Review: HoloAudio Red DDC & Network Streamer

Sometimes it’s nice to come across a hifi product that does what it’s supposed to do without trying to do extra. Just the bits, m’am.

The HoloAudio Red digital-to-digital converter and network streamer is one such hifi product even though it does 1 more thing than I need, namely the DDC part. But I understand how some people may want to convert the USB output from a computer, for example, into one of the HoloAudio Red’s digital outputs like I²S or AES.

Seeing as I use Roon 25 hours a day 8 days a week to control all of my digital music playing needs, my interest in the HoloAudio Red is its streaming capabilities, taking in a digital signal from my Grimm MU1’s internal storage or Tidal, Qobuz, or Internet Radio over the Barn network and sending out digital audio over AES to the Barn resident totaldac d1-unity or Mola Mola Tambaqui. That’s it. A seemingly small order. And even though some people see this function as being akin to a simple pass through, experience has shown that some network streamers add their own stamp on the sound coming out of the speakers. The fact of the matter is some, many?, streamers are less like a water filter where all we get on the other side is clean water and in the worst case act more like one of those abominations that flavor water by the drop.

One of the insidious things about impurity in digital audio is the best way to know what it sounds like is to remove it. Think of that experience like being fed nothing but Black Cherry enhanced water (ew) for years and then taking a gulp of plain old clean clear water. Aha! Eureka!, even.

So it is with the HoloAudio Red. I heard the absence of music quality deteriorating noise soon after I put it into my system(s). Low level resolution through the Barn resident Mola Mola Tambaqui and totaldac d1-unity was pure and clear, image density and specificity rang out true, and I had the distinct sense that I was hearing signal sans noise. Seeing as the HoloAudio Red costs $798, I’d call this more than good news for anyone looking to buy a simple streamer that does its job exceedingly well—quietly and without flash other than the Red’s lovely red aluminum case. No screen, no buttons, no WiFi no Bluetooth. Ethernet in, pure and clear digital audio out.

I admit all of that is a bit of an oversimplification. While the HoloAudio Red offers the usual suspects when it comes to digital audio outputs—Coax (RCA and BNC), Toslink/Optical, USB, and AES—it also adds I²S which is becoming more popular in the land of audiophiles even though there’s no standard for I²S over HDMI.

HoloAudio tackles this potential inability to communicate by providing multiple pin-out configurations selected via the DIP switch on the unit’s underbelly and explained in the manual. Nice!

The HoloAudio Red is Roon Ready and also supports Airplay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, HQPlayer NAA, UPNP, Squeezelite, and Scream. Pick your poison when it comes to controlling music playback. Inside the Red’s red chassis resides a Pi Compute Module 4 which only uses the Pi4 as core system. It differs from a standard Raspberry Pi because it does not have all peripheral components on board, but has been developed by HoloAudioAudio, of course optimized for Audio according to the company. The Red runs on HoloAudio’s RedOS software which resides on the included MicroSD card that gets slipped into the TF Card slot on the unit’s backside.

That’s the Red’s setup screen which I connected to by typing its IP address in my browser. I ran with Roon in Performance Mode but users who use HQPlayer, UPnP, AirPlay 2, Squeezelite, Scream, Spotify Connect or Tidal Connect to control music playback are represented as well. If a firmware update is available, that option will show up on this page as a button to click to initiate the update. Once again I recommend a peek at the manual for an in-depth description of these options.

shown with the Pathos InPol Heritage MKII Integrated Amplifier which drove the (out of sight) Canton Reference 2 speakers

If you’re interested in a simple way to stream, I recommend giving Tidal a try and use Tidal Direct to control playback with your smartphone or browser as hardware interface. For $10.99/month you’ll have immediate access to more music than you can possibly listen to in a few lifetimes in lossless quality. To my mind, this is the greatest development for hifi in years.

The HoloAudio Red got to play with both of the Barn’s DACs, the Mola Mola Tambaqui (review) and totaldac d1-unity (review), in a number of system settings filled with review gear. I used an AudioQuest Diamond and Carbon AES cables to connect to the totaldac and Mola Mola respectively. My Roon core resides on the Grimm MU1 (review) which also acts as a Roon Endpoint, or streamer in this context so it also performs the same function as the HoloAudio Red. I did not try the Red’s DDC functionality because I don’t use any USB-based devices to feed digital audio into my system(s).

photo credit: HoloAudio

For those familiar with the superb sounding Tambaqui, you already know it houses its own streamer making it a streaming DAC and also ripe for a comparison here. And I can tell you the HoloAudio Red offered a clear and distinct improvement in sound quality over the Tambaqui’s internal streamer.

