Features:

• A new generation of linear compensation technology. A better solution to the resistance, accuracy errors caused by switching components and PCB, after compensations makes the equivalent accuracy reach 0.00005%.
• The new generation of de-glitch technology can provide a full range without increasing the noise floor or other adverse effects.
• Based on this new generation of technology, “泉3” Spring3 (non preamp model) can provide a SINAD of >112dB and a dynamic range of >128dB, which represents the performance limit reached by today’s most advanced R2R architecture DAC.
• Using the ultimate performance of PLL+FIFO technology, provides 0.1Hz Third-Order low-pass ability to inhibit jitter. It also uses a high-performance femtosecond VCXO as the PLL clock source. Under the premise of being almost immune to the front-end jitter, it can also lock up to 1.5us-2us @ 1KHz signal with high jitter. (It can lock up to 1.5us-2us @ 1kHz signal with high jitter on the premise of almost being immune front-end jitter).
• The USB interface uses proprietary firmware with ultra-low latency, a highly reliable data transmission, ideal USB eye pattern measurements that contributes to 2-4 times higher performance than official firmware.
• A single, independent HDMI-I2S input interface is provided, which has a four-way independent circuit, as opposed to standard LVDS chip, making I2S clock signals subject to lower interference and lower jitter. In addition, the I2S input can be configured with a specific pinout configuration, making it compatible with most of the HDMI-I2S digital devices on the market.
• Optional (Factory installed only): A fully balanced, fully discrete analog pre-amplifier. Provides 84 steps, each step is 1db of volume control.

Spring 3’s input and output interface:

• Digital input interface includes
• USB (ground isolation)
• RCA coaxial
• BNC coaxial
• AES
• optical fiber
• I2S (HDMI) – improved ultra high performance 4way custom circuit (NOT LVDS anymore)
• All digital input interface supports DSD (DOP mode).
• Analog Output interface: single-ended, balanced.

Spring3 DAC R2R structure and design + Input/output Stage

Modern and popular delta-sigma type DAC differs from R2R within one clock analog value can recover a sampling point, and the delta-sigma is used to represent an analog signal after passing through oversampling and high-speed digital switching 0 and 1. In comparison, the conversion structure of R2R is most direct and pure, but delta-sigma is essentially a digital chip, high-speed digital signals 0 and 1 switch to the low-pass filter to process the analog signal and this process is prone to various problems, produce digital sound (digititus) and also in the super-sampling process will inevitably cause some ringing and distortion. But DAC R2R structure requires high-precision resistor network which the cost can be very expensive. And the digital delta-sigma DAC chip in comparison is very low cost. Patented R2R technology. This is the first discrete DAC that has Linear compensation and this allows for ultimate music reproduction accuracy. Dual R2R ladder network with advanced architecture for PCM, and Dual Resistor Ladder network with optimized architecture for DSD!

I/O stages: There is an Op Amp used for input stage and discrete component used for the output stage. The discrete output stage is working in pure class A.  The output voltage is 2.9 Vrms for single ended output and 5.8 Vrms for balanced output (dsd playback is half these voltages). The single ended is RCA. Balanced is XLR. They both use the same output stage. It’s BiPolar Junction Transistors, direct coupled. The big MKP capacitor you can see in the output stage is for the power supply, not for signal coupling. And the Spring3 Output impedance is 27 Ohm – RCA and 54 Ohm – XLR. 

A common question we get…” Why do you use an Op amp at the input of the DAC?”  

The input stage with an opamp is a good choice. It has a paired transistor input by the nature it is manufactured. But an opamp for the output stage is limited due to it’s size and the thermal capability. Also, no one will offer an opamp with class A output as it’s efficiency is so low. So an opamp used as input and discrete output combined together will have an advantage. It doesn’t mean that all discrete is not good. Actually, if we need to achieve enough low distortion. It needs at least 30-40 transistors. Which not only will it be huge and waste of space but it will also be too costly. I mean, to beat the opamp’s performance, a simple discrete architecture is not possible, although an all discrete design looks beautiful.

The true balanced circuit design

These two pictures can explain the true balanced design quite well. The bottom side has the same resistor ladders as top side. The dac module is a pure 24bit discrete R2R design (PCM) and discrete Ladder Dac optimized architecture (DSD).

(spring2 dac module is show only for reference)

XLR is using all of the circuit and RCA is just using half of them. The balanced output has better performance (THD, noise) and also better common mode rejection rate. If you’re listening environment contains interference, either from AC power or from EMI/RF then you will find a full balanced system can really help significantly.

