The Xitel Pro-HiFi Link: bit-perfect digital out on the cheap finally?

[adhoc]

Just thought I'd put this up for everyone.

Anyone heard or used) of this product yet?

http://www.xitel.com/product_phfl.htm

 

[d.f]

since discovering on these forums that mac hardware has a lousy optical output, this could be the solution...

anyone see a reason technically why this wouldn't be a good option??

 

[adhoc]

from an email reply by Xitel:

Hi Aaron,

The Pro HiFi-Link outputs the digital signal at 48kHz which is the AC97 standard for high fidelity audio on a computer. This involves a sample rate conversion in hardware to achieve this but does not effect fidelity. We recommend reading the reviews on our website here for their independent view of the Pro HiFi-Link in various environments:

http://www.xitel.com/reviews_phfl.htm

Best Regards,

Xitel Support.


Why, oh why?

 

[agile_one]

The Xitel HiFi Link Pro has been around for a while - had mine two years or so. I use with a laptop, and it is noticably better than the laptop's audio out. Have used as a digital source to high quality dac's with good resulte. It is a nice, simple, black box solution to getting analog or digital output from a computer.

Mine's been laying around unused since getting a Squeezebox, so if you want to have a listen, PM me ...

 

[d.f]

Quote:

Originally Posted by adhoc from an email reply by Xitel: Hi Aaron, The Pro HiFi-Link outputs the digital signal at 48kHz which is the AC97 standard for high fidelity audio on a computer. This involves a sample rate conversion in hardware to achieve this but does not effect fidelity. We recommend reading the reviews on our website here for their independent view of the Pro HiFi-Link in various environments: http://www.xitel.com/reviews_phfl.htm Best Regards, Xitel Support. Why, oh why?

i don't understad the above.

are you saying that this unit is no good...? any other units i should look at to get decent digital output from, my mac....???

 

[ojnihs]

Blessingx has one I believe, not sure if he still has it or not, it's been a while since I talked to him about it.

 

[Garbz]

It means the output is no where near bit perfect. When a signal is resampled it is digitally altered, mind you resampling has some advantages. It is good in cheap DACs to attenuate jitter, and the higher sampling rate makes digital filtering easier to apply, but this is a task that should be left to the DAC not the source.

The M-Audio transit I believe is also available for mac. That has no hardware resampling and is bitperfect on the output.