Holo May Kte back to normal operation

[admin]

Being patient can certainly pay off. I just did a quick check on ebay/audiogon/usaudiomart and there is not one Holo Audio DAC up for sale. I would keep a close eye out as I wouldn't be surprised if a listing would go quickly (presuming the price is right).

[AnotherJohnson]

It is rare to see them on the used market.

Reviews for the Spring are always positive. Reviews for the May even more so.

[roberto]

Chicos,

I had a lighting strike and it burned all my wifi routers and the Internet model. This caused tu burn one HDMI input of my Anthem AMV-60 and also all the four tv boxes. The main Apple computer is OK, the HDMI inputs of my TV are OK, and all TVs are OK too. My Wifi printer also is not acting. I had all routers (3) Apple made, bad. Some were connected via UTP cat 6 hard wired. Through this UTP, I think, all were blown. Also my security cameras are not working. The camera recorder also is burned.

Otoh, I was thinking the possibility that, I believe through ground, perhaps this was the cause of my Holo May Kte to failed.

When I opened this DAC to replace the MCU printed circuit board.. the only cable inside is a flex band connecting this board to the main board. This board is also the display. What a design! This DAC is the best electronic component that I ever opened for service. Picking inside, the unit is full of little well done details, looking how all pcbs are isolated between them and also the quality built. In my humble opinion, this is a truly diamond jewel. Also, it is a bargain. All electronic components are placed with an outstanding organized set up. Every component before it is installed, it is measured. Every electronic component is hand chosen for the best. It is truly a beauty.

Here is a brief description from their web site: KTE May DAC - Top Tier Model with all the options, hand selected dac modules, KTE exclusive Caps, HoloAudio Caps, Dac Module exclusive cover/shields, Enhanced USB Module w/Titanis 2.0 circuit, Silver wiring, Red Nano Fuse.
Here you can read more about the specs, special circuits topology and construction of this hard to beat DAC.

https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/holo-audio-may-dac/

My ears tell me this is the way to go...Conrad Johnson quality sound really shines with this DAC. Try it, your ears will tell right away.

Happy listenning!

[AnotherJohnson]

I am sad to hear you had this extensive damage, but very glad that it did not cause a fire or injury. You were blessed to come out of it with good health and no building damage.

You might not have seen it, but I’d asked about your Ethernet feed the other day. As you note, the KTE model includes many carefully selected digital elements, so like Joe and I, you must believe these issues are important. Have you chosen any specific Ethernet wires, switches, or other digital delivery elements?

I’m going to be auditioning some things on Friday.

I’m glad your system is working again.

[admin]

@roberto

Wow, sorry to hear about the lightening strike. As annoying it is to lose the internet hardware, TV boxes, etc... thank god it didn't do any serious damage to the more expensive stereo equipment. One HDMI input loss on the Anthem is certainly annoying but could have been much worse. It has 8 HDMI inputs so it should not inhibit its use in any way.

As for the Holo Audio. Glad it was a simple and quick fix. Certainly a lightening strike can arc over to the ground and cause problems.

Agree on the amazing design. When you open that up, it really is just a gorgeous layout. Both form and function were incorporated in that design.

Question, were you using any surge protectors on the equipment?

[Joe Appierto]

I'm sorry, Roberto, that you were so unfortunate but as AJ and Admin have said the mercy is that no one was injured and the damage was somewhat contained. Still, it's a bummer.

[roberto]

AJ, Admin and Joe,

Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughts...and truly, it was a blessing that nothing else was damaged. Only electronics components. I use on the fridges a timer surge protection. But on a lighting strike, the real truly protection costs more than the whole house. There is no way that a surge protection is going to act when a lighting strikes. What works well is when the ground copper rod is installed in the yard, the cable is loose or rotten from the outside post, or having faulty contact in the brakes box, this could cause the 117AC line to go up...all our kitchen stove is 240V, also our hot water tank, the cloth dryer and the air conditioning.

