Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
I'm excited about this one. I've already been rather-vocal about my wonderful experience with their Music Streamer II DAC, but the LineStreamer + sounds very-interesting. It's apparently-designed to be a "soundcard" for convert your vinyl and other analog music to digital. If the performance is anything like the MSII, then this will be a killer product for vinyl-rippers. I haven't read any reviews yet, but HRT's other products are all very-highly-rated.
The EMU 1212m has been one of the "soundcard"/ADC's of choice in the vinyl-ripping community, and at around $200, it's a solid value, but if HRT has put enough thought into this LineStreamer +, then it just may blow the EMU 1212m right out of the water in terms of sound-quality (and for $349, it SHOULD be better). Now, the LineStreamer +, like HRT's other products, is only rated for sampling frequencies of 32khz on up to 96khz (A lot of rippers record at 32-bit/192khz), but I'm willing to bet that this is one great-sounding little ADC. Kevin Halverson designed the other HRT products the way he did for a specific reason, and I have to think that the same is true with the LineStreamer + (I had initially wondered why he only made the MSII dac compatible for up to 24-bit/96khz, but after hearing the thing, suddenly I was perfectly-content with 24/96... Besides, I don't think my computer handles 32-bit anyway... However, I can play 32-bit/192khz files just fine, though I'm sure it gets downsampled to 24/96).
Anyway, I'll curious to learn more about the LineStreamer +...
http://www.nhthifi.com/HRT-LineStreamer_
Vinyl-ripping is a funny thing. With a good ADC and a good turntable and phono preamp, you can create some incredible-sounding needledrops using clean vinyl, and I mean incredible-sounding... in many cases WAY-better than any CD/DVD/SACD versions. I know because I've heard plenty of them, and if this LineStreamer + can do for needledroppers what the MSII did for my digital playback, then the LineStreamer + is gonna' be a force to reckoned with for the vinyl-rip crowd...
*EDIT* - Judging by the "+" in the product-name, I'm assuming this is meant to be on par with HRT's Music Streamer II + rather than the lower-priced, base-model MSII.
The EMU 1212m has been one of the "soundcard"/ADC's of choice in the vinyl-ripping community, and at around $200, it's a solid value, but if HRT has put enough thought into this LineStreamer +, then it just may blow the EMU 1212m right out of the water in terms of sound-quality (and for $349, it SHOULD be better). Now, the LineStreamer +, like HRT's other products, is only rated for sampling frequencies of 32khz on up to 96khz (A lot of rippers record at 32-bit/192khz), but I'm willing to bet that this is one great-sounding little ADC. Kevin Halverson designed the other HRT products the way he did for a specific reason, and I have to think that the same is true with the LineStreamer + (I had initially wondered why he only made the MSII dac compatible for up to 24-bit/96khz, but after hearing the thing, suddenly I was perfectly-content with 24/96... Besides, I don't think my computer handles 32-bit anyway... However, I can play 32-bit/192khz files just fine, though I'm sure it gets downsampled to 24/96).
Anyway, I'll curious to learn more about the LineStreamer +...
http://www.nhthifi.com/HRT-LineStreamer_
Vinyl-ripping is a funny thing. With a good ADC and a good turntable and phono preamp, you can create some incredible-sounding needledrops using clean vinyl, and I mean incredible-sounding... in many cases WAY-better than any CD/DVD/SACD versions. I know because I've heard plenty of them, and if this LineStreamer + can do for needledroppers what the MSII did for my digital playback, then the LineStreamer + is gonna' be a force to reckoned with for the vinyl-rip crowd...
*EDIT* - Judging by the "+" in the product-name, I'm assuming this is meant to be on par with HRT's Music Streamer II + rather than the lower-priced, base-model MSII.
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