HRT iStreamer Outboard DAC for iDevices

As one reviewer called it, I'm a "practical audiophile". Ok, somewhat practical. Some of my friends are shocked I spent so much on a system, but others would think I'm an amateur. However, music and sound is one of my passions and hobbies. I don't have a system that costs the price of a new BMW, but I do have a nice system that cost me about 10k (speakers, receiver, cables, wires, components, room treatments, etc.) I own a Klipsch Reference Premier (RP-280F/RP-250S/RP-160M/and two R-115SW 15" subs) system powered by a Marantz SR7010. And it's all hooked up with quality wires to ensure great sound. However, for music I'm primarily an iPod and iPhone user. And although I do legally download my music via iTunes and it's reasonably good quality, it's certainly not CD or record quality. Having spent so much money on my system, I knew listening to music via my iPod was not doing the system justice as is. So I opted to find something to convert the music files to a better quality sounding experience. I found a few very expensive items that just didn't make sense economically because the music via my iPod through my system already sounded pretty good, so I didn't think 1k-3k solutions were necessary. I came across this and it got excellent reviews everywhere I looked and it seemed to do what I wanted it to do at a reasonable price. I got it yesterday, took less than a minute to hook up and I'm pretty impressed. As noted, the music already sounded pretty darn good as is, but I was looking for that extra bit of pureness from it. I think I got it as close to perfect as I'm going to get it with the iStreamer.A couple of notes that may assist you in your decision to purchase:-It came with a 30-pin (old) iPod/iPhone wire, BUT it does absolutely work with a lightning (new) iPod/iPhone wire (although it does not come with the lightning wire). The input on the iStreamer is just a USB port, but I wasn't positive if any of the internal software would work or if my iPod would say "currently not supported". But using both my iPod Touch (newest gen) and my iPhone 6 - both updated to the newest iOS...this worked flawlessly with no errors or issues.-It came with a somewhat chintzy 2 RCA male to 2 RCA male cable. I'm a little surprised because it's almost a 200 dollar item that claims to make your music sound better, yet they give you a sub par cable. I just went online and ordered a better RCA cable. Not sure there will be a massive difference, but it will make me feel better lol-Depending on where you sit in the room or area you listen to your music in, this may be tough to position. There are three wires that need to be plugged into it or come out of it. Power supply, RCA cable, and the USB cable. It needs to be plugged into an outlet, so if I keep it near my Marantz receiver, that works for both the length of the RCA cable and the power cable. But since you need to plug your device into the USB port, if you're looking to not sit directly within 3 feet of your system (so you can still control the iPod in your hand), you'd need to get a longer USB cord. Alternatively, you could plug the iStreamer into another outlet closer to where you sit, but then you'd have to get a longer RCA cord so it would reach the receiver. So some logistics are involved in terms of placement, but this is a very minor and user specific issue that should not deter a purchase. Plus the unit itself is much smaller than I expected...very light and compact.Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with it. My music seems more crisp, the bass seems a tad bit more pure and low, and the music seems more alive to me. This certainly isn't going to turn a 200 dollar surround sound system into a 25k sounding system, but it absolutely will give you noticeable improvement as we venture further on into a "no physical CDs or Records" era.***UPDATED*** - After owning this for a week plus and using it a lot, I upgraded my review from 4 stars to 5. Why you may ask? Because I'm noticing my music is sounding much better than I had originally thought. I think I was trying too hard at first to hear the difference and wasn't just letting it come naturally. But now that I've used it a reasonable amount and it's become more of a norm, I'm realizing how much life it adds to my music. While it won't product Blu-Ray like audio, it certainly comes darn close. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This item will only work for four hours at a time, then you must unplug everything and plug back in. Either iPod would go to home page or black screen with white apple. E-mail back and forth with manufacturer. 1st sent me a new power supply-no help. Then questioned if I was plugging in right-no help. Then told me to update iTunes and sync-no help. Next told me to send back to him at my expense. I'm done, returned for refund. For something that is licensed by apple it sure is a pain to operate. I must go thru a specific procedure everytime I plug my iPod in to it? You should be able to plug 30 pin connector in and your ready to go and run non stop for days if you want, not unplug and plug back in every 4 hours. As for the sound, I didn't notice any difference.

