iPod as quality digital source? You bet!

[Jim R.]

Folks,

I wanted to tell all you iPod/Iphone/Ipad users out there that there is a fairly new product on the market that can take your playback to an even greater level than the best docks out there.  It's called the High Resolution Technologies iStreamer.  I've had one for a little over a month now, and when fed alac/aiff/wave files from your i-device, this gadget can turn your portable player into a quite decent source.

This is a bit different than your typical dock or even things like the Wadia and Onkyo transports in that it intercepts the digital data stream before it even goes to the on-board dac in the portable device.  It supports host mode data transfer directly to it's own built-in dac for a very low jitter line level output to go to your integrated amp or preamp directly.  The unit is small, comes with a pretty typical looking dock connector cable, a small switching PSU, a pair of rca interconnects, and has two RCA outputs.  It also charges your device's battery when it is connected -- something that at first I didn't really think all that important, but ave really come to like.  When connected to the portable device, it intercepts all sounds and sends them through the iStreamer's dac and out the RCAs.  It also automatically maximizes the volume so you get full bit-depth playback at all times -- meaning that you can't use the iPod's volume control, and why you need an integrated amp, preamp, or some other external means of controlling the volume.

At first the sound is ok, a little overdone in the bass and a bit strident, but after 20 or so hours, things are much better and then after 100-20 hours things really fall into place, and sounds as good as other 16/44.1/48 dacs that typically would sell for several times it's $199 price tag, and right up there with some 2k+ cd players.  I'm sure a decent linear power supply would take that even further, and certainly better interconnects than the ones that come with it, as well.

Feed it with some carefully ripped alac aiff or wavv files and I think you'll be pretty surprised at what your little iPod/Pad/phone can sound like.

-- Jim

If you feed this  dac a

[dstrimbu]

Jim, any audible noise from the battery charging process?
I think I'd like to be able to switch the charging function off... do you think it would make a difference?
I have a Monitor Audio iDock out in the toy garage; it charges-while-it-plays also, but of course, I'm not listening to headphones out there...

Cool device!  Thanks for the heads up.

Don

[Jim R.]

Don,

No, you can't disable the charge function, and there is no discernable noise to me, annd that is with a super quiet el84 amp and 100 dB sensitive speakers.  SNR is 99 dB, and all these HRT dacs use a very good power regneration system that isolates noise from the dac circuitry -- in the case of the other devices, that is the power coming from the host computer over the usb buss.  Also, you must use the external power supply as computer usb ports don't have enough current capacity for the device.

-- Jim

[tdogzthmn]

Jim,  How does the iStreamer compare to the music streamer II+?  Can you hear a discernible difference?  I have been interested in HRT DACs for some time but I want to wait till the bottlhead DAC come out before I make a decision. 

[Wardsweb]

Good to know. I've been using a Marantz bluetooth docking station I modded to fit my wife's iPad. It streams her music and Pandora to my stereo without being tied down with a cord.

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwardsweb.org%2Fmisc%2Fipadstream.jpg&hash=fc4dbc1e69d1a69ffb70828fb0c590bd0af0b385)

[Lee Hankins]

"This is a bit different than your typical dock or even things like the Wadia and Onkyo transports in that it intercepts the digital data stream before it even goes to the on-board dac in the portable device."

Isn't this exactly what the Wadia and Onkyo docking stations do?

Cordially,
Lee Hankins

[Jim R.]

Hi tdogzthmn,

I have the MS II+ as well, but I haven't heard them side-by-side, but the iStreamer is limited to 16/44.1-48 as that is the limitation of the iDevices, and of course the MS II+ is 24/96 and fully async, and it would be hard to do aan equal comparison as the transports are key to the sound of any given dac.  I'm sure the MS II+ with my mac mini as transport and my eEssential usb cable would handily outdo the iStreamer, but then again, it is many times the price.  I would think the iStreamer is probably closer to the base model MS II, but again, in many ways all of these are very competent sources, especially for the money.  I hope that helps -- I'm not trying to dodge the question, but it would just be hard to make an even comparison.

Lee, yes, that's what the wadia and onkyo docks do, but the iStreamer is the only one who has been able to implement host mode transfer protocol, which greatly reduces jitter, and also there are less connections, power supplies, etc. involved in the entire chain when using an iPod and the iStreamer vs. the iPod, wadia or onkyo dcock, digital cable, external dac, etc.  Since I've never owned an onkyo or wadia dock, I couldn't comment on the differences, but people who have heard both say that it is a real step forward for the iStreamer.  I'm also guessing that like the wadia/onkyo solutions, a better external power supply will potentially take things up a couple more notches, but it's just a guess.

Hope that helps,

Jim

[johnsonad]

Cool toy Jim!  The only problem I see is the limited memory in the iPad.  My digital collection is over 1.5 T and growning.... 

[Jim R.]

Aaron,

Yes, but now with the latest version of IOS, you can stream tunes from another iTunes server, and I believe also from a NAS -- though not sure about this lst one.

Haven't tried this all yet as I just haven't got around to it.  Also want to look into the FlacPlayer app, but I'm 99% sure that one won't play from anything but on-board memory.  Still, 32 or 64gb can hold a decent collection for a trip, even using alac or flac, and you'll definitely want to use a lossless format with the iStreamer.

I recently got my iStreamer back from being cryoed, but haven't been able to listen to it since.  I also think a good regulated DC supply has potential to improve performance even further.  Whether that's worth it or not, I don't know.  Very low on my priority list right now though, and not sure I'll attempt it at all.

-- Jim