Lynx Hilo - new offering from Pro Audio company. - Page 12

 

"Dayton OH- Elizabeth Place- March 16th Sat. from 9am-xxxx"

 

AWESOME!!!!! REALLY looking forward to hear some of the comparisons from this, especially concerning the Anedio, PWD II and Hilo. Encourage everybody to take GREAT notes-- and then post 'em!! 

Very interested as well.

 

I'm looking forward to reading impressions as well.

I will be waiting with interest for some impressions from this shootout as well.  Particularly, I am interested to hear from those of you who are able to compare the Anedio D2 to the Hilo.  The Anedio was on my short list before I came across the Hilo.  I never did get a chance to try the Anedio D2.

I am sorry to report that only one of us got to do a comparison between the DACs and it wasn't me (host). Darryl, Chase and I have decided that when one of us are out on call/vacation, they will give up their DACs for some live in comparisons. I can say that any of the DACs we listened to was top end and of the two (D2 and Hilo) they were almost identical. Chase will have to comment on what he heard on initial listening. I know he mentioned there was static in the Hilo that I can assume was a slight imbalance in my input/output volumes. I didn't set it up for testing, just plugged er in and let him run. But something I wanted to try did work beautifully, I used the Line out, Monitor out and headphone out all at once and the little Lynx didn't bat an eye. You could use the volume of each output or use one input volume control to do all three. As s digital hub I doubt there is much out there that competes with the Hilo's flexibility.

Bottom line, I heard nothing that would make me sell this $1800 DAC for what we had there. But I do like every one of them.

Lynx Hilo
PWDII
Anedio D2
NAD M51

Something I wanted to ask those with vinyl, what are you using to connect the turntable to the Lynx? Is a phono stage needed? How do you connect to the Hilo? I'm not familiar with turntables anymore so don't recall the output connections of the tonearm. One of the members brought their old Sony spinner in and it had RCA outs. Also, a discussion developed on how to get a balanced feed from the tonearm?

FWIW, I really wish the Hilo had a physical remote control so you aren't tethered to the screen. It works fine if you are at the computer or in front of the Hilo but if you want to sit away from the panel, oh well. Just a volume control.......
Edited by Happy Camper - 3/17/13 at 6:37am

When I bought my Hilo, ProAudio LA gave me a nice custom RCA-to-XLR cable that they made up out of Mogami cable and Neutrik connectors.  That runs from the RCA outputs of my phonostage to the line inputs of the Hilo.  I also have a set of Cardas RCA-to-XLR adaptors hanging out waiting to be used.

 

Yes, a phono stage is needed, for either or both of two reasons: (1) to apply the RIAA equalization and (2) to amplify the teeny-weeny output of the cartridge to line level (my cartridge puts out a whopping 2.5 millivolts, and it's considered a high-output moving coil).  There are "flat" phonostages out there that allow you to apply RIAA equalization in software (Pure Vinyl can do this).

 

There are a relatively small number of balanced phonostages out there.  I sorta have my eye on the Ayre as a potential long-term purchase, although I'm very happy with my current Whest Two and would recommend it highly to anyone shopping for a $1k-$1.5k phonostage.  I have a couple of entry-level phonostages (a Music Hall and a Creek) gathering dust in the storage space; PM me if interested.

 

Be aware that the line out (XLR) of the Hilo has quiet a few settings for output levels. This is described in the user manual. Some of them are high and probably only suitable for feeding professional equipment, while the low(er) one(s) are suitable for home/hifi equipment. Hence a high (default) ouput level may overload home/hifi equipment.

 

By the way and as a comment to your connection experiment: My Hilo is at the moment feeding beyerdynamic T 5 p via headphone out, STAX SRM727II via XLR, EAR Yoshino HP4 via TRS and Grace Design m903 via AES/EBU XLR.

They say to use RCA to XLR cables as more phono stages aren't balanced. I'll be using it mainly as an A/D converter so I've already got it planned out. 

 

I'll be getting a Simaudio 310LP and running the XLR outs to the Hilo and the RCAs to my main speaker system. 

 

There are some companies that will allow balanced outs from the Tonearm like VPI. They sell an XLR jumper box that's pretty easy to put on. IIRC Scout and up have this ability. 

 

I'll be able to listen to the LP while I record on the main system as well as monitoring the feed if necessary via the Hilo's headphone out. 

 

Bumped for members interested in buying one. Scott and I talked and he offered preferred pricing at $1850 w/usb/$1725 w/o usb for Head Fi members.

Is this a special thing or just a regular deal for us? I want one pretty bad but I won't have the funds for awhile.

 

Interested as well.

 

 

 

Ok, Lynx's stupid site is down. So will someone for the love of God post the freakin' DAC chipset used.

Edited by paradoxper - 3/17/13 at 12:24pm

sorry, but i'm a little confused with all the extra fancy stuff this dac can do. i watched a youtube video on it and it seemed rather complicated, talking about db levels and all things i dont understand. i'm interested in a dac in this range, and it's awesome that it has a built in amp. that could potentially put it over the edge for me over something like say a nad m51. 

 

is there a straight plug and play option like my gungnir, i.e fixed output via xlr and controlling all volume on my head amp? do i need to jump through hoops to set it up this way? (im not very tech savvy) i'm not interested in the a/d, or anything else really. i just want a superb dac for my headphone setup, and a built in amp that would allow me to enjoy the sa5000 again. should i not look at this dac if i don't know what the hell i'm doing? would be using usb, and coax from a squeezebox touch. thanks

Para, that is not on their site. I've given a cursory search but wasn't successful on line. I may have to dig into the unit to see if there any indication of those chips.

It can be used a plug and play it's just much more feature packed than that. 

 

It's a A/D converter as well as a D/A converter. That's where it gets complicated.