holo May...
Happy listening!
I live in Costa Rica, so first the unit was shipped to Florida and then here...patience and the waiting time was nothing for the quality sound and the quality built of the unit. This is my very first time that I have this stage, having the voices projected to the air with an incredible sense of realism from a digital source. The harmonic texture, the timbre, the size of the musical instruments between them, the is not congestion at all while playing any kind of music...there are so many new things that I never was aware that I could have this quality sound here with me! Yes, I am very very happy with the Holo May...
Happy listening!
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So Holo has two main dealers, Kitsune Audio for USA and Wildism (I'm unsure that's their name) for other countries. Both have customized versions of the DAC. As I understand it the Kitusune KTE edition is pretty similar to the one Wildism's edition in terms of parts upgrades. I've heard that the KTE is slightly better. I also believe that these ugrades are done in China to spec. At least my KTE edition was shipped directly from China when I bought it.
Yes, I have been living with this combo for 6 months or so. Using a Audioquest Firebird 48 hdmi for an I2S cable. Very happy with it.
Thanks. I read a post of yours where you stated you are using the Wavedream NET as a Roon endpoint, but not as a Roon server. Why is that?
Also, if you wouldn't mind, please share the correct pinout setting for the Holo Audio May to use with the Wavedream NET.
Sure. I use the Wavedream.NET only as a endpoint because it sounds better than using it as a Core as well. I am guessing it sounds better, because the processor in the Wavedream.Net has to do much less processing when used just as an endpoint.
Holo audio dacs use the PS audio I2S standard, and so does the Wavedream.NET. So there is no need to adjust pinout to make them work together. Just need a normal hdmi cable.
I do have to do DoP for DSD with this combo. Not sure if a different pinout would solve that, or if the Wavedream itself is the reason. I can do 384khz 24 bit through I2S though. I'm doing it through Roon/Hqplayer.
I use I2S between my antipodes K50 and the Holo May KTE.
Sounds the best of the options, I think (margins are small) and I didn't need to reprogram either device to make the cord work. Which is lucky, as I may have run out of energy by then!!
Sounds the best of the options, I think (margins are small) and I didn't need to reprogram either device to make the cord work. Which is lucky, as I may have run out of energy by then!!
Well, that's the thing.
I am using a crappy generic cord.
If it sounds this good now, wait til I get a good quality one!!
I have reached out to Rockna for their i2s pinout recommendation for use with the Holo Audio May DAC. I will report here when I hear from them.
I heard back from Rockna regarding their i2S pinout setting and matching to the Holo Audio i2S pinout options, and as @audioarcher previously stated, Rockna instructs to use PS Audio i2S settings.
Further, they instruct to connect to the Wavedream NET's HD-Link 2 slot 2 that is configured with the PS Audio pinout. Slot 1 is configured for a Wavedream DAC.
Rockna referred me to this i2S Google document that lists pinouts used by many manufacturers in the industry.
If you look at the Google i2S pinout document, you will find there are three PS Audio pinout configurations. One in particular, “PS Audio NuWave Phone Converter” matches exactly to Holo Audio's ALT2 configuration. In fact, Holo Audio's ALT2 option is the only one that exactly matches a PS Audio i2S pinout. The other Holo Audio options have pins 1&3 and 7&9 R&L reversed.
None of the other PS Audio i2S pinout configurations exactly match Holo Audio's ALT2 configuration (although some are close). I asked Rockna specifically which PS Audio i2S pinout is configured at the Wavedream NET's HD-Link2 slot, but I have not yet received a reply.
** EDIT 2/17/22 - Rockna instructs to use the HD-Link2 slot, and that HD-Link2's pinout most closely matches the Holo May DAC's ALT2 pinout. So, select ALT2 pinout when using the Holo Audio May DAC with the Rockna Wavedream NET.
Further, they instruct to connect to the Wavedream NET's HD-Link 2 slot 2 that is configured with the PS Audio pinout. Slot 1 is configured for a Wavedream DAC.
Rockna referred me to this i2S Google document that lists pinouts used by many manufacturers in the industry.
If you look at the Google i2S pinout document, you will find there are three PS Audio pinout configurations. One in particular, “PS Audio NuWave Phone Converter” matches exactly to Holo Audio's ALT2 configuration. In fact, Holo Audio's ALT2 option is the only one that exactly matches a PS Audio i2S pinout. The other Holo Audio options have pins 1&3 and 7&9 R&L reversed.
None of the other PS Audio i2S pinout configurations exactly match Holo Audio's ALT2 configuration (although some are close). I asked Rockna specifically which PS Audio i2S pinout is configured at the Wavedream NET's HD-Link2 slot, but I have not yet received a reply.
** EDIT 2/17/22 - Rockna instructs to use the HD-Link2 slot, and that HD-Link2's pinout most closely matches the Holo May DAC's ALT2 pinout. So, select ALT2 pinout when using the Holo Audio May DAC with the Rockna Wavedream NET.
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Thanks for the info tvad. I have tried both output 1 and 2 from the Wavedream.Net to the May. Both seem to work for PCM, and DOP dsd without changing pinout. I will mess with the pinout on the May to see if that enables me to play native DSD. Not sure if that will really make much difference to the sound of DSD though.
If you look at the May's ALT2 pinout configuration, it pretty much aligns regarding DSD with the PS Audio NuWave Phone Converter pinout, which is what Rockna said most closely matched the HD-Link2 slot pinout.
If you try slot 2 on the Rockna with May's ALT2 pinout option, let us know if that improves your DSD playback. I'm guessing it will. Worth a try!
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I gave it a try. Still have to check dop in Hqplayer, but now the Rockna can now output quad dsd to the May. Before it would not go above 1x dsd. So that is a bonus.
Also I just switched it back to output 1 on the Rockna and the dsd works just like output 2. Could be my imagination, but I think output one sounds a little more resolving.
After reading the owners manual of the May to figure out how to change pinout config, I realized I never played with the PLL settings that are in the same menu. So I turned it on and, again I could be imagining it, but it did seem to improve the sound slightly.
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