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My HRT Music Streamer HD DAC is a game changer

I haven't started a thread this long for years, I think, so you have a hint right there. The truth is that I can't say enough good things about the new inexpensive DACs that seem to appear every week. I have only tried two -- the Audioquest Dragonfly is the other one -- but when I decided on the HRT Music Streamer HD, I knew I had hit gold for not much dough. I have been an audiophile since the early seventies, now retired, and my audio system is just appropriate for a small room, but forget the system --I don't remember enjoying music as much as I do now-- perhaps during my Thorens/ADC analog days, but that was a long time ago. A few years back I settled on a Squeezebox with Bolder power supply, but there is no comparison between it and the new DACs. My decision on the HRT HD was heavily due to its (true) balanced outputs, since my system is on the opposite side of the room from my computer. When the HRT HD is "correctly fettled," as Alan Sircom rightly puts it in Hi-Fi+ (meaning for me KingRex battery power and Elijah Audio Isolaate BL USB cable magic), it is awesome and then some. Ambience, natural timbre of instruments and voices, performers and instruments that have real body (not paper ships on a paper sea), huge soundstage, the feeling that you are there with the performers. Audio Nirvana!
vladimir
vladimir OP
346 posts
 
Yes, I used it by itself for about two weeks and it was better than the Dragonfly and much better than my Squeezebox. Battery power makes a lot of difference, though. I had to buy a BIX550 as a backup because the KingRex only plays for 4-5 hours and then needs 7-8 hours to recharge.
agisthos
504 posts
 
I just read that hi-fi+ review and was wondering if he was over the top by saying it could keep in Bricasti and dCS company.

Unusually with these budget dac's they just say its good for the money - but he was very enthusiastic, and Alan Sircom is not prone to this sort of hyperbole.

So thanks for a 2nd opinion Vlad !! Now what does this DAC sound like via SE outputs?
dtc's avatar
dtc
1,047 posts
 
Art Dudley reviewed this DAC in the June Stereophile. He found that the top end was a little harsh but praised its openness clarity. I believe he used the DAC without any additions. In the end he preferred the Hadide DAC HD.
vladimir OP
346 posts
 
Dtc, I don't hear treble emphasis or harshness of any kind, but then again I'm an old guy and perhaps my ACI Sapphire XLs soft-dome tweeters need some help there too. Now that the DAC is fully broken-in, the sense of ambience, instrument body and depth layering is something to enjoy, even listening to Pandora. I am so happy that I'm now going to try some system isolation with Herbie's Fat Dots and maybe Redpoint Blakhole feet.
mitch2
3,962 posts
 
I posted about the Stereophile review in another DAC thread and my thoughts remain that, for the manufacturer, there is a lot riding on a review by one guy who listens to the gear in one system. If I didn't already know the quality of Kevin Halverson's work, and if I hadn't already seen the very positive reviews by Alan Sircom at HiFi+, Tom Gibbs at Positive Feedback, and Neil Gader at TAS, I may not have purchased the HRT HD after reading Art Dudley's negative portrayal of the high frequencies.

I just received the HRT HD and I will be trying it with the new ifi USB power unit based on Alan Sircom's helpful review comments. In his review, Tom Gibbs stated, "Music Streamer HD - through it, everything just sounds more like music," and I have always found that to be true of Kevin Halverson's digital offerings.
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