Darker, thicker, and rich, but not that more artificial holo smoothness or presentation, it’s still organic, and while it is more on the relaxed and smooth side of things, it doesn’t sound dulled or blunted which also drives me a bit nuts with the holo stuff. It doesn’t really feel like it sacrifices much for it’s signature technicality wise, perhaps outside of some treble extension, but if you are after utmost treble extension, none of the totaldac are really worth looking at imo
Vs the direct, the direct is a lot more neutral, more forward in comparison, less smooth, more energetic, and easily more convincing from a technical perspective. You still want the d1-drivers though, since direct out of the direct can be very hit or miss. In the general grand scheme of things though, they do still share their similar technical priorities, they are still somewhat warmer although while I’d consider the lower end ones more actually warm and rich, the direct is more neutral-natural with a bit of warmth, although it’s much less relaxed