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.
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!
Showing 4 responses by vladimir
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. |
HRT DACs are just a few of the relatively inexpensive ways to get into computer audio. To make the fight more competitive in this segment, M2tech just came out with a new 32bit/384kHz flash-drive size DAC, the $295 HiFace. I also think that any computer-powered USB input would improve if driven by batteries or dedicated linear power supplies, because it bypasses the electronic grunge in the computer. |
Kbuzz, I can see three choices right now for getting cleaner power to a bus-powered USB DAC: a simple and cheap way is to separate the DAC from the computer by a hub as Sircom suggested (however, the hub has to get its power from the grid and won't be particularly clean); an external power supply like the iFi-Audio iUSB which is competitive in price ($199 I believe) to my KingRex U Power; or a rechargeable 5V regulated battery supply such as I'm using. Given the choice between an external regulator like the iUSB that is still connected to the grid by a switching wall wart supply or battery power, I would choose the latter every time. |