My HRT Music Streamer HD DAC is a game changer

I have a Streamer II in my office system and like it, although the system is not for critical listening. I also have one in a system in Europe and again like it a lot.

I have not heard the HD. I just thought I would pass on the Stereophile review so people were aware of it. As I said, Dudley really praised it for its openness and clarity. And high frequencies issues can often be system (and ear) dependent.

I would say that if in fact the HD really needs the extra power supply, HRT should probably at least make one available as an option or recommend an option.

They also seem to imply that providing drivers for 24/192 on Windows is a rarity, whereas I think it has become pretty common. I understand that they do not have the driver ready yet, but just admitting it is coming without making it sound like a rarity would be nice. It is just a wording issue, but something I noticed.

Again, I have not heard the HD. I just wanted to pass on the information.

Dtc,no offense toward your post was intended. My issue is with this particular review. I have not yet heard the HRT HD, but I own one and I just received the ifi iUSB IsoPower system today. I am just getting my computer audio up and running and not quite ready to play music.

I do however have extensive experience with Kevin Halverson's digital players having owned the MUSE 9, 9 Sig, 10, and his last and best player, the Erato II, which in comparison made my Ayre C-5xeMP sound a touch sterile, and that's saying something because the Ayre is no slouch. Point being, the man knows digital and how to make products that make music. He has had like 4 chances to get his Streamers right and indications were that he was well on his way with the Streamer II+. I doubt he would all of a sudden come up with a "statement" design that would make ears bleed.

Art Dudley's Stereophile review pointed out the following on various tracks;
"sibilants were overcooked,"
"a bit too much bite,"
"vocal sibilants were a bit too much,"
"a bit too much wheeze,"
"a little too much scrape in the fiddle,"
"ride cymbal was just a shade more ringy than usual,"
"saxophone was slightly more piquent than real,"
"distracted by a bit of upper frequency hardness,"
"a little too much glare in the high notes,"
"too much bite in the violins," and
"still too much sibilance in the vocals - a disappointment."

Does the same issue really have to be repeated 11 times? Either the device totally sucks (something three other professional reviewers did not hear), or perhaps there was a gremlin in the system somewhere, a cable issue, a ground issue, or perhaps a cracked solder joint. I find it hard to believe that a second opinion was not obtained by a different Stereophile reviewer in a different system, and a second review sample was not requested of HRT and listened to, before the review was posted - a disappointment.

In my previous post, I listened to the MS HD "unfettled" and found it good, not great. I've recently tried it with the iUSB and improvements can be heard across the board but it still can't beat my reference, which isn't really a fair comparison. For one, the dollars don't add up. And second, I am using a TVC passive preamp. Although the specs suggest no impedance mismatch, there may be a synergy mismatch. With that caveat, I found no glaring faults with the MS HD. But compared to my reference dcs 954, it was missing that elusive "3D holographic" quality.

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.

Mitch2 - no offense taken. As I said, I am very happy with my 2 Streamer IIs and I do agree that Dudley is the odd man out on this discussion. I do wonder if there was something else going on in his system that was adding to the problems he reported. It is also possible that his PC was struggling to provide adequate clean power to the HD. In any case, the HD seems like a good option, although once you add in an outboard power supply it reaches a price with a lot more competition.

I do agree that reviewers with the influence Dudley has should take extra steps before reporting a poor result. I remember when Chris over at Computer Audiophile panned the M2Tech HiFace when it first came out. People were dumb founded, since most people found it a very good product at the time. I always thought he should have gotten another sample and tried other systems before his poor review. I know it can be a lot of work, especially for a low end product, but I still think reviews should go the extra mile in that type of situation.