digger945

I thought you did a fine(beautiful?) job with the review. No doubt it was a tough one, with all the anticipation from others.<br /> <br /> I purchased a HiFace to compare with my Halide Bridge. I tried it for 2 weeks. Maybe I did not give it enough time, but I was left wanting more. My perspective will not be the same as another listener, who will have different tastes and equipment, as well as exposure to different levels of equipment(or lack thereof in my case).<br /> <br /> If it were my forum, and I was doing the reviewing, I would want to be known as the one to go to for an honest review. <br /> <br /> If I were a manufacturer who just created the latest audio product, I would want to submit it for review by a reviewer who is known for honesty.<br /> <br /> Of course, this is in a perfect world, and I am sure I live just down the street from Pat. :-p

Andrew S., If you have never experienced a good Async transport/DAC, then you really owe it to yourself to give it some time. I am not all that sure about the so called "breakin" stuff, instead leaning on the "actually listening to the device and becoming acclimated to the sound" type of thing. Experience speaking here, not theory or opinion. Scott

To quote Chris from the initial review,<br /> <i>"After every conversation I always said to myself, "These guys are really cool, really smart, and have great potential in high end audio." There's a lot to like about the unjaded enthusiasm and ideals of Jonathan and Aaron. Never once have they talked about high margins and snake oil. It's really refreshing to hear their ideas about new high quality products at relatively reasonable prices. These guys are not in the business to separate people form their money. Jonathan and Aaron really have a passion for creating great sounding and innovative audio products."</i><br /> <br /> I thought the same after a long telephone conversation with Jonathan.

So I have had the Bridge for about a month now. Listened probably 2 hours average daily, probably more, I just hate to admit it.<br /> <br /> The Bridge is replacing the Musiland 02US in my system, and before that the AMB Gamma 2(diy converter/dac), and before that the EMU0404usb.<br /> <br /> My system consists of a Lenovo thinkpad T500 laptop, Halide Bridge, Genesis Digital Lens(in and out of the chain), EAD DSP 7000mkIII, Kevin Gilmore Dynamite(Balanced version of the Dynahi and also DIY built by myself), Grado SR225 recabled by me in Mogami, and my own personally modded and balanced Denon 2000s. I have briefly used Event TR-8 direct field active monitors with my amp, but not really enough to get a feel for the sound. Due to circumstances I use headphones most of the time. My player is Foobar 2000 v1.0.<br /> <br /> My main music used for listening is by Fourplay. Album is also Fourplay, and my fav track for evaluation is also titled Fourplay, but I really dig every song on this album. I'm a Bob James fan yes.<br /> <br /> My impressions pretty much mimic Michigoon's own. I chuckled a little when I read his first post. I was also pretty disappointed at first. My most familiar tracks were suddenly all foreign to me, and sounded very strange. Immediately noticable was the improved bass definition and presence. It took all of 2 weeks for my ears and brain to fully acclimate to the new signature. I sort of assumed that someone like Chris would not find a device like this to impart a foreign sound in his setup because he is accustomed to listening to a better system where everything is in place and in time correctly. So I listened every day, and slowly things came into place as I adjusted to the new sound. I put the Musiland 02 back into the chain yesterday(it's been about a month since I last listened to it) and was pretty floored at the difference. The Bridge does everything better. Soundstaging, both width and depth. Very even across the board, and subterranean bass definition, grunt and growl to make me grin like a possum. Not too much or too little of anything in any area, as compared to my previous converters. I still own and listened to them all except the Gamma 2(sold) for this listening comparison.<br /> <br /> Also notable is how much I have turned the volume down while using the Bridge. I'm not sure the dac is putting out any more volume but my listening levels are almost half of what they were before, and at increased detail and clarity.<br /> <br /> I also listened to a modded Valab (one of the lastest Valabs with output caps replaced with Vcap+Sonicap per Steve Nugent's suggestion) that I've owned for some time now. While it lacks the last bit of top and bottom extension it is indeed a good listen as used with the Bridge.<br /> <br /> The Bridge is, for me, definitely a keeper. It has taken my level of listening enjoyment to a very comfortable and satisfactory place where I am immersed in all of the detail and realism that I thought would never happen without a much bigger pocketbook.<br /> <br /> I would like to echo Chris' comment about the guys at Halide/Devilsound. I have corresponded quite a bit by email and even by phone, and "good guys" is an understatement for me. Hope to meet them at an event soon. Thanks a ton Jonathan.

WoW. What would it take for you to do this full time Chris?<br /> Thanks a bunch.

I think the newest streamer is called "Streamer HD" if I'm not mistaken firedog. I would love to get a chance to listen to a HRT product at Canjam in Chicago next month. Thanks for the reply Richard. Apologies for my premature post. I should have done some last minute research before drawing conclusions. I will look for the Streamer at Canjam next month. It would be a hoot if HRT had a spdif converter in the product lineup. With respect to cables and interconnects, the only way to know how they perform is to try them in your system. I am very pleased with my recent digital cable purchases. Thanks again for the clarifications.

The product description states "asynchronous data transfer protocol," but is unclear to me if referencing the data transfer between USB reciever and computer, or DAC and USB reciever. I've yet to read "asynchronous USB" in any description. Anywhere. This may explain the lack of bass definition and imaging.

Bravo Charles. Looks like your much more than an ordinary listener. Perhaps you have missed your calling as a computer audio interface/dac designer/builder (if you're not one already that is). ;-)

Rand: "Well, I finally got the Valab and listened to it for awhile. It's not like my current DAC but in it's stock form it's REALLY good. I did the upgrade that Steve recommened and WOW it's REALLY REALLY good. Further, I then Cryo'd it. At ~$370 not bad. My dad will be VERY happy with his new Computer Audio setup for sure. I'm sad to see it go.... **HIGHLY RECOMMENDED**" Rand It's nice to see that you like the sound of the Valab, and hats off to Steve for the recommendation and the modding tips. This is what community is all about. Now if we could just get Steve to organise a group buy discount for the offramp 3s.....8~P

Does/has anyone used the HiFace to listen to streaming music online, like Rhapsody/Last.fm/Grooveshark? I'm not interested in the SQ, just if it's possible to listen to streaming music* without a software music player like MM, JR or FB, etc. and/or ASIO, etc. * convert to spdif EDIT: actually I don't care if you gotta use ASIO(obviously you may still need the proprietary drivers and that's ok), as long as it will let me listen to Grooveshark with my NOS spdif-input-only dacs.

The "Pro" version mentions "Full support for both adaptive and asynchronous transfer modes assures that jitter performance exceeds that of conventionally connected (bi-phase) converters." in it's specifications link. Interesting.

Well I will be very excited with you Chris. This has been a long time coming. I think this will be a very successful venture for the folks who created Rhino. While a quick scan of the website yielded about a 50% return on my searches, I am sure they will be adding more artists as demand warrants.<br /> <br /> It's nice to know that if I can't find that CD I'm looking for at one of the used music stores or online, I can download and enjoy without delay, without worrying about scratches.<br /> <br /> I must note that it appears you will only be allowed to download a track or album once after payment, so backup is necessary.

I can't add much to what has already been posted, except to say that I am delighted to have stumbled onto this site. I am sure it will only grow in popularity in the coming years.<br /> <br /> Hats off to you Chris.

Truck driver and forklift operator. Problem solver and fixer of most things broken. Audio diy'er and part-time solder slinger(not a get-rich-quick scheme lemme tell ya).

South Bend/Mishawaka/Elkhart areas.