Often when a DAC is called intense and visceral as I just did, a few concerns raise their pin heads. Hence I purposefully looked for them. Here's what I found. Sibilants in male and female vocals can be a stumbling block for gear that over-emphasizes the leading edge to create an artificial sense of resolution. Nothing of the sort happened with the Cyan 2. I challenged it with Musica Nuda's "Roxane" which can turn either spitty or shrill with the wrong gear. But the Holo projected the voice with all its natural intensity without ever defaulting to aggression.

Similarly with Tom Waits' spookily experimental "What's he building?" from Mule Variations which offers many opportunities for his close-miked voice to show excessive spittle. The Cyan 2 simply put Tom in the middle of the stage just feet away from me as real as it gets without ever capsizing. The Denafrips never conjured up the same intimate image. It set Tom a little farther back, a little more detached in the way he delivers his spooky poetry in what should be hair-raising storytelling.

Another area where DACs focused on dynamics and resolution can fall short is tonal richness by veering towards lean and in extreme cases, threadbare. Again nothing of the sort with the Holo's very accurate tonal presentation. That's different from saying that it was consistently rich and dense. It actually has very little tonal character of its own. That results in the greatest difference from one recording to the next and a presentation that seems very faithful. It comes with a serious word of caution for those who listen to many early digital pressings. Especially over the I²S connection which extracts a level of detail and dynamics from old silver discs you simply didn't know was there, it won't fix the glare or tonal whitishness which often accompanies early CD, especially DDD recordings. If your musical diet contains a lot of 80s and 90s DDD, you might be better served by a Denafrips DAC to rejuvenate them with a little more warmth to smooth over rough edges. If your music collection mostly consists of audiophile recordings, you are in for a treat with the Holo Cyan 2 because it truly makes the CD format shine.

I tried hard to make the Cyan 2 betray any usual shortcomings of extremely resolving DACs. Outside of early digital recordings which it won't fix, I really couldn't get it to misbehave. Just like the AMP-23R, its resolution and dynamic prowess don't mean artificial trickery or selective emphasis. It just gives us back more of the very fine recorded nuances. And what a treat that is. I spent a few weeks revisiting old favorites and enjoyed vast soundstages, detailed imaging and superb dynamics with gorgeous tone colors. I'll spare you a piece-by-piece account but here are a few tracks that came alive. All of them are available on Tidal for maximum sound quality should you fancy a listen. Janelle Monáe's "Make me Feel" has one of the most immersive soundstages you'll ever hear, with the music playing beyond your walls. But you should also hear it at your sides and even behind you from a 2-channel system whose room addresses early reflections.

Adam Ben Ezra's mastery on the upright bass is on full display with "Can't stop running" where he uses it both as a percussive and stringed instrument. In high-resolution streaming the dynamics of the percussive impacts are striking and you can hear the strings resonate in sympathy. Think of a younger Renaud Garcia-Fons with similar Mediterranean influences and a lot of raw energy.

For some classical fireworks, don't miss out on Stokowski's electrified if unconventional read of Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody with the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra. Stokowski's liberties with composers' scores can be a little off-putting to purists but this recording really shows how deeply he understood Liszt's work.

This is another recording with a wide and deep soundstage where you'll hear each section of the orchestra with its distinctive tone color. The Cyan 2 will reveal all the complex orchestration Liszt arranged which many DACs can't properly parse. This is a great track to hear where and how the Cyan 2 eclipses the Pontus II. The Denafrips sounds more narrow, flat and instrumental details clump together. When I talk about a front-row versus mid-hall experience, this is one of the best recordings to demonstrate the difference.