Some measurements of Holo Audio Spring DAC

[Veri]

EDIT: @WolfX-700 has measured holo spring, holo spring 2 and holo May. I suggest you check out those accurate measurements instead.

Enclosed here are measurements by third party (and reseller!) Wildism Audio. Note that they can easily be cherry picked, but let's see how a $1600 R2R-ladder DAC performs.

Linearity test:

While linearity issues seem benign (noise rather than glitches) for the Spring DAC, compared to the schiit modi multibit we see the same linearity before glitching out at -120dBFS. So not particularily great.

RMS level:

THD+N Ratio (tested in NOS mode for some reason):

SNR (weighted?) :

No test of digital jitter unfortunately! Considering a spring 2 is being released with "femto clocks", I don't think the original's jitter performance is going to be stellar. If interested you can compare measurements with Schiit's only AP report for a multibit product of theirs, APx555 Report for Modi Multibit.

Performance of the Holo Audio Spring does not seem awful for a ladder DAC, but it is hardly exemplary at their asking price, whether it is worth it at $1600 is doubtful.

Hong-Kong source of these measurements: Wildism.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Interesting post, thanks @Veri.

Looks remarkably like an ESS hump, lol.

 

[bunkbail]

Stereophile also has some very detailed measurements for the Level 3 unit too.

https://www.stereophile.com/content...ned-edition-level-3-da-processor-measurements

 

[Krunok]

Performance of the Holo Audio Spring does not seem awful for a ladder DAC, but it is hardly exemplary at their asking price, whether it is worth it at $1600 is VERY doubtful.

Performance seems very good. Main issue with this DAC is that you can buy better DAC for less money, say SMSL VMV D1.

 

[Veri]

Performance seems very good. Main issue with this DAC is that you can buy better DAC for less mones, say SMSL D1.

Maybe we are spoiled with performance of cheap devices. It is not bad, no.

Stereophile also has some very detailed measurements for the Level 3 unit too.

https://www.stereophile.com/content...ned-edition-level-3-da-processor-measurements

Awesome, totally missed this thanks. Mediocre J-test now confirmed? right channel is OK, left channel glitching in review unit.

EDIT: another unit with proper jitter specs is shown down below by another member

 

[Krunok]

Maybe we are spoiled with performance of cheap devices. It is not bad, no.


Awesome, totally missed this thanks. Mediocre J-test now confirmed

When there's a problem with only one channel you have to ask yourself if that is related to the particular unit you're testing and not to the design.

 

[Veri]

When there's a problem with only one channel you have to ask yourself if that is related to the particular unit you're testing and not to the design.

Yes, fair enough. Again, this unit costs $1600 though. Can't expect end users to be testing jitter and demand a fixed unit, would like to see zero issues ideally Note the three tones between 9K-10K, very present in one channel, but also to a lesser extent in the "good" channel. This is very likely to be a design flaw.

 

[Krunok]

Yes, fair enough. Again, this unit costs $1600 though. Can't expect end users to be testing jitter and demand a fixed unit, would like to see zero issues ideally Note the three tones between 9K-10K, very present in one channel, but also to a lesser extent in the "good" channel. This is very likely to be a design flaw.

As you pointed out one more difference between channels I believe wanted you wanted to say that the unit is likely flawed?

Btw, SMSL D1 also had problems. As its price is also high it's quite obvious that Chnese manfucaturers still have to learn a thing or two regarding QC.

 

[bunkbail]

A close friend of mine had the Level 3 and contacted the main designer, Jeff of Holo Audio if he has any follow up products in mind. He said the upcoming Holo Audio May DAC should have SOTA performance among ladder DACs out there. Fwiw, it has been over than a year ago since he said that so make of that what you will.

 

[Krunok]

A close friend of mine had the Level 3 and contacted the main designer, Jeff of Holo Audio if he has any follow up products in mind. He said the upcoming Holo Audio May DAC should have TOTL performance among ladder DACs out there. Fwiw, it has been over than a year ago since he said that so make of that what you will.

What is TOTL?

 

[Veri]

As you pointed out one more difference between channels I believe wanted you wanted to say that the unit is likely flawed?

Btw, SMSL D1 also had problems. As its price is also high it's quite obvious that Chnese manfucaturers still have to learn a thing or two regarding QC.

It's likely flawed, but if its a power regulation problem I'm not sure it's as much a QC problem than a design one. Can't be sure

What is TOTL?

"Top of the line", basically claiming top performance.

 

[bunkbail]

What is TOTL?

I think he said either SOTA or TOTL, couldn't really recall which one, but SOTA is more relevant in this context, so I edited my post to that.

 

[Krunok]

It's likely flawed, but if its a power regulation problem I'm not sure it's as much a QC problem than a design one. Can't be sure

Both channels share the same design. If one channel measures significantly different than the other it is a QC problem, not the design.

 

[Krunok]

I think he said either SOTA or TOTL, couldn't really recall which one, but SOTA is more relevant in this context, so I edited my post to that.

SOTA would mean "state of the art", or..?

 

[bunkbail]

SOTA would mean "state of the art", or..?

Yup

 

[pkane]

Maybe we are spoiled with performance of cheap devices. It is not bad, no.


Awesome, totally missed this thanks. Mediocre J-test now confirmed right channel is OK, left channel glitching in review unit.

That looks incredibly bad. I have measured one of these. While the OS mode generates a bit more jitter than NOS mode, it's not as bad as the red plot and certainly not as bad as the blue plot, which, I think indicates a defective unit.

Here's what NOS mode looks like at 24/96KHz:

OS mode looks a bit worse:

 

[Veri]

That looks incredibly bad. I have measured one of these. While the OS mode generates a bit more jitter than NOS mode, it's not as bad as the red plot and certainly not as bad as the blue plot, which, I think indicates a defective unit.

Here's what NOS mode looks like at 24/96KHz:
View attachment 20048

OS mode looks a bit worse:
View attachment 20049

Awesome! I think I saw similar measurement by a person called Miska recently (that you?). If you have more measurements feel free to share! This DAC looks pretty good for a ladder DAC honestly, for people with money to burn they can do a lot worse that's for sure.

Again, thanks for sharing!

 

[pkane]

Awesome! I think I saw similar measurement by a person called Miska recently (that you?). If you have more measurements feel free to share! This DAC looks pretty good for a ladder DAC honestly, for people with money to burn they can do a lot worse that's for sure.

Again, thanks for sharing!

Saw the same measurements. "Miska" is Jussi, the author of HQPlayer software (I'm not him, he's not me). Jussi's measurements look even better than mine, but he was upsampling everything to 352KHz using HQPlayer.