Description: Digital-to-analog converter. Inputs: USB, I2S, AES/EBU, 2 coax S/PDIF (RCA, BNC), TosLink. Outputs: single-ended (RCA), balanced (XLR). Output impedance: 200 ohms.
Dimensions: 16.9" (430mm) W by 2.2" (55mm) H by 11.8" (300mm) D. Weight: 18.75 lbs (8.5kg).
Finish: Black-anodized aluminum with copper buttons, feet, side panels.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 16075965653.
Price: $2499. Approximate number of dealers: Sold direct. Warranty: 3 years, parts & labor.
Manufacturer: HoloAudio, China. US distributor: KitsunéHiFi, 19410…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Mytek HiFi Brooklyn & Manhattan II, Schiit Audio Yggdrasil DACs; Kitsuné Tuned Edition Singxer SU-1 USB Audio Bridge; Integra DPS-7.2 DVD-A player (as transport), Mac mini computer running Audirvana + 3.2.
Analog Sources: AMG Giro G9 LP player, Linn Sondek LP12 Valhalla turntable with SME M-2 tonearm; Dynavector DV20X2, EMT TSD 75SFL, Koetsu Rosewood Standard, Miyajima Laboratory Saboten cartridges.
Preamplifiers: Pass Laboratories HPA-1, Rogue Audio RH-5.
Power Amplifiers: Pass Laboratories XA25, PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the HoloAudio Spring DAC "Kitsuné Tuned Edition" Level 3 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"), using both the Audio Precision's optical and electrical digital outputs and USB data sourced from my MacBook Pro running on battery power with Pure Music 3.0 playing DSD and AIFF test-tone files. Apple's USB Prober utility identified the Holo Spring as "xCORE USB Audio 2.0" from "XMOS," its serial number as "0 (none)," and confirmed that its USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode. Apple's…
The Los Angeles Audio Show (LAAS), scheduled for June 8–10 in Orange County, opposite the John Wayne International Airport at the former sites of T.H.E. Show, seems to have been cancelled. Although the LAAS website briefly contained a note that conversations were in progress about the possibility of the show being saved by the Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society (LAOCAS), that note has now been removed.
The website's front page contains most of the contents of a mass email that announced the cancellation. The email is from LAAS owner/organizer Marine Presson, 26, who sent it…
The real star of this video is my dog, Chatter Dudley, an 8-year-old Jack Russell Terrier with a fierce fondness for Herb Reichert (they had met once before), and who had Jana Dagdagan saying, by the end of the day, "I wish I had a dog." Unfortunately, the cameras weren't running when Chatter took a running leap to sit next to Herb while he was on the couch, listening to the blue-vinyl version of Puente Celeste's Nama.
Herb and Jana were visiting me in Albany, NY, at the 1936 semi-mock-Tudor house I now call home. Albany-perhaps the only US state capital whose downtown streets are named…
Photo: Corrina Jones
When JD Events' Liz MiIler invited me to give the keynote speech at the 2018 AXPONA, in Chicago suburb Schaumburg, I was at first not sure what to talk about. But then I realized that not only was 2018 the 32nd anniversary of my joining Stereophile as editor and the 42nd anniversary of my joining Hi-Fi News & Record Review magazine as a lowly editorial assistant, it also marked 50 years since I bought my first audio system!
So here is Jana Dagdagan's video of that keynote speech, given on Saturday April 14, 2018 at the Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel, where I…
Pentangle: The Pentangle
Terry Cox (drums), Bert Jansch & John Renbourn (guitars), Jacqui McShee (vocals), Danny Thompson (double bass), Shel Talmy, prod.
Transatlantic TRA162 (English LP), Reprise RSLP63 15 (US LP). TT: 30:52.
Terry Cox (drums), Bert Jansch & John Renbourn (guitars), Jacqui McShee (vocals), Danny Thompson (double bass), Shel Talmy, prod.
Transatlantic TRA162 (English LP), Reprise RSLP63 15 (US LP). TT: 30:52.
The first "pop" recording we've ever reviewed in Stereophile may set a precedent for future reviews if there are others that sound like this. To this untutored ear, the material is rock out of raga, but it is beautifully done and, except for the larger-than-life singer, the sound is almost shockingly good. No filthy fuzzed-up guitars here, and the…
Saturday night in hipster Brooklyn . . . yet there could have been actual sawdust on the floor. Inside National Sawdust, a youngish crowd, many clearly ready to party, were shuffling, some were full-blown jitterbugging, while onstage the Lost Bayou Ramblers, a progressive young Cajun band who'd at first seemed a bit awed by their futuristic surroundings, were slugging beers, sawing a fiddle, squeezing an accordion, and generally finding their groove.
On another visit to the Sawdust, the inestimable Nels Cline, who uses more guitar effects than he's had birthdays, was teamed with Cibo…
"It's like a little artistic ecosystem," Prestini said. "If you had to go from zero to the production of something, what would you need? You'd need mentoring, money, the presentation, the ability to tour a project, a record label, an audience."
"And you need a room," Zeigler added—"a place to try things out."
While National Sawdust is that room—what Prestini calls an "incubator"—the other prong of this sprawling artistic venture is a record label, National Sawdust Tracks, launched five years ago as part of Prestini's production company. Its catalog now numbers 17 titles, many of…
The first time we saw an AR amplifier (at a Hi-Fi Show), we were struck by its bland, almost antiseptic appearance. Amidst all those other audio products that looked as though they had been high-styled for Madame's boudoir, the unadorned simplicity of the AR amplifier made it stand out like an Eames chair at Williamsburg.
Well, now that we've looked at that simple, symmetrical control panel for a while, we have come to feel rather differently about it. We still feel it is bland, and maybe even antiseptic-looking, but like simply-designed furniture, it is easy to live with, it doesn't draw…