According to the company:
microStreamer is a USB-connected and powered ultra high-performance dedicated amplifier/sound card designed to seamlessly interface with computers, tablets, smart-phones and directly decode the digital audio data stream from the host’s hard drive into analog music for headphone or speaker listening. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and light enough to carry in a shirt pocket, the microStreamer is the newest and sexiest product in HRT's line of…
After reading the all-encompassing Audio Glossary at Stereophile.com from front-to-back, I rewrote the glossary as a bulleted list reflecting an organized critical listening process to utilize in the future.
Sections include ‘Midrange: 160—1300Hz,’ ‘Soundstaging and Imaging,’ and the seductive ‘Pleasurable Excess’. In the process, I got to know words I thought I understood a little better,…
Though Olen claims to be from Bedford, New Hampshire, using our fancy photograph-decoding software from partnering magazine Shutterbug and some of John Atkinson's equipment measurement tools, I unveiled Olen’s actual location. He’s in outer space galaxies away! No wonder his transmission came through so…
Description: Single-box, bus-powered digital/analog converter. Digital input jack: USB type B. Analog output jacks: RCA (single-ended), XLR (balanced). Sampling rates accepted: up to 192kHz. Word lengths accepted: 16, 24 bits. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, +0/–0.2dB. Maximum output level: 2.25V (single-ended), 4.5V (balanced). Output impedance: 50 ohms (single-ended), 50 ohms per phase (balanced). Signal/noise ratio (A-weighted): 119dB (single-ended), 122dB (balanced). Power requirement (via USB): 480mA.
Dimensions: 3.8" (97mm) W by 3" (77mm) H by 6" (…
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Artemis Lab TA-1 tonearms; Ortofon SPU, EMT TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads; Miyabi 47 cartridge.
Digital Sources: AudioQuest DragonFly, Wavelength Proton, Halide DAC HD USB DACs; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.11.0, Decibel v.1.0.2 playback software; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Standard (SPU version), Hommage T2, Silvercore One-to-Ten step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto preamplifiers.
Integrated amplifier: Ayre Acoustics AX-…
My testing of the HRT Music Streamer HD was primarily performed with Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"), with some tests performed on my vintage Audio precision System One. The sources for the tests were WAV and AIFF files played from my MacBook Pro running BIAS Peak Pro and connected to the HRT with the Music Streamer set to USB2.0. I checked that the sample rate and bit depth were correctly set for each file with the Audio-MIDI setup utility. Bit depth was set to "…
I hesitate to say "Let's recap" to an audience whose members have been, on occasion, a bit overeager to stuff their audio electronics, contemporary and vintage alike, with the condensateurs du jour. Suffice it to say, the time has come for another look at Shindo Laboratory's Masseto preamplifier ($13,500, footnote 1) taking into account a few things that may affect all Shindo shoppers, past and prospective alike.
Of course, the notion of a Follow-Up carries with it a message of uncertainty—that things change,…
Much of what's under the hood of the high-tech C600 would probably…