DAC Upgrade

I couldn’t use the link as it says too many page visits.

Your not trying hard enough, I'm getting no fine.

Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that NOS mode has no benefit in regards to transparency over OS mode, all it does is reduce the treble

Well, you’ll just have to stick to that belief, and be deprived.

In NOS mode with the Holo Spring dac playing PCM RedBook, there is more body to the sound, and the treble has more transparent and noticeable harmonic extension to it.

As for DSD it doesn’t interest me, maybe it sounds better in OS mode on the Holo, who cares.

@georgehifi

In NOS mode with the Holo Spring dac playing PCM RedBook, there is more body to the sound, and the treble has more transparent and noticeable harmonic extension to it.

Making claims in regards to frequencies you can’t hear are we?
https://www.stereophile.com/content/holoaudio-spring-kitsuné-tuned-edition-level-3-da-processor-meas...

It very clearly has reduced treble in NOS mode with 44.1kHz, and with 96 or 192 it is practically identical to OS mode.

Is “harmonic extension” the new marketing description for harmonic distortion. If so, that directly contradicts your statement about transparency, as we can clearly see it has more distortion in NOS mode.

It’s like arguing a bookshelf speaker has deeper bass than a 12” sub, it just isn’t true.
 
You should really consider the possibility what you are hearing is non-existent, which is common in Hi-Fi (power cords, headphone break-in, silver sounding different than copper (when conductivity is matched), etc.).

+1 @mzkmxcv

NOS will often roll off more than designs that upsample.

R-2R is inherently less linear overall and has differential non-linearities also as it is impossible to design precision resistors to the requisite degree of accuracy. Therefore you will get more correlated musically related distortion. This is a fact. This is why engineers prefer Delta Sigma for linearity.

Ultimate linearity is DSD or high resolution PCM through a delta sigma style DAC. The only issue with lower bit rates is higher noise. This is why the latest delta sigma designs are 6 bit - a hybrid between R-2R and a single bit delta-sigma which is achieved by massively parallel 1 bit delta sigma converters (equivalent to a resistor network that achieves bit depth through additionnof various resistors)

Wow! I didn't realized I would create such a firestorm of opinions on DAC's and the various technology and  formats. I respect every opinion on the board but although measurements are important, I have found that great measurements don't always produce great sounding equipment. You can see the state of confusion we audiophiles are in when it comes to buying our equipment since we now choose from a plethora of really good products. I wish I could evaluate every DAC mentioned here but that is not possible so the only other choice other than system measurements is to rely on the findings of other audiophiles and reviewers. I am sure that any of the DAC's mentioned here would make me very happy at my price range. I will continue my search for now and probably add to my short list. 
Thanks everyone for your input