Yeah was pretty surprised with this one. I don’t think the Spring 3 is muffled at all. I don’t have spring 2 but I find it hard to believe holo would mess up on it. I do think it is overhyped but I don’t feel it underperforms for the price either.
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I’ve heard Spring 3 KTE. I used both the USB which is obviously touted as really good as well as I2S from my Pi2AES. Only issue I suppose you could fault me for is I used single-ended instead of balanced as I did not have a balanced amp at the time. And I used it exclusively in NOS. No internal or external oversampling as I do not like how drastically every filter changes the sound.
Spring 3 sounds nice and smooth. It makes music very mellow and easy to listen to. Subbass extends well but treble especially seems masked making the DAC seem warm. The Holo is trying to be holographic (pun intended) with depth to how it places instruments in a mix. But if you aren’t listening critically all the time all that detail in the depth gets lost and glossed over since the Spring is smoothing much of the music. But ‘muffled’ is not how I would describe it at all.
I heard Yggy A2 at a friend’s house right alongside Chord TT2+Mscalar. Yggy was a slammy DAC. It was quite organic and fun without sounding congested. The Chord TT2 (without Mscalar) was very detailed and technically proficient. However it was not quite to my liking as music came off to me as artificially enhanced.
Just my two cents in the high end dac world. The DAC I use now is the Sonnet Morpheus.
PS I don’t like comparing DACs. It’s boring.
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Yes it’s a forgiving dac that adds more space and life to things that might not have it on its own, and I think that’s really why they move units because it does compensate a bit for some lesser recordings or downstream gear. Also fairly forgiving on the upstream digital source too. I do think it’s a questionable value if you are only going to use it single ended as it does definitely improve a fair bit going to balanced (single ended you basically ignore half the dac)
Would agree with both, the yggy is like max fun factor while still remaining very proficient from a technical perspective. The chord sound is hit or miss, some like it’s smoother yet analytical sound but I’d agree I find transients unnatural and it’s overforwardness isn’t for me either
Booooooooooooo
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IMO at retail dollar pricing, the Yggy may be the best dollar/performance DAC out there. The big albatross with the Yggy is the SE out does leave a lot to be desired which makes it not a good choice if you intend to pair with an SE only amp. I also think that when you start looking at used prices the fact that the Yggy holds its value pretty well makes it less attractive when you compare it to a lot of DACs available in the same $1400 to $1800 price range.
It’s up there for sure
Yes, I’d love to see them make a se version but I have a feeling it won’t happen
Honestly I think it’s still potentially worthwhile depending on what aspects you want to focus on, it’s still a reasonably attractive proposition given you have a setup that works well with it
And that’s part of the reason they hold their value well! I probably would have kept mine if I wasn’t heading the SE amp route.
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I own and operate a Spring V3 KTE and many of the critiques presented as negatives by some are exactly why I enjoy it as much as I do. More than any of the other DACs I’ve heard - it allows me to connect with the music I play through it. It makes me happy for the moment.
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I bet the full presentation of the Holo and the studio neutral presentation of the Vio make for nice synergy.
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Honestly, I will say I didn’t get the detail mast you did (when compaired against the sagra). It absalutely is missing some of the leading edge incisiveness. Unfortunately I didn’t relay get enough time to give a full propper review but seeing as I like somewhat inorganic with hyper holographic imaging my impressions were generaly a bit more positive. That said, it and the sgara are the only 2 dacs I’ve heard in uts price range and I only got maybe 16 hours on it over like 5 days
Forgot you have a v550 and was confused ad fuck for a second on the vio comment 
Oh I don’t! I demo’d a v3XX so I have a sense of the tuning. But I was mainly going off of other’s impressions. 
The only headphone gear I have is Morpheus-Bakoon-Susvara, and an IEM, lol.
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tl;dr
IME - Spring3 KTE and the V550 are a complimentary set - and present sound in a way that I find pleasing.
The two work very well together much better than when I had the 281 - in that case, I would agree that it was too thick too warm (Spring 3 KTE /v281). That is why something like a Soekris DAC was a better match with the 281. The Spring and the V550 compliment each other. I also feel that this particular sonic matchup is part of why I also enjoyed the 1266 TC and Susvara so much - The 1266 TC treble I found to be smooth never did I hear some of what others reported regarding harsh/bright - also the mids were recessed but I did not feel as far back, again as others reported. And with the Susvara I do not have any sense of “lean” and I find the lower mids and bass to be full and detailed - it is no 1266 TC bass in quantity/slam, but still it is very nice and I think is better than LCD-5 in that regard as well IMO - Although a new cable I am using with the LCD-5 could change that - I still need to go back to the Susvara after listening to the LCD-5 with that cable.
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How good is the hp out on the tt2 btw? Like if it were a hp amp which price bracket would it be placed in? Just curious.
Best reason to buy a DAC I’ve ever heard! When I emotionally respond to the music I know I’m moving my gear in the right direction.
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I don’t own the TT2, but I had one for a couple of weeks for a review (posted on other forums).
It’s a very neutral amp, that has a good amount of power (not quite Susvara/HE6 levels though).
It’s also pretty dry which is in keeping with Chord’s overall sound. If one likes the Chord sound (I do to a certain extent), then they’ll likely enjoy the amp.
As far as something similar sounding/performing I’d say the SPL Phonitor is very close, but I think the TT2 has more power. The Phonitor sells for $2199 so I’m guessing somewhere in that neighborhood.
Overall I liked the TT2, but it was a touch too analytical for me (I own a Qutest which is a little more laid back and less resolving to my ears). Tube amps/preamps sound really nice with them, imo.
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Didn’t know where else to put this, but figure I’d throw it here cause this is where we tend to talk about high end DACs.
Interesting take one this. I know GoldenSound has rocked the boat in the past but so much of what he says in the lead in especially about 2 channel (for me) being so much more revealing when talking about staging and instrument placement and depth that I hits home that I’d place his reviewing credibility high on the list of reviewers.
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32 posts were split to a new topic: Ramblings and discussions about reviewers
Reading through this thread again and I had no idea just how cheap the Concert fidelity is used (~3k when they do pop up). Mind if I ask what kind broad tier that stacks up in? Do you think it competes with something like a nagra classic? Or more in line with the capabilities of a Baltic/amber 3?
This is 100% just a curious question since I doubt id find one on the market FWIW.
Really depends on the model but yes it’s cheap at this point, pretty dated. I honestly forget it’s an option even after owning it lol, but it is good and at 3k that’s damn solid value wise. Although I might suggest looking into later iterations for better sq
No not really, less so with the inclusion of the classic psu as well
I think it’s above an amber, perhaps equaling/doing better than a baltic in some aspects? It’s really been quite awhile since I’ve had mine, only reason I felt confident comparing it was because I had taken notes on it and had some chain references, so not super sure in this case. But I do think I’d likely rate it above things like a may kte, potentially at or above baltic, berkeley alpha series 2 (not ref), hugo tt2. It’s not the most technical, but it’s awesome when it comes to timbre, tone, density/weighting, coherency, and smoothness. Pretty organic and relaxed although not really having some of the other technical ability as more modern options
I will note, make sure you find one with spdif in, not usb. You really want to get a nice digital source going into it for it to shine
It can be a real solid dac, didn’t realize they’d dropped that low, just make sure it’s priorities align with yours and you have a solid digital source
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When you say later iterations do you mean the BD or as in an entirely different model?
Fair enough all around. Seems like an interesting option if someone happens to see one pop up. I know it would mostly be a guess but it seems like something that would actualy probably pair well with the 13R? Or kinda lean too far into it if you had to guess?
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