[Thad-E-Ginathom]

   
Ha! Well, as a Linux user, I'm guessing you're a pretty savvy guy with software...

 
Confession 1: I was once a Unix systems manager.
 
Confession 2: After ten years retirement I am now just a user,  and Firefox/Thunderbird etc is the same in Linux as it is in Windows.
 

Maybe you can get the Hilo up and running on your distro, and thereby open up penguin supporters worldwide to the wonders of the Hilo!! 

 
Better men than I have tried, and failed. At this sort of price level, it is not something one buys to mess around with!
 
I fancied the Burson Conductor: they were good enough to reply to my mail, no, the [then] USB chip will not work with Linux, but the optical would. It is a pity we have to worry about these things, but that's a whole other story.

 

[Theogenes]

Hey, it was worth a shot!!

 

[PleasantSounds]

   
I fancied the Burson Conductor: they were good enough to reply to my mail, no, the [then] USB chip will not work with Linux, but the optical would. It is a pity we have to worry about these things, but that's a whole other story.

 
Actually you could state the same in regards to Hilo: the optical and coax will work with Linux.
 
The problem is Hilo is a bit more than your ordinary DAC and to fully utilise its potential you would need USB to work. 

 

[Thad-E-Ginathom]

I was thinking the same. but...
 
With most interfaces that go beyond the simplest i/o, there is some sort of control (mixer, etc) software that we need to run. In the case, for instance, of my Echo Audiofire2, someone has ported this (or, at least, most of it) to an FFADO  driver for Linux and the device is pretty much fully functional.
 
In some cases, the device is fully controlled by physical knobs and switches. The Sound Devices USBPre 2 might be an example of this. Is the Halo fully controlled from it's front panel? But even if it is, it lacks the USB audio class compliance.
 
Last thing I recall reading was someone who said that the Halo was recognised, but simply didn't work.

 

[PleasantSounds]

Not sure how it really is with this USB audio class compliance, as for the OSX you don't seem to need any drivers. I'm not a Mac user myself, just judging by the fact that Lynx does not even offer an OSX driver to download. Unfortunately I don't have any first hand experience with Linux either. In the Windows world any DAC that goes above 96kHz requires additional drivers, as this is the limit of what Microsoft chose to support. But it's true that Hilo will not connect to Windows over USB without drivers at all. 
 
However if we're talking S/PDIF which some form of you may already have on your machine, Hilo should be able to work with it. I'm saying "should" and not "will", as some S/PDIF devices with really bad timing errors may not be able to connect successfully. I thought my motherboard falls in this category until I discovered that the culprit was really a badthe coax cable I have been using.
 
Hilo can be fully controlled through the touch screen and while the remote (which works only over USB) is quite nice, it provides rather limited control options: at this stage it's just an on-screen mixing console and status display applet.

 

[Happy Camper]

I like the input and output volume control on the computer. I've not messed with the touch screen since I downloaded the firmware.

 

[Canadian411]

Sorry if this question was answered anywhere but the two dedicated DAC converter chip, do you know which chip Hilo uses ? 
And also is it 64 or 128 DSD ?
 
Thanks in advance,
D.

 

[PleasantSounds]

The DAC chip is Cirrus Logic CS4398.
DSD 64 only.
 
Cheers

 

[Theogenes]

As has been mentioned before, though, I wouldn't get too caught up in the types of DAC chips used, as implementation truly is everything. JMO.

 

[PleasantSounds]

There's nothing inferior about the CS4398. Hilo is a proof of what it is capable of. 
Some DAC chips managed to establish a high end reputation and now every man and his dog rolls out their own take on them with varying degree of success. Kudos to Lynx for not falling into this trap!

 

[Canadian411]

I was just curious.
 
I may be miss-informed by few people here that Sabre ES9018 is the best DAC chip available today, but more I read it's the implementation that matters.
 
Is there really a difference between the DAC chips ? all it does just converts digital to analog signal, the sound quality comes at the implementation level right ?

 

[Happy Camper]

Don't know about the best. You're right about the chip being a number cruncher. The filters and such each vendor chooses to put on the chip also has an impact. But in the end, it's about the analog waveform being made by the designer. This is the area of most price difference too. I'd love to hear the justifications given for $50k dacs.

 

[yfei]

  I may be miss-informed by few people here that Sabre ES9018 is the best DAC chip available today, but more I read it's the implementation that matters.

 
I heard 'Sabre ESS 9018 is the best DAC' from many occasions as well.  But read this multi-DAC review:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/693798/ranking-of-21-dacs-and-dac-configurations-and-why-chocolate-ice-cream-must-die
From this review what I see is that ESS 9018 chip has a critical flaw, which prevents anyone from making a perfect DAC using this chip.
 
(Hilo ranked #6 on the list, they were using the v5 firmware and USB.    From my ears the v6 firmware enhanced the USB performance quite a lot, totally a different DAC. So I would expect Hilo to move up a level or two with the v6, or using AES input instead of USB)

 

[Canadian411]

I will get Hilo after so many research, pretty much I had on my list.
 

1. Mytek 192 DAC
2. Yulong DA8
3. Anedio D2
4. Fostex HP-A8
5. Wyred4Sound DAC-2 DSDse

 
I was going to get W4S DAC2 DSDSe but I Hilo is $1850 vs $2549, so decide to save some money
 
Question is, BLACK or SILVER ?

 

[Theogenes]

Congrats man, and welcome to the club!! I looked at some of the same DACs and came to the same conclusion you did .

Personally, I got silver because it matches the rest of my gear, and I think it looks great!! Black looks really sharp too though.... Don't think you're going to go wrong either way!