Pi2 Design Mercury 3 vs. Holo Audio Red Network Streamer Comparison
Keeping this short as usual.
12/2 Update Using Volumio instead of Red OS:
So running Volumio on the Holo Red was easy enough. My report? I think changes were very minor between Red OS and Volumio. Relative to the Mercury 3, Tte Holo Audio Red still sounded brighter, more tangy in the upper mids lower/treble, a bit more grainy, and disjointed (with the warmth on the low end and tangy highs). More incisive but also less annoying / glarey / grainy as with Red OS. In other words, very subtle shift, but not enough to totally change the sound of the underlying Holo Audio Red hardware.
I will again qualify my personal preferences, certain CDTs such as the old Theta Basic III, various VD players, ancient overbuilt top-loaders, ET-3, etc. I still much prefer the Mercury 3.
Notes:
Atomic Bob's Noise Nuke: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org...
The small little rectangle on the desk next to the streamers is an SMSL PO100 USB to coaxial / optical digital out. It sounds horrible, very "digital" with nasty highs compared to both the Holo Audio Re and Pi2 Design Mercury 3. I forgot to mention it in the video.
There was no difference in sound quality between wired Ethernet and Wi-Fi on the Mercury 3.
The Holo Audio Red is built like a tank.
0:00 Intro
0:30 Holo Audio Red - Spectacular Measurements
1:04 Personal Preferences and Stuff Sounding Different
1:24 Mercury 3 Evolution from Mercury 1 and Pi2AES
1:49 Mercury 3 Power Supply Choke
2:29 Test Conditions
3:00 The Winner
3:20 Holo Audio Red
3:51 Synergies at Fault?
4:51 Holo Audio Red Infinite Rolling Options to Optimize
5:23 Always Something Better and Outro