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my ears are not good

Thanks for Your Messages..... I sent back the ADI and found today used a HOLO MAY KTE for 3800 euro... at this point I´ll try this if by chance it´s another world with R2Rs
You have some nice pieces. That RME being about as nice as any. It’s loudness feature is incredibly useful. But if you don’t use the features, you won’t be able to tell the difference compared to a less performant device.

I hope you don’t think you will get a special sound out of an R2R DAC. It wont provide that unless it’s a mess.
 
Ok. I understand

is there any online reviewer who seems honest to you? ( and I´m not talking about Steve Huff who quite ridiculous in the guise of medium)
guido of ana-dialog?
goldenear?
Some guy named Amir... or something like that... seems honest... and sometimes eats bananas during his vids... which is both a little off putting and funny at the same time. Otherwise, no.
 
Ok. I understand

is there any online reviewer who seems honest to you? ( and I´m not talking about Steve Huff who quite ridiculous in the guise of medium)
guido of ana-dialog?
goldenear?
Just scroll up, click on the word Reviews and start reading. Remember to watch the videos on understanding the reviews on this site, and don't just look at the pretty bars.

Welcome to ASR.
 
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Just scroll up, click on the word Reviews and start reading. Remember to watch the videos on understanding the reviews on this site, and don't just look at the pretty bars.

Welcome to ASR.
Yes exactly.
@Maurizio_Maggi , the RME ADI 2 was reviewed, for instance.
 
ok. wouldn't any of you, having the chance, want to try a HOLO MAY for this price? After all, I think it had been well received by Amir
 
ok. wouldn't any of you, having the chance, want to try a HOLO MAY for this price? After all, I think it had been well received by Amir
No, if I'm happy with the functionality and looks of my current gear, it's EXACTLY as @staticV3 said about cutlery, fancy doesn't make it taste or sound better. However, if you accept that, and want to spend your money on looks, knock yourself out, but don't expect this group of engineers and audio geeks to pat you on the back or to join you down your rabbit hole... this is not the place to recruit for a delusional quest... when there are speakers to test... eq's to get right... and rooms to treat. All else is a waste when the fundamental gear that you already own is doing the job that you bought it to do.
 
ok. wouldn't any of you, having the chance, want to try a HOLO MAY for this price? After all, I think it had been well received by Amir
No, I would not purchase one for that price. I could go on a nice vacation instead and make some memories or buy another guitar that I don’t need. My $200 Schiit Modius works as well or better than a friends high dollar DCS……
 
ok. wouldn't any of you, having the chance, want to try a HOLO MAY for this price? After all, I think it had been well received by Amir
I'd spend the first $50 or $100 of that on a donation to ASR/Amir to fund your audio education... then take the rest... and spend it on something that doesn't require faith or belief... like a magical DAC or streamer.
 
ok. wouldn't any of you, having the chance, want to try a HOLO MAY for this price? After all, I think it had been well received by Amir
No, the price isn’t enticing, the fact that it is so high is mildly distasteful and seems wasteful. I have an old R2R DAC anyway. Nothing special, except the Rube Goldberg approved way they work.

The RME you had is peak-DAC. Only drawback is it has tons of features most won’t use. Almost any other unit has less performance. Even then, most are audibly indistinguishable.
 
ok, Thanks.

purchase of the HOLO MAY has been now per email postponed by me, it won´t be for today, I will read more and inquire.
There are many great DACs.
You can be very pragmatic if you assume the base technology is around $200. It’s fine to spend more. Look and feel is important to many, connectivity, features like DSP, headphone amp all are valid reasons to spend more. But within reason. $5k for a DAC is not within reason.
 
I suspect the problem isn’t honesty but how we hear. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that, across our sensorium, what we perceive results from error correction to prior expectations (tldr). For hearing, the error corrections come from our ear, but our expectations can adjust or even override them. Think about thinking you’ve heard a familiar voice when you’re looking for the person, or how skilled musicians can trigger surprise, and it’s clear expectation is can modify our experience of sound. Now imagine you’re a hifi reviewer. If you’re listening to a hugely expensive bit of kit that all your peers say is audio magic, are you going to risk saying it sounds no different to something that’s a tenth of the price, and risk being accused of being stone/tone deaf? You’re going listen for whatever can persuade you to hear your peers’ (who you believe) observations, and try to add your own. As an example, read back articles from veteran reviewers, like Ken Kessler. Thirty years ago you’ll find him using the same descriptions and describing the same experiences as he does now, though the equipment has long been superseded (according to those same reviewers). However, I can still remember when I swapped out my Cyrus 2 integrated for an Audio Innovations el34 integrated. After running in it totally blew the Cyrus away, despite measuring much worse. Whether more modern measurement could capture the difference I don’t know, but the difference wasn’t small.
 
is there any online reviewer who seems honest to you?
Amir here and Erin of Erin's Audio Corner are among the best, Erin mostly reviews speakers, though. RTINGS does measurements but mostly of consumer-level stuff.

There are not a lot of reviewers that mostly post measurements vs. opinions. Personally if someone says "this DAC sounds amazing, better than this other DAC" and doesn't have a long explanation of how they did a rigorous blind test... well, all I know at that point is the reviewer may have a good imagination.

DACs are not supposed to sound like anything, neither are amps, and especially not cables. So reviewers you can trust are ones who start with that understanding and rely on facts.
 
HI!

after much thought and preferring to buy products that make sense and are carefully developed I reevaluated the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. it seems to me that the company is very serious and gives honest answers inside their forum.
I must say that I wanted to get a HOLO AUDIO Cyan2 or Spring3 because I wanted a quality r2r Dac, but given the money situation which is never much for everything, I had to compromise.

then I promised myself to read a lot more about reviews and constructive criticism on this Site, before making any expensive decisions. after all, I´ve been an Atheist for several years and it doesn´t seem appropriate to start believing something unprovable, just now.

thank you all!

Maurizio from MUNICH
 
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(...) I reevaluated the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. it seems to me that the company is very serious and gives honest answers inside their forum.
I would never put "reevaluate" and "RME ADI-2 DAC FS" in the same sentence...

Maurizio from MUNICH
From where you are, it sounds a little strange to me that you didn't blindly trust RME... German engineering (and Austrian, FWIW) is nowhere near compromises... in any field of application. ;-)
 
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