Here in CR, we use two 117AC hot lines with a ground coming from the transformer post outside the house. The copper rod helps very well, when the post ground cable fails or it is very resistive. Ground loops often comes from this resistive cable. The Cable companies usually use it...and really 60Hz hum is easy to get. A reason why to use a ground loop transformer 1:1 for tv cable really works. One hot line also is for the wall AC outlets, and the other is for lighting the house, etc.

Surge protection in my system, no thanks. I had tried all of them, and the sound becomes boring. No dynamics, stressed sound quality, no fun. It's like eating a cooked potato with no butter and salt. But I must thank you for your concern. You don't want that this will happen again...and some protection might work...

Getting back to my system, the quality of CJ is caressing my ears. I brought an Apple Thunder Bay with 4 units SSD 4T for my music files only. These SSD are 2.5 inches only. And all work divine. The transfer of from my external hard drives were fast and easy task. Now I'm in the process to select the music file that I want to keep. 16T is a huge library. Besides Qobuz. I do have a lot of music to listen to. And with the Holo...it is for my ears like four of five stories higher of what I had before.

Happy listening!

[AnotherJohnson]

That is a lot of storage. You will be in good shape!

[roberto]

Tx AJ. Let yourself to be intoxicated by the Holo. It has balanced outputs. It sounds with much finesse and timbre. And it is a double Dac. For PCM uses a R2R ladder config and for DSD uses a Delta Sigma Dac.

It is very enjoyable to listen and has a very steady stage.

[admin]

Again, glad the damage was minimal. And more importantly that nobody was hurt.

As AJ said, that is a massive amount of storage. It should hold you over for some time (if not indefinitely).

[roberto]

I must confess that I never told to Mr Tim Connors that I had this thunder lighting striking all my house. I know that the super high voltage came through the ground, because the DAC does not have any Internet connection. So I can't tell that the problem of the MCU was caused by the thunder. I am assuming this. I was not in my house when it happened. So really, I don't know.

Mr. Tim Connors asked a few questions and he nailed the problem right away. Also he claimed that this is the first DAC with this kind of failure. It is very uncommon as I understand. The built quality is very sturdy. He was very suspicious regarding the failure problem. He was very unconvinced that I had that. So, I had to make a video showing him it. Then he sent the needed part for fixing this unusual problem. I must admit and tell that I did not have any invoice for the part and also the shipping cost was paid by Kitsune CO. They do honor the full warranty of the unit. And Mr Connors was always a gentleman.

I can't take off my ears from my system. I am rediscovering many new things that I am amused and impressed by this DAC. Because I did not have it working, I barrow from a friend a very well know DAC (I don't want to tell the brand) but I can say that the retail in the US circa the $15K, and I don't missed it. The sound is neat and very controlled. The overall sound was impecable, but lacked fun. Everything was there, good imaging, good timbre, the bass was somehow exaggerated on certain musical notes, but I did not have the fun that I have listening the Holo. Perhaps I am accustomed to the Holo.

[admin]

I have spoken with Tim Connors and he seems to be s straight shooter. If he says this was the first failure of the MCU they have had, I believe him. It's very possible that the cause of damage was the lightening strike. That would explain the rarity of this failure. Either way, that is exactly what warranty's are for. I'm very happy to hear that they have such a robust warranty and took care of the problem in such quick (and free) manner.

Overall, it seems like the Holo Audio May is a very reliable unit and they don't get a lot of service requests. That's a good thing!

[AnotherJohnson]

I have spoken with Tim Connors and he seems to be s straight shooter. If he says this was the first failure of the MCU they have had, I believe him. It's very possible that the cause of damage was the lightening strike. That would explain the rarity of this failure. Either way, that is exactly what warranty's are for. I'm very happy to hear that they have such a robust warranty and took care of the problem in such quick (and free) manner.

Overall, it seems like the Holo Audio May is a very reliable unit and they don't get a lot of service requests. That's a good thing!

