A Lynx Hilo mastering ADC/DAC/headphone amp, purchased in 2013. I'm a composer and audiophile, and purchased this for recording a high-end piano, after first seeing it mentioned in an issue of The Absolute Sound praising its DAC, the headphone amp, and the ADC (for transferring vinyl). Among recording and mastering professionals, this unit continues to be know for its exceptional purity and transparency. I recently embarked on a 10-year upgrade to my recording system, and my first thought was simply to upgrade the Hilo. Lynx replied, however, that the one I bought today would be the same as one I would purchase today! After extensively testing ADCs by Merging Technology, Prism, Lavry, and Ayre, I found that each has a different sound regarding balance of frequencies contributing to timbre, the impression of presence (close or more distant), and the width of the soundfield for each sound. The Hilo continues to stand tall among these, with great purity of tone, perhaps capturing the nuances of timbre the best of these ADCs. My comments about the ADC results of the Hilo applies equally to the DAC: since it is intended to be a mastering device (mastering typically involving playing a recording through a DAC, processing it in some creative way, and then re-recording it with the ADC, the DAC had to be designed to be exceptional -- at least as good as the DAC. The headphone amp has its own DAC, is very clear, and powerful enough to handle the Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic headphones I use for headphone analysis (and Audeze LCD Xs, but they are low impedance and easy to drive).
