Lynx Hilo - new offering from Pro Audio company.

http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=59

Looks like they're talking up the fact that it has both A/D and D/A converters.  Might be an all-in-one solution for people with vinyl and digital rigs.

"Available in the second half of 2011, the US suggested retail price is expected to be $2495."

Back:

I think that USB module is sold separately:

http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=58

I don't see any mention of what D/A and A/D chips it uses.

usb input card is included.

Estimated shipping late Summer 2011 

I have been listening to a Hilo for the past couple of days.  (An engineer friend of mine loaned me his.  It's nice to have generous friends!)  In short, the Hilo is the best-sounding DAC I have heard in my home system.  As points of reference, I just sold my Lavry DA-10 to make room for an Anedio D2, and the Hilo is in another league.  Not to diss the Lavry; it provided me with two years of great sound and listening pleasure. And Lavry support is second to none. But the Hilo is something else again.  I have also had in my system a variety of Musical Fidelity DACs, a Ben Duncan DaX, and compared my Lavry to my friend's Dangerous Dac.  In my opinion, the Hilo trumps them all.  Now it's got more stuff built in than I want or need including an A to D converter and a 32 channel mixer.  And it's more expensive than I intended to spend on my next DAC, but if the Anedio D2 does not match it in sound, I will bite the bullet and buy the Hilo.

Cycler2, I read that you were going to A/B the Lynx Hilo and Anedio D2 and was wondering where that comparison came out?   I have a Metric Halo LIO-8 presently and am trying to assess what might beat in sonically on a two channel basis.  I am encouraged by how well the Hilo fared in the DAC Loopback test.

Thanks for your perspective.  It is so hard to find people who have A/B'ed the litany of top performing DACs out there in the marketplace.  Also, have you ever heard the Mytek DSD 192 stereo DAC?  It seems to get excellent marks from various folks.

Earflappin,

Sorry to be so long with this reply.  Life seems to interfere with my hobbies!

To my ears, the Lynx Hilo was far superior to the Anedio D2.  In fact the Hilo was the best DAC I've heard in my system.  I wish I could justify spending $2500 on the Hilo, but that's not possible.  The D2 just did not work in my system and I returned it.  (Kudos to Anedio for being so gracious about my return.  Their customer service is second to none.) For what it's worth, I preferred my Lavry DA-10 to the Anedio D2.  I know that view differs from others on this board, so I may be in the minority. So I'm back in the market for a DAC.  I'm waiting to hear the Dangerous Music "The Source," which is supposed to be available in June.  

Rich

Almost forgot; I've never heard the Mytek, but I've read some glowing reviews of it on pro audio web sites.

cycler2, thanks for getting back to me....very helpful.  I think I am going to get a Hilo on trial to hear in my own system based on your favorable feedback, together with other positive reviews I've read online.  If it can better my Metric Halo LIO-8 on CDRB playback then I think I might have to buy it!  

from gearslutz:

I just received a pair of Sennheiser HD 800's and have been listening through the Hilo for the last week or so. In stock form, the HD 800's sound very good through the Hilo but their well documented sibilance was quite noticable and a fair bit on the grating side at loudish volumes. The soundstage was fairly well defined but not what I had hoped for from such expensive headphones. I took note of all of this as I was always planning on doing the Anaxilus mod which is well proven to make a big improvement to the HD 800's.

Those interested can go here:

DIY Modification for the Sennheiser HD 800: "The Anaxilus Mod" | InnerFidelity

After I added the mod, the improvement was instantly noticeable. The soundstage was much more defined and the space of the recording was much more apparent. The reduction in sibilance was fantastic as it is now very rare to feel any discomfort even at high volumes. In fact, I am now slightly paranoid about sending myself deaf as listening at louder than safe volumes causes no discomfort whatsoever, a testament to a very low distortion headphone paired with a very low distortion amp.

I recently listened to this binaural recording that I remembered from a few years ago:

QSound Labs: Virtual Barber Shop (Long) -- Binaural Audio Demo

It was late at night when everyone was asleep and as it began, I instantly panicked thinking that I had left my speakers on as the sound of the original space was so clear and realistic. It was as if the headphones were not on my head and I was hearing the sound as it was in the room. This is a cool little binaural demo which sounds pretty cool on any decent headphones but the way it makes the HD 800's disappear through the Hilo is most impressive.

A fairly agreed upon consensus (apart from cable atheists) is that the stock cable on the HD 800 is not up to par with the headphones themselves so I have ordered an upgrade cable. I'll reserve my full impressions of the Hilo/HD 800 pairing until after I have tried it as I can still hear room for improvement. Having said that, however, music is sounding very impressive and beautiful at the moment and I could easily spend hours listening through entire albums (if I had the time!). At present, I would say that vocal accuracy does not quite have the realism that I would like but hopefully that will improve with the new cable.

I'll report back in a few weeks when my Hilo headphone system is almost at it's peak.
 

the link ...

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/product-alerts-older-than-2-months/705748-lynx-hilo-now-available-11.html#post7935478

Drooling over this thing! Amp/pre-amp/DACs all in one. Looking forward to more reviews as they are posted.