AudioAficionado.org - Spring is in the ear: The HoloAudio Spring Kitsune Tuned Edition, Level 3, dac

My main system is relatively modest, but very nicely performing if I say so myself. Power comes from a 20 amp dedicated circuit feeding a PS Audio P5. Connected to the P5 with WW Silver Electra PCs are a PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium Integrated Amp, Bryston BDP-2, and BDA-2 dac. The Brystons are connected with WW Gold Eclipse AES-EBU cable and also a WW Platinum Eclipse USB. The dac is connected to the PrimaLuna with a WW Eclipse interconnect. I also have an Oppo BDP-105 connected to the PL with WW Equinox. My speakers are Thiel CS 2.3 with WW Silver Eclipse 6 speaker cables. Under the P5 and PrimaLuna are 4 Stillpoints UltraSS and under the dac are 4 Stillpoint Minis. The BDP-2 is fed by a Synology DS415+and also a 2TB USB hard drive.

My system’s growth to date is the product of careful planning but happenstance action. For example, I might be at the point where “the plan” says time to upgrade my dac and while starting to look at DACs, some unfortunate AA’r developed a short term brain disease that caused him to sell 8 Stillpoints Ultra SS (true story- thank you Marketplace). The dac would have to wait but my PrimaLuna and P5 are each now about an inch and a half higher (and sounding much better than you very much).

So going back into the late fall it was time for a change. What was up for upgrading- dac and speakers. I was too early in the research and then audition process for speakers so I started looking into dacs. Some many choices, so little shelf space. There was the logical choice- upgrade the trusty Bryston to a BDA-3. Then there was all that Schiit talk going around about some Yggy-something and a new world order. Except that new world was one without DSD. Then I saw some reviews about this new dac from China… ooh, China. But then, my PrimaLuna was built in China and it is extremely well built and sounds great. The best reviews say the Chinese dac matches right up to the Yggy and adds DSD. The worst reviews suggest it is very close to to Yggy and has DSD. Hmmm. I was also reading that the Yggy was starting to be subject to a lot of delays.

Fast forward a couple of months and the delivery truck pulls up to my house and delivers a box that is a good bit heavier than I would have expected. Inside, a HoloAudio Spring Kitsune Edition, Level 3 DAC. Just the dac, no power cords or manual. The manual is easily downloaded. HoloAudio does not provide power cords because “no one at this level uses stock power cords”. A few weeks prior I received a Singxer SU-1 Audio Bridge that I ordered with the dac. The Singxer receives USB input and and outputs the signal as i2s, through a short HDMI cable, to the Spring dac. i2s is supposed to provide the best sound quality as an input to the Spring dac, a hair better than AES-EBU but also allows DSD.

Anyway, for the moment, I have not yet used the Singxer. Another review for another day. I unplugged the Silver Electra from the BDA-2 and plugged it into the Spring dac. I also connected the BDP-2 to the Spring with my WW Gold Eclipse. I figured I would give the Spring a week or so of break-in before giving it a listen. Sometimes curiosity won’t put up with a week, or even a full day. So, after an hour or so it being plugged in, I put on Eeg-Fonnesbaek, a really exceptionally recorded album I mentioned in the “My 20 Best Sounding Albums” string a couple of days ago. With the BDA-2, the recording sounded really really nice in my library/listening room. Beautiful vocals and a rich sounding upright base. When I connected Spring and played Eeg-Fonnesbaek, it did not sound nice in my library— because I was no longer in my library in so many ways I cannot describe. I was most certainly in a small, intimate performance space with Eeg and Fonnesbaek. Just me, and them, and maybe a spotlight and a microphone. My wife came in and asked me where I was hiding my new speakers. I kid you not (There are no new speakers but now that she thinks there are…. It would be a shame to waste the opportunity!)

After Eeg-Fonesbaek, next came Dave’s True Story, then came Vanessa Fernandez (When the Levee Breaks) and following that, Use Me. I will tell you, it sounds like my speakers go about 10 db lower and as clean but full and real as I can remember hearing in a live performance. The vocals— the think about the vocalists were as though I could reach out and ask each singer for an autograph.

Joni Mitchell sang (in They Paved Paradise): “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” I have read in a number of reviews of both the Yggy and the Spring about “digital glare” and it not being present with either dac. Since when I started back into this hobby after about an almost 30 year hiatus, all I’ve really listened to has been digital, I have not had anything to compare digital to (i.e., analog). When something I heard (such as when auditioning or replacing components) sounded better, worse, or just different, it was all digital and all relative to what I was already listening to. But from the first 3 minutes listening to the Spring, my listening world at home is different. I didn’t know what digital glare was until it went away (and my previous dac is a not terrible (in fact, very decent) Bryston BDA-2). I don’t know what it is about the Spring but I keep looking in my library for music with acoustic bass. Listening to it is like sitting in the closest table to the stage at Dizzy’s (in NYC), about 8 feet from the base player and hearing his (or her) fingers roll off the strings as they’re plucked.

I have not yet had a chance to listen to DSD or even listen to the Spring using (WW Platinum Starlight) USB to the Singxer to i2s to the Spring. Using i2s is supposed to provide the best sound (even from PCM) and what you need to listen to DSD. And I only have about 20 hours on the Spring. As I out more time in with the Spring and it gets more hours I will post updates. Likewise when I start using the Singxer, i2s, with both PCM and DSD. With all the incredibly positive reviews about the Yggy and Spring, they just couldn’t all be real or that good. But after hearing my new Spring Dac, I’m a believer. They say “you have to hear it for yourself” and I did. I took a shot on a whim and a handful of good reviews- and so far I’m just astounded. If you get an opportunity, give the Spring a listen. Just bring your power cord. (Note, the Spring DAC comes in 3 versions, Level 1, Level 2 and the one I got, the Kitsune-tuned Level 3 DAC. There are positive reviews about Levels 1 and 2 but I can’t speak to them).