The USB DAC space is very crowded today, with a myriad of options on the market for USB playback. The thing I struggle with is the feature richness of the offerings. You can have a USB DAC with pretty much anything you want: integrated headphone amp, headphone jack, volume control, tubes, no tubes, multiple inputs and outputs etc. And while the additional features are designed to ensnare more potential buyers, I wonder if they are not having an opposite effect. One can't help but think how much the added features on some of these products cost? And I probably would have gotten a better sounding DAC out of the deal, if the headphone amp hadn't been included....
What intrigued me the most about the Halide Design DAC HD is its simplicity. I simply want to get digital music files off of my computer and into my audio system without degrading the source material in the process. The DAC HD does just that. There are no superfluous features, parts or add-ons. No drivers to load and remain current with. No complicated device configurations - nothing. Just plug and play. And that, I believe, is what this is really all about - just the music.