I stumbled upon the iStreamer on one of the audio forums that I frequent. I was searching for a device that would help to improve the sound from my iPhone while listening at home and also versatile enough to adopt for automotive use.First the home setup. I have an original, g2 iPhone that is was connected to my home system through a Apple dock that originally came with my phone. The dock had a fixed 3.5mm mini jack that has a fixed output which was connected to my pre-amp. This set-up is functionally OK, but I knew that I was missing out on higher level of fidelity by using the built-in Apple DAC. While I understand that MP3s are not the highest quality source, I still wanted to get the best that I could, given their limitations.I got the iStreamer and hooked it up per the instructions. It is rather simple and quick. One mistake that I made was to plug the iStreamer into the dock, which presented erratic synching with my phone. I called HRT and after a quick chat with a very competent gentleman I plugged my phone directly into the iStreamer, bypassing the dock, which eliminated all issues.The difference in sound was immediately noticeable. The sound was more open and dynamic. There were details in certain tracks that I never heard before. Overall it is just a much richer, cleaner sound than before. I am very pleased.I have yet to try the iStreamer in the car, but I see no reason why it would not give the same results as it did with my home system. I have a classic muscle car and I do not have, nor do I want a head-unit. My current set-up consists of my iPhone which is connected directly to an old Xtant amp through the headphone jack. While this set-up works OK, I know that I am missing a lot, especially on the low end. The plan is to use a JL Audio CL-RLC as a pre-amp. The outputs from the iStreamer will feed into the CL-RLC and from there to my existing Xtant amp. The CL-RLC will send a clean 7 volt signal to my amp and also act as the master volume control. I am excited to test out this configuration.Nicely done HRT and thanks for the awesome customer support!***Update 5-12-2012***I finally had an opportunity to try out the configuration that I proposed above and it worked very well. The sound was much better than feeding my amp with a signal from the head-phone jack of my iPhone. The CL-RLC functions perfectly as a pre-amp and the volume knob can be mounted anywhere. So if anyone doesn't want a headunit in their car and uses any Apple "i" device as a source, the iStreamer / JL CL-RLC combo work perfectly.Andrew

I love this unit. Easy hook up for 30 pins ipods bit their ad says it works with touch 5 which is Lighting. It only comes with the 30 pin dedicated cable. I have asked HRT for instructions.Sound quality is very, very good. Separation and imaging is dramatic improvement. Low end is more presise and defined. I will have my entire cd collection reloaded on my pc at Apple lossless then on to a 64gig Touch for my perm. Media player on my Onkyo tn rx636 5.1 unsing z2.There is a problem in that their description, HRT says that only the supplied cable (30 pin) will work with the iStreamer. However now the CTO at HRT says you can use the Lightning cable from your Apple if your unit has one. This makes no sense to me. The 30 pin cable they supply has a special pinout but the Lightning doesn't need one. I don't believe it...The same track on a nano 30 pin does not sound the same as my other nano with Lightning.I'm not going to use the Lightning based unit.

Collegare l'ipad all'impianti HIFI tramite l'uscita della cuffia sembra la cosa più ovvia, e invece lasciatemelo dire, con questo convertitore d/a è tutta un'altra cosa.Oltre che prendersi l'audio digitale ricarica anche l'ipad.L'apparecchio funziona molto bene, l'unica cosa, avrei preferito tutti i gli ingressi e le uscite su un unico lato.

Lange habe ich drauf gewartet, meinen iPod adäquat an die Stereoanlage anschließen zu können und war schon drauf und dran, wieder in einen CD-Player zu investieren und dann kam der iStreamer, den ich mir nach dem Lesen eines Testberichtes bestellt habe, in der vagen Hoffnung, dass die zum großen Teil verlustfrei gerippten CD's nun auch halbwegs vernünftig klingen.Also auspacken, anschließen und nach weniger als drei Minuten ging's los...und was dann passierte, trieb mir tatsächlich die Tränen des Glücks in die Augen. Plötzlich ging der Vorhang auf und der muffig gepresste Klang des iPods wich einem glasklaren, in allen Belangen wunderbaren Klang, das müsst ihr selbst hören und dann einen Freund oder wen auch immer in einem A-B Vergleich mit normalem Anschluss und dann dem iStreamer in ungläubiges Staunen versetzen.Und das Schönste ist: Auch die datenreduzierten Downloads über itunes klingen um Lichtjahre besser. Mehr HiFi braucht kein Mensch und die Überlegung, mir einen neuen Player zu kaufen, haben sich erledigt. Dafür ist der Preis des iStreamers schon fast ein Sonderangebot.Also, unbedingt zuschlagen und ihr werdet euer blaues (Hör-)Wunder erleben!!!

