(Eventually in this piece I am going to get around to discussing the as yet unreleased but seemingly imminent Holo Audio May DAC, a DAC which if you are of a certain lunatic fringe you may well be very interested in. But first I begin with a long digression about Audio Science Review. To tide you over until I get to the DAC, here’s a picture, the only such photograph I know of, stolen from said ASR…)
I often read the threads at the highly controversial Audio Science Review. Having little idea what they’re on about from a technical standpoint, I’m still curious about their process and general chatter about measuring our audio world.
If I had to summarize the general position of its founder, Amir, and the site’s dogmatic faithful (it does have a bit of a cult-like vibe but then this is audio… it’s all a cult-like vibe) I would put it thusly: “Most of the subjective opinions of audio writers and consumers alike are utterly inconsistent with the sonic facts. These facts can be measured and quantified, and those measurements can tell us whether a piece of audio gear is good or not. Consequently why not get on with the measuring rather than prattle on about soundstages and involvement and other such audio snowflake artsy-fartsyness?”
You can see why it’s a controversial site. Add to it that nothing makes the ASR faithful happier than to take a much ballyhooed five-figure component, measure it, and proclaim that it’s a complete piece of shit bettered by something they all own and like and which costs $200.
I see why this makes them happy (who doesn’t love feeling like they know the real deal, especially when it saves a shit-ton of dough?). I also see why it pisses people off. The digital enthusiasts over at Super Best Audio Friends (where I admit I have gotten loads of useful information and insight over the years) have taken Amir to task as a fraudster himself who doesn’t know what he’s doing and my impression is that the well-known digital audio scribes Michael Lavorgna (see this piece) and John Darko take issue with the ASR worldview as well. Lavorgna is often mentioned with utter disdain in the ASR threads.
Though I don’t know for sure, I imagine the Lavorgna/ASR beef centers on ASR’s review of the TotalDac d1-six, a $14k DAC that Lavorgna once owned (he has since moved on to the D1-seven I believe) and a company whose very pricey products he has written about with religious zeal in the pages of Stereophile, Audiostream and his now-defunct personal site Twittering Machines. What Art Dudley is to Shindo, Lavorgna is to TotalDac.
According to ASR’s Amir, the TotalDac d1-six is terribly designed and implemented, measures horrendously and is easily bettered by a $300 Gustard or Topping DAC. He and the faithful really unload on the DAC, and the thread on the topic at ASR ultimately involves Vincent Brienne himself, the French TotalDac founder and designer, who arrives to defend his product and imply that Amir doesn’t know how to use his measuring gear. It turns into quite an audio donnybrook (and it all starts here, on page 11 of a 90-page thread).
For my part, I own a TotalDac D1-tube mk ii and I love it. I was very influenced in my interest in the DAC by, among others, Lavorgna’s various articles, and my description of my experience with it would quickly devolve into some mystical mumbo jumbo along the lines of what he has written on the topic. Simply put, I find its sound utterly mesmerizing, unlike any other digital (or analog) sound I’ve ever had in my room before. Clearly based on the reviews (outside of the ASR position) I am not alone on that score.
BUT… I have no issue with the ASR position. I don’t doubt the veracity of Amir’s measurements, not in the slightest (and yes I own a different model of TotalDac but I’m sure, given the tubes in the output stage, my DAC would fare even worse under Amir’s sonic microscope). I suppose the position that the ASR denizens would take with me concerning my DAC would run along the lines of “you’re a sucker with too much money and not enough sense – you bought something based on a writer’s flowery prattle and now absent any objective data you’ve decided that it’s great even though it’s really not, and you’ve decided this largely because it is expensive and you’re a snobbish audiofool.”
All of this may be true. I have no problem with it at all and absolutely no argument with ASR. Like I said, I enjoy the site, read it all the time. “So… you’re going to sell your TotalDac and buy the $200 DAC the ASR guys like?” Nope. Wouldn’t think of it. “But… why not? Because you’re an idiot?” Well maybe, maybe not. To explain my position would take me several thousand more words and probably involve me dubiously citing Wittgenstein. Who the hell needs that? Let’s get to the DAC at hand.
The Holo Audio Spring Level 3 Kitsune Tuned Edition is a non-oversampling R2R DAC that is almost universally lauded by reviewers as a giant killer at it’s price point (roughly $2600 retail). It’s been around since 2015 (I believe, not entirely sure when it was introduced) but has gained prominence in the last few years due to it being discovered by the big-time audio rags, including a rave review by Herb Reichert at Stereophile, followed up by equal praise by that well-known digital non-enthusiast Art Dudley. (This other guy liked it a lot too).
I owned the DAC and I was floored by it. The sound was vivid, immediate, pulsating with life. Also, like all of the R2R DACs I’ve encountered, it lacked a certain unpleasant digital-ness that made the sound… not analog, that’s too easy and not quite right… but certainly not digital in the way that word is often used as an insult. Getting back to the topic of TotalDac, I’ll say this unequivocally – on a bang for your buck comparison my d1-tube mk ii, at 4x the retail price, does not begin to compete with the Holo Spring. For me the TotalDac does something magical that I am willing to pay for, but man… the Holo gets you a long ways of the way there for a lot less scratch.
The follow up to the Spring, the Holo May, has been discussed in forums for two years now without ever actually appearing in the wild and so I admit I’d started to believe it was an audio unicorn (anyone remember the Soundsmith Cartwright?). But lo and behold. Perusing ASR yesterday I saw that they had procured, and of course measured, a review sample (full thread here). Their conclusions are as close to a rave as you’ll ever see at ASR, especially for a discrete R2R DAC (it’s even in the title – “probably the best discrete R2R DAC”). In the past “R2R” generally has equaled “rubbish” in the ASR measurements-driven universe (though they gave the Holo Spring a grudging “not bad”).
As you can see in the photo, it’s a two-box unit (lower box is the power supply) and according to ASR will cost roundabout $4k USD. All I can say is… I have to hear this damn thing. WHEN WHEN WHEN WHEN IT IS COMING OUT???? Amir and the ASR army can’t sway my TotalDac devotion, their measurements be damned. But I have a feeling one listen to the Holo May might do the job.