[zowie]

I have the II+
It was a very satisfying purchase -- 13 years ago.
It's used with powered speakers.
My files max out at 24/96, 2 ch.

Am I going to get a meaningful upgrade from replacing it with a more contemporary DAC of similar price ($200-$500)?

Thx

 

[driftingbunnies]

Yeah but you'll get an even more meaningful one at $1500

 

[chezzer]

I have the II+
It was a very satisfying purchase -- 13 years ago.
It's used with powered speakers.
My files max out at 24/96, 2 ch.

Am I going to get a meaningful upgrade from replacing it with a more contemporary DAC of similar price ($200-$500)?

Thx

Have a look at the eversolo dm6, you wont be at all disappointed

 

[zowie]

Appreciate the replies but this device is a USB DAC.

I’m not looking for a streamer but wondering about a getting a more modern USB DAC for my desktop.

 

[agisthos]

I still use mine too! Version II+. It must be about 12-13 years old which I use daily for my computer audio setup.

It just sound really good and its a shame HRT disappeared just before the wave of interest in little DAC devices hit. They could have been huge.

I would be interested in your impressions of new USB dac's vs the HRT II+. Its possible that for $300-500 you could be going sideways in sound quality.
iFi have some similar products?

 

[bogi]

Topping E50, E70, E70 velvet.

 

[coburn]

Topping E50, E70, E70 velvet.

Yes. Take a look at Topping product line

 

[zowie]

I would be interested in your impressions of new USB dac's vs the HRT II+. Its possible that for $300-500 you could be going sideways in sound quality.
iFi have some similar products?

OK - the answer to my question was YES.

I got a Topping D10 Balanced, a relatively modest device, and it's a night-and-day improvement over my 14-year-old single-ended HRT Streamer II Plus that cost a good deal more back in the day.

Timbre, separation, imaging, low level detail (reverb & decay, reediness, bow rosin), bass tightness -- just across the board better, and in no way worse.

The HRT was great for its time, a major improvement over the decent early-2000s Edirol and M-Audio stuff I had before it. I now realize it was the bottleneck. I'm sure going balanced makes for some of the difference in addition to the much newer chips and whatever else the engineers have learned.

 

[agisthos]

OK - the answer to my question was YES.

I got a Topping D10 Balanced, a relatively modest device, and it has offered night-and-day sonic improvement over my 14-year-old single-ended HRT Streamer II Plus that cost a good deal more back in the day.

Timbre, separation, imaging, low level detail (reverb & decay, reediness, bow rosin), bass tightness -- just across the board better, and in know way worse.

The HRT was great for its time, a major improvement over the satisfactory early-2000s Edirol and M-Audio stuff that preceded it. I now realize it was the bottleneck. I'm sure going balanced makes some difference apart from the much newer chips and whatever else the engineers learned.

I just ordered one, intrigued to hear it. I don't need balanced so got the D10s. At that price you cant go wrong. Also it seems these DAC's can accept op-amp rolling. The Burson V5i (Dual x1) look like a good match for this level of product.

There is a lot of DAC's in the sub $200 price range, but If you want a USB bus powered DAC there is actually not many options. Most need a power supply, which I want to do away with.

 

[agisthos]

The Topping D10s is a worthwhile upgrade over the HRT music streamer. It really sounds its best if you can set your media player to WASAPI exclusive mode, and just serve the DAC native bitrate content. For example feeding it native 44.1k sounded much better than feeding it the same music upsampled to 48k by the PC. Surprisingly so.