06-Sep-2023, 05:30
I'm in the process of acquiring a bit of gear and testing some more. I have tested the Holo Audio Red over AES/EBU against my Mac mini over USB. That USB cable is an MIT Matrix something rather cable that I found to be better than a Curious cable at the time. The Holo Red sounded identical until I went to pick up a Furman power conditioner. Now the Red pulls slightly ahead of the USB input. Hence I'm buying the Red and am looking to buy the Furman as well (It's 9k, so quite the investment)
That the Red sounds better than the USB inout is saying something. The MIT cable has a couple of little blocks in it that seem to clean up the signal or the power or whatever. In any case the MIT cable sounds great.
When I picked up the Furman, my dealer mate also gave me a Cary Audio DMS-700 streamer. It has a built in DAC but also puts out over SPDIF. That SPDIF didn't sound as good as the USB, so it's quite a bit worse than the Red over AES/EBU. I'm also going to test the analog output of the Cary, so it'll be an interesting exercise to see how transparent the Expert's DAC is.
All my testing has been done in the same way. I connect only the two components I want to test and then program the Expert to only use those two inputs. I make a group in Roon that has those two components in it and then play a 1kHz test tone to check whether there are any volume differences. If there are (THE MIT cable was 3dB lower in volume than the Curious) then I adjust Roon's output accordingly. After that I listen. I change the inputs a number of times, so I have no idea which input I am listening to anymore. Hence, it's a blind listening test. The component I like most is the winner and it stays. The other goes. Simple.
https://goldensound.audio/2023/02/09/hol...surements/
https://www.pursuitperfectsystem.com/car...ac-review/
That the Red sounds better than the USB inout is saying something. The MIT cable has a couple of little blocks in it that seem to clean up the signal or the power or whatever. In any case the MIT cable sounds great.
When I picked up the Furman, my dealer mate also gave me a Cary Audio DMS-700 streamer. It has a built in DAC but also puts out over SPDIF. That SPDIF didn't sound as good as the USB, so it's quite a bit worse than the Red over AES/EBU. I'm also going to test the analog output of the Cary, so it'll be an interesting exercise to see how transparent the Expert's DAC is.
All my testing has been done in the same way. I connect only the two components I want to test and then program the Expert to only use those two inputs. I make a group in Roon that has those two components in it and then play a 1kHz test tone to check whether there are any volume differences. If there are (THE MIT cable was 3dB lower in volume than the Curious) then I adjust Roon's output accordingly. After that I listen. I change the inputs a number of times, so I have no idea which input I am listening to anymore. Hence, it's a blind listening test. The component I like most is the winner and it stays. The other goes. Simple.
https://goldensound.audio/2023/02/09/hol...surements/
https://www.pursuitperfectsystem.com/car...ac-review/
Lifetime Roon, Mac mini, int. SSD, ext. HDD, tv as monitor, key board and track pad on bean bag as remote,Devialet 200, Od'A #097, Blue jeans speaker cable,
Dynaudio C1 MkII.
Jim Smith's GBS.
Northern NSW Australia.
Dynaudio C1 MkII.
Jim Smith's GBS.
Northern NSW Australia.