Great service from Holo Audio, but warranties are not to cover lightning strikes. Warranties are to cover defects in materials and workmanship. Home insurance is for lightning strikes.

[roberto]

Talking with Tim, I learned that the unit must be kept on all the time. Do not power off it. But I didn't know that. I was powering on and off all the time. Tim suggested that this might cause the problem. So now, it is on all the time. Another tip from Tim was not to over sampling the signal. He said that the May Kte was designed for NOS to get the most of it.

All the failures were where the Internet hard wire was used. The connector RJ45 with UTP cat 6 carried the lighting strike current. Where I had it, that unit was blown.

There is no UTP connection in the Holo. Another thing was that I was listening to LPs. I sold my Black Bird Sumiko cartridge and I just installed again a Denon DL-103R low output MC cartridge. Of course the Sumiko is more sweet and mellow, but I am not listening too many LPs recently. I'm more into digital sound. There is another thing. The Sumiko produces less surface LP noise. The Denon is crystal clear and very dynamic cartridge. I can live with the Denon sound quality but I can't live without the digital sound quality coming from the Holo.

[admin]

Yes, the May is designed to be on 100% of the time. I only turn it off if I am going to be away for a few weeks.

I also agree with Tim, NOS mode is the most pleasing to my ears.

[roberto]

Yes, the May is designed to be on 100% of the time. I only turn it off if I am going to be away for a few weeks.

I also agree with Tim and you Admin, NOS mode is the most pleasing to my ears too. Also most users believe the same thing. In Facebook there is a group for Holo users. And also in audiophilestyle.com and whatsbestforum.com. In the audiophilestyle.com site you can talk with the designer of the famous HQPlayer software, Miska.

I am with you too Admin, NOS is the way to listen this marvelous DAC. The synergy with Conrad Johnson is fantastic. I just listened to a friend's system, with a Holo May Kte who uses Prima Luna gear and I was not impressed at all. With much respect to the owners of Prima Luna, my ears tell me that CJ belongs to the upper stories...and his power amp uses the same KT120s that my power amp uses too.

Happy listening!

[AnotherJohnson]

I had that Prima Luna amp back when I was doing the Levinson vs McIntosh integrateds vs ET7s2 + LP275Ms shootout late in 2021. It didn’t last a week here. PL surely didn’t belong in CJ’s class in that experience. On the bright side Upscale took it back without any discussion or attempt to change my mind.

[Big Dog RJ]

Robbo mate,

Very glad to hear about your DAC getting back to full spec, and now you're enjoying those fine tunes!

Apart from that, comparing Prima Luna to CJ... c'mon maaate, there's no comparison at all. CJ is a totally different class altogether, it belongs in the upper league. You know that and we all know that!

Now sit back and enjoy those glowing tubes.
Cheers, RJ

[roberto]

There is no comparison...I just went to his house to listen his Holo May Kte, the same DAC that I have, and his speakers are Spatial Audio Labs, model M3 Sapphire. A lot of bass comes out from these speakers. I tried to find a way of how take some bass energy off from them, and I did move them around to find a much better place where that bass could be tamed.

He also had those foam made bass traps, and I worked out setting them and doing room corners to bring down the low frequency standing room waves. He is single, not wife around, so I told him to move for a much bigger room, and he did.
I have to visit him again, he is now in a much bigger room. He is reporting to have a much better bass control and also, he is using the 4 ohms tab with better results too. He was using the 8 ohm tab before.

Well, that's what he has, and I have to try to help him to get the most of his system. I'm sure he knows too, that CJ is from another league.

[admin]

Corner bass traps and moving the speakers out of the corners is the best immediate thing you can do to bring down the bass. Having a larger room definitely makes things easier.

The M3's are a funny speaker. They totally forgo the box so they are essentially like a dipole speaker. They also have two huge woofer drivers just suspended in a frame. it's certainly a unique design,... one has to ask why all other manufacturers put their cones in a box? Putting some acoustic dampening directly behind the speaker may be a good idea as well.