On Arooj Aftab’s stunning Night Reign, released on Verve in 2024, the Red delivered more clarity both in terms of each element’s distinct voice and overall sound image specificity and solidity as well as improved bass performance and an increased sense of scale and dynamics all of which resulted in a deeper connection to this deep and lovely music as compared to the Tambauqui’s internal streamer. And I’m not talking about having to play the same 5 seconds of the same track over and over and over to zero in on difference, I’m talking about an immediate and obvious improvement that also had the result of making music sound higher in level, i.e. louder, even though it wasn’t (I measured). Nice.

On the other hand, the Grimm MU1 acting as Roon server and streamer imparted more air, breath, and harmonic richness to Jolie Holland’s addictive Haunted Mountain, a record I cannot get tired of hearing even after countless plays, as compared to the HoloAudio Red. While I’m not surprised by these perceived differences and improvements the Grimm MU1 brings to the table, which is one reason I bought it, I could very easily live with the little Red feeding my totaldac d1-unity as it does everything it does exceedingly well and only pales in comparison to much more expensive gear. Much, much more expensive gear.

Porridge Radio’s Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me is among my favorite albums of 2024 for all its expansive magical moments and I relied on its varied voices to suss out differences between the HoloAudio Red and the Barn resident Auralic ARIES G1.1 Streamer (review). And what I found is the Auralic gave this heavy music more weight, sparkle, and richness compared to the Red’s somewhat leaner sound. And I do meant somewhat because this leanness was only highlighted through comparative listening. In other words, I would not call the HoloAudio Red lean, rather the Auralic simply sounds richer. An important distinction especially when price is taken into account. It’s also important to focus on the many additional features and functions offered by the ARIES G1.1 which you can read about in that review.

But to continue to drive this important point home—if all you want and/or need is a streamer that gets out of the way of the music in play, the HoloAudio Red punches that ticket hard. I will also note, in brief, that I also have an old Bluesound Node and there’s no comparison to be made between it and the HoloAudio Red as the former makes music sound kinda muddy and gray where the Red doesn’t.

shown with the lovely Luxman L-505Z Integrated Amplifier which drove the (out of sight) Gauder Akustik Capello 100 speakers with the Auralic ARIES G1.1 below

The HoloAudio Red showed up in Barn back in October and it has seen lots of play time, mainly with the Mola Mola Tambaqui and totaldac d1-unity where it proved to be very good at doing its job, so good in fact that its asking price of $798 strikes me as a really big deal. While it doesn’t offer the same sound quality as much more costly and feature rich products like the Grimm MU1 or Auralic ARIES G1.1, it holds its own when it to comes to sitting down and enjoying the rich wide wonderful world of streaming even when paired with much more costly DACs.

In these terms, the HoloAudio Red DDC & Network Streamer is the very best option I’ve reviewed anywhere near its very reasonable asking price. Bravo!


HoloAudio Red DDC & Network Streamer
Price: $798
US Distributor Website: Kitsune HiFi

Specifications

Product type: Network Streamer & DDC (Digital to Digital Converter)
Ethernet: Ethernet RJ45, GigE 1000Mbps
Digital inputs: USB 2.0
Digital outputs:

1x I2S HDMI (Holo Audio compatible)
1x Coaxial S/PDIF RCA
1x Coaxial S/PDIF BNC
1x AES/EBU XLR
1x Optical Toslink
1x USB-A 2.0 (USB Host) (only when in streaming mode)

Supported file formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, WMA-L, OGG, ALAC, FLAC, OPUS, WAV, AIFF
CPU: Quad core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.5GHz
Native sampling rates: 16-24bit 44.1-768kHz – Native DSD64 – 512 Note: Future release will support up to DSD1024 / 1.5Mhz
Compatible OS:

iOS
Android
Windows
Mac OS

Streaming services: Deezer, Spotify, Qobuz, Roon, Tidal, Web radios
Others services

Airplay 2
Spotify Connect
Tidal Connect
HQPlayer NAA
UPNP
Squeezelite
Scream
RoonReady

GENERAL

Power supply: 100-240VAC (cable included)
Dimensions: 220 x 146 x 46mm
Weight: 2 kg
Package:

1x HoloAudio Red
1x Power cable
1x MicroSD card (RedOS software pre-installed) (must be inserted before powering up)