Holo Audio USA is represented by Kitsuné. We do NOT ship Holo Audio products to North America! (USA/Canada)

REVIEW

https://alpha-audio.net/review/review-holo-audio-serene-level-1-voorversterker/

SERENE PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

• The Serene “晴” adopts a true and fully-balanced design from end to end, with 4 sets of channels, left and right channels each form a fully-discrete design, each channel has two fully-discrete and separate amplification modules to complete buffering and amplification (attenuation) functions. For a total of 8 amplification modules.
• The 8 amplification modules of Serene “晴” are of a fully discrete design. The shortcomings of the transistor itself are solved through structural design and implementation. Its tone can exceed the limitations of traditional transistors. Using significant amounts of paired transistors delivers superior linearity and also has the advantages of electron tubes and transistors at the same time. Its tone can exceed the limitations of traditional
• Serene’s “晴” power supply is a completely independent structure from the secondary transformer. This is a dual mono amplifier placed in a chassis, so it has a full frequency >130dB performance of channel separation, so that the sound field is perfectly reproduced.
• Serene “晴” volume control is a fully balanced stepping device controlled by relay-controlled gain stage. Relays are the finest quality with Silver Palladium (AgPd) Gold Plated contacts. For a total of 84 steps, each step is 1db volume, and provides a volume control from -78dB to +6dB. Its advantage is that it has ultra low noise and can be accurately controlled at low volume without causing the phenomenon of left and right channels having unmatched levels. The matching degree of left and right channels in all volume ranges are within +/-0.1dB.

Standard Model includes

• 7N copper, round wire O-type transformer, which was used in the Spring 2 (non-KTE)
• Standard copper hook-up wire
• Schurter Gold Fuse, same fuse used in Spring 2/May (non-KTE)
• Standard capacitors / HoloAudio, audio grade capacitors
• CNC Aluminum Remote Control

SPECIFICATIONS

WARRANTY – 3 years warranty, both parts and labor, coverage of one way shipping (return shipping at cost to seller once product is confirmed as a warranty claim issue). Be sure to buy from Magna Hifi or authorized HoloAudio reseller in Europe.

HEADPHONE OUTPUT

There are 2 XLR stereo pair outputs available on the Serene. XLR 1 has the lowest output impedance and is recommended to connect to your amplifier or can be used for headphones. (requires balanced cable with XLR 3-pin connector for left and one for right channel). The XLR 2 output could be used for amplifiers with an higher input impedance.

The output impedance of an ideal preamp is zero in theory.  This means that regardless of the amount of current drawn by an external load, the output voltage of the preamp remains unaffected. This is an undesired effect so in most situations we prefer the preamp to have a very low output impedance.

XLR 1 = Preferred output for amplifiers and suitable for headphones
XLR 2 = Suitable to drive amplifiers (specially for higher impedance inputs)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Serene is not just a preamp. It is matching the Holo MAY perfectly! So by function, it’s nothing particularly special at first glance. Fully balanced amp. And each channel has 2 discrete amp, one for buffering and one to amplify. Jeff Zhu has put tremendous amounts of time to develop this amp and has researched a way to get more detail and natural sound from a discrete transistor based amplifier. This is more comparable to tube sound however with better detail retrieval.

We have chosen specific transistors that have high performance of thermal character. So with a large amount of these transistors we have made an amp that performs extremely well by design. As we have said before, the Serene has discrete amp modules. Each module has about 50 transistors per module. This ensures superior linearity. In a tube amp, the more tubes improves linearity, but how many tubes are considered reasonable? The amount of transistors in the Serene is very high for many discrete amplifiers on the market. This is key for its performance, sound signature, albeit a bit more costly… we think one might agree it is well worth it.

Premium grade components have been carefully chosen to deliver the best possible sound signature that Holo Audio is well known for. For an example; Quality Holo Audio Caps are used and our most preferred after testing many other choices. Also a quality O-Type transformer is used for optimum audio performance and of course is properly shielded from surrounding components. Each part of this circuit design has been well sorted out and specific components paired for optimal audio performance.