Vintage HiFi Audio Forum

Audio Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: bmwr75 on January 26, 2011, 06:59:01 PM

Title: HRT iStreamer - the cheapest way to an audiophile signal from iPod to a Stereo
Post by: bmwr75 on January 26, 2011, 06:59:01 PM

Just received my HRT iStreamer today. Read more about it here:

http://www.highresolutiontechnologies.com/istreamer/ (http://www.highresolutiontechnologies.com/istreamer/)

This thing is the bee's knees. For $200 it extracts a digital signal from the line out plug on the bottom of your iPod Classic, iPad, or iTouch via the supplied cable and feeds it to the iStreamer, which is a DAC. Also charges you idevice too. This thing is purpose built to work with aforementioned Apple devices. If your store your song files in a lossless format on your Apple device, the resulting fidelity is amazing.

In comparison:

Wadia 170 iTransport is $379, but doesn't include a DAC.

Onkyo ND-S1 Transport Dock is $264, but doesn't include a DAC. And, good luck finding one in the U.S.

I am not aware of a comparable, more affordable way to get hi-fidelity music out of an iPod and feed it into you 2-channel system.

Title: Re: HRT iStreamer - the cheapest way to an audiophile signal from iPod to a Stereo
Post by: Slim-Shaddy on January 26, 2011, 10:33:03 PM

Nifty

Title: Re: HRT iStreamer - the cheapest way to an audiophile signal from iPod to a Stereo
Post by: MasterBlaster on January 27, 2011, 01:00:37 AM

Hmm reminds me of an old thread... oh here it is:

Quote from: Master Blaster on January 15, 2011, 09:42:43 PM

Even though I don't have an i*, I was curious about alternatives to the wadia.
After a few minutes of searching, I came up with this...

This one has promise:

Pure I-20 (http://www.pure.com/us/products/product.asp?Product=VL-61429&Category=&PageType=Specification) $99

Heres some other things I found:

HRT iStreamer (http://www.highresolutiontechnologies.com/istreamer/) $199 (Ok, this one is a DAC, it has analog only out but HRT is good stuff)
Onkyo ND-S1 (http://www.eu.onkyo.com/products/ND-S1.html) $250 I don't think its available in the US
Cycpherlabs AlgoRhythm Solo (http://www.cypherlabs.com/Home_Page.php) $580 This one is wayy out there

Also, If you have any SONOS devices, they offer the WD100 (http://sonos.com/products/accessories/wd100/Default.aspx?rdr=true&LangType=1033) that integrates with their system.

Title: Re: HRT iStreamer - the cheapest way to an audiophile signal from iPod to a Stereo
Post by: bmwr75 on January 27, 2011, 07:02:16 AM

Wow!!

Maybe the iStreamer is not the cheapest way.  The Pure i-20 is 1/2 the price and does more.  Wonder how it sounds?

Title: Re: HRT iStreamer - the cheapest way to an audiophile signal from iPod to a Stereo
Post by: MasterBlaster on January 27, 2011, 09:08:12 PM

If iwere an I* user, I would certainly take a gamble on it.
I must say it seems too good to be true

I read that some were questioning whether it was a true digital output instead using an adc to provide the digital output.  I found no confirmation on that though.