Best native DSD DACs for use with HQPlayer?

It can be confusing to understand the numbering associated with the Holo Spring, apologies if I am telling you things you already know.

The Spring has been released in two models. The current model II improved on model I by adding:

  • a remote control;
  • a 48kHz family DSD oscillator (means you can run closed form and other integer filters in HQP on all source material);
  • a better USB input.

Each model has been marketed by Katsune and other distributors with three levels of tinkering:

  • level 1 - stock;
  • level 2 - Jensen capacitors in power supply;
  • level 3 - silver internal wiring and transformer winding.

I have a model I level 2 and have been very pleased with it. I exclusively use the NOS (non-oversampling) setting which bypasses all the internal filtering, leaving that role exclusively to HQP. The Spring has 4 resistor ladder boards (R/2R), one each for PCM and DSD with a twin to control linearity. The native DSD board means that a DSD signal from HQP is never converted back to PCM.

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