It was pretty fantastic out of the box to be honest. Maybe in the first 20 hours, I found staging a bit narrow and the sound a tad 'raw', but it all opened and eased up after like 50 hours at most? Absolutely awesome DAC this is!
Holo Audio Cyan 2 DAC
- Thread starter JerseyD
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I just finished installing mine and even after a few minutes I'm blown away and I haven't even tried upsampling yet. Coming from a 9038 pro powered SMSL SU9 the soundstage, imaging and timbre are all at another level - well worth the four week wait. Just letting it warm up now as I'll no doubt have a major listening session tonight.
BShaw
500+ Head-Fier
Same here, it was only about 15 minutes in when I clearly heard what was going on. Can’t wait to put some more time on it!It was pretty fantastic out of the box to be honest. Maybe in the first 20 hours, I found staging a bit narrow and the sound a tad 'raw', but it all opened and eased up after like 50 hours at most? Absolutely awesome DAC this is!
muhammedcakin
New Head-Fier
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I believe kitsune is one of their distributors
I used to own a number of good DACs, but the Cyan 2 is easily my favourite so far.
RME-ADI2
The Cyan 2 is just a lot more natural, being an R2R design. More alive, more organic with more depth and three dimensionality. No competition for me personally.
Soekris 2541
My first R2R DAC. Nice timbre compared to d/s DACs with lovely mids, but a bit soft and flat for my taste with bass roll off.
Chord Qutest
Lovely Chord speed, precision, clarity. Depth is excellent for a d/s (FPGA) DAC. A little thin and still not quite as natural, 'fleshy' as R2R.
Chord Hugo TT2
Technicalities are better on the TT2: more detail, more refinement. Yet I find the Cyan 2 more exciting, more engaging, thicker, more lifelike. I see why some folks would prefer the ultimate balance and clarity of the TT2, but I personally enjoy the well-defined and more dynamic/impactful R2R sound of Holo.
Musician Pegasus
My second R2R DAC. The Cyan 2 destroys it. Pegasus has nice lifelike tone and timbre with large soundstage but can't compete with the precision and dynamics of the Cyan 2.
At this point I would only be interested in higher-end R2R DACs like the May (which I auditioned), Rockna, perhaps Taurus or Terminator, but all of those are out of budget, so I stay extremely happy with my Cyan 2.
I quite look forward to hearing your impressions when you decide to take the plunge into HQPlayer with the Cyan 2I used to own a number of good DACs, but the Cyan 2 is easily my favourite so far.
RME-ADI2
The Cyan 2 is just a lot more natural, being an R2R design. More alive, more organic with more depth and three dimensionality. No competition for me personally.
Soekris 2541
My first R2R DAC. Nice timbre compared to d/s DACs with lovely mids, but a bit soft and flat for my taste with bass roll off.
Chord Qutest
Lovely Chord speed, precision, clarity. Depth is excellent for a d/s (FPGA) DAC. A little thin and still not quite as natural, 'fleshy' as R2R.
Chord Hugo TT2
Technicalities are better on the TT2: more detail, more refinement. Yet I find the Cyan 2 more exciting, more engaging, thicker, more lifelike. I see why some folks would prefer the ultimate balance and clarity of the TT2, but I personally enjoy the well-defined and more dynamic/impactful R2R sound of Holo.
Musician Pegasus
My second R2R DAC. The Cyan 2 destroys it. Pegasus has nice lifelike tone and timbre with large soundstage but can't compete with the precision and dynamics of the Cyan 2.
At this point I would only be interested in higher-end R2R DACs like the May (which I auditioned), Rockna, perhaps Taurus or Terminator, but all of those are out of budget, so I stay extremely happy with my Cyan 2.
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