Den iStreamer habe ich aufgrund der guten Bewertungen und auch überwiegend guter Pressestimmen gekauft um den Sound von meinem iPad mini und iPhone 5S zu verbessern. Angeschlossen an eine recht gute NAD-Hifi-Anlage war es mir jedoch auch bei Lossless-Files kaum möglich einen relevanten Unterschied zur iPhone eigenen Ausgabe zu bemerken - bei rein instrumentalen Stellen vielleich etwas besser aufgelöst und generell etwas heller und luftiger aber große Welten liegen da nicht zwischen. Auch mit guten Kopfhörern von AKG fand ich den Unterschied für 200,-€ zu marginal - daher ging das Gerät zurück.Der Anschluss funktioniert als Plug& Player ohne Probleme, das iOS Gerät wird praktischerweise aufgeladen. Seltsam fand ich, dass Lautstärkeregelung und Equalizer aktiv bleibt, wo doch eigentlich der reine Digitalstream abgegriffen werden soll - wie kann dann ein Equalizer im iPad funktionieren? Laut diversen Tests, z.B. bei hifitest, sollte auch keine Lautstärkeregelung möglich sein, bei mir war es aber so. Gibt es vielleicht doch Probleme mit den neueren Geräten mit Lightning Anschlüssen, es liegt jedenfalls nur ein Kabel mit dem alten Dockanschluss der Packung bei. Laut Website von HRT sollten aber auch neue Geräte ohne Probleme laufen.

Aufgabe: Anschluss des Ipods Classic an Bose - CineMate 1 SRProblem: Nachdem ich mit dem Versuch, die D-A-Wandlung mit dem Apple Universaldock zu erledigen, eine totale Enttäuschung erlebte, habe ich mich aufgrund der Empfehlungen auf wiki-info.de für diesen Wandler und Verstärker entschieden und wurde nicht enttäuscht.Lösung:Alle notwendigen Kabel liegen bei, dadurch war es selbsterklärend, den Anschluss vorzunehmen.Ergebnis: Hervorragender Klang, auch wenn die Lautstärke auf "volle Pille" gedreht ist. Die Lautstärkeregelung funktioniert mit der Universal-Fernbedienung von Bose gut. Die Menu-Steuerung des Ipods natürlich nicht (was die Apple-Fernbedienung aber auch nicht kann).Ein kleines Manko: Das Ipod muss liegen und kann nicht "präsentabel" stehen. Aber da werde ich mir vom Tischler etwas bauen lassen...Lieferung: von einem Tag auf den anderen und perfekt verpackt.Ich bin mehr als zufrieden!

Ich habe sehr lange nach Möglichkeiten gesucht, meine Apfelfamilie in die heimische Anlage einzubinden. Klar, das geht über diverse Docks, die aber in der Regel nur den internen A/D Wandler des Gerätes selbst nutzen. Das ist für Hintergrundmusik durchaus in Ordnung, beleidigt aber die Ohren der Besitzer tatsächlich audiophiler Anlagen mit dem Anspruch, Musik auch bewußt zu genießen.Ja, jetzt kommen sie wieder, diese Begriffe wie "luftig", "räumlich", "Klangtiefe", "Bühne", "Transparenz" oder "perlender Klang"...aber anders ist das Klangerlebnis - und das ist es - nicht zu beschreiben. Großartig!Mein einziges Problem ist, "wo verstecke ich das Teil jetzt?" - aber da fällt mir sicher noch was ein - nach längerem Musikgenuß...übrigens - wieder superschnell geliefert!