What are the Spring 3’s sound characteristics? :

One of the strong points of the spring is the spatial sounds stage presentation. It’s very wide and precise. It never sounds congested like many DACs. The high end is very detailed and never harsh sounding. It has the R2R goodness that many have come to know and love. R2R has almost a cult like following and this DAC will surely become a sought after DAC.  Everything comes effortlessly for this DAC. Bass is layered and textures, quite full and present without ever masking over the sweet mid tones that are produced. One special thing about the Spring is its amazing voltage regulation circuitry that better than 0.2uV output noise! This along with the O-core transformer helps regulate the purest power which translates to audio clarity and accurate reproduction. It must be heard to appreciate and come to love its sound.

Jeff Zhu was asked to briefly comment on the Spring3 and it’s differences from previous models… He has said:

Spring3 PLL is nearly the same design as our flagship dac, the May. The main difference between Spring3 and May is that May uses our latest technology and cost is no object, therefore has better components. For Spring3, it uses the latest technology as May. But the main goal is to get high performance at reasonable cost, and I believe we absolutely achieved this goal. Although it’s price is higher than Spring2. I think the performance/cost ratio is higher than Spring2. It’s not much behind May! The pre-amp module inside is a very decent way to control volume, really one of the best ways. I think the digital volume is terrible, especially for this level of DAC. So I never added digital volume control on Spring and May, only on Cyan which is our entry level product. Digital volume is very easy and has very low cost added, albeit compromised. The reason we don’t use it is that ‘free digital volume’ will lead customer to use it and not realize it is not ideal for use with our higher end dacs. I don’t want misguide the user to use our DAC is that way. I think they will be most pleased with our fully balanced, discrete analog volume control for a low optional upgrade price.

You may be asking… well what is so special about this DAC? A Discrete R2R DAC with linear compensation…what is this?

There’s an additional R2R ladder in the Spring3 DAC, it compensates the main R2R ladder. It works like trimming, but trimming is to change the resistor value. This additional R2R ladder is digitally controlled and will accurately compensate the resistor tolerance. For example, the MSB of 16 bits should have the value of 32768, but due to tolerance, it represents 32700 in real world results. Then that additional R2R ladder will compensate 68 into it. Thus it now becomes 32700 + 68 = 32768.  What this means is that it’s likely the most precise Discrete DAC on the market with near flawless linearity, lowest THD and highest SNR of any NOS DAC. The sound is simply something you must experience to fully realize how special this DAC is. It’s a patented technology exclusive to HoloAudio. KitsuneHiFi is also HoloAudio USA and proud to bring you this DAC.

Kitsune HiFi carefully chooses products that we want to offer to our customers and be unique and/or stand out from all these audio supply stores. Jeff Zhu is a very talented engineer and is the brains behind HoloAudio. Some say he is the man behind the curtain and he has certainly impressed us with his knowledge and his newest line of products that surely will leave you impressed too! The Spring3 DAC is his newest product and is capable of DSD native on an Discrete Resister Ladder DAC!  This Spring3 is capable of DSD1024 native and actually running on his bespoke discrete ladder DAC! This is a unique custom build discrete resistor network dac with linear compensation and advanced architecture based on R2R however we don’t refer to it as R2R since the design is far superior. This is our second discrete DAC that has linear compensation and this allows for ultimate music reproduction accuracy. Dual R2R network with advanced architecture for PCM, and Dual Resistor Ladder network with optimized architecture for DSD! We will be offering the first Spring3 DAC’s in the USA and the KTE/Kitsune Tuned edition is no longer just exclusive to us. We have licensed the build as being the ONLY authorized modded edition of the Spring3 DAC by HoloAudio. This means our authorized dealers will carry our KTE Spring3! And if you buy from a dealer you will get support from that particular dealer. Many may continue to choose KitsuneHiFi and will receive our excellent customer service that we are well known for.

*Note: KTE Spring3 DAC does NOT need firmware update in some cases. They come shipped with 30.14 firmware (pre aug2021) and Gen2.0 Enhanced USB Module. (compatibility firmware), however if you need to use DSD1024 and PCM 1.536mhz than you would need to install 30.12 firmware which is less compatible with some devices. However the 30.12 firmware does support high res content with Intel Gen7,Gen8,Gen9, Gen10 type Intel boards and many AMD comparable motherboards are incompatible with this firmware. And some dedicated cards with Altera Chipsets. Post Aug2021 KTE Spring3 come shipped with Gen2.1 Enhanced USB Module.  Between Gen2.0 and 2.1 there are no differences in sound quality, only added support for AMD CPU. Many users will not need this module, however if you have AMD CPU, contact us to discuss our swap out program and how you may qualify for this program.

Note: WIN7 users may have issue if you don’t have the most recent hotfix for SHA-256bit code signatures. By default Win7 only supports SHA-1 signatures, yet SHA-1 is obsolete and this hotfix is very important for security reasons. Win 8 and above have SHA-256bit by default. Some users reported these drivers not installing properly, so be sure your Win7 is up to date, or download the hotfix here (KB3033929) : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3033929