Pure Music/HiFace/MBP

I have HiFace, Musical Fidelity V-Link and Audio GD Digital Interface with dedicated PSU. These are all USB to S/PDIF converters. For a long time I used HiFace (one of the early versions which are said to sound better because they use different and better clock than the newer versions). I have been very happy with HiFace but lately many new options have become available so I decided to test a few of them.

Out of these three, Digital Interface is a clear winner. It clearly improved clarity and dynamic range compared to the HiFace. Also HiFace sounded slightly grainy after DI, which is just the most enjoyable sounding out of the three. I haven't directly compared V-Link to the HiFace but after the DI it really sounded a lot worse. 

HI Patu.  I've never heard of the Audio GD Digital Interface.  Sounds like you are really enjoying it.  Where did you learn of this?  

JB

Yes, I'm really enjoying it. 

I found Audio GD through Head-Fi, where I'm a senior member. I started my hobby with headphones and slowly transferred to speakers. Nowadays I mostly listen to my speaker setup but I still appreciate good headphone sound. Supernait has surprisingly good headphone amp.

Audio GD is quite well known manufacturer on Head-Fi because this small/mid-sized Chinese company makes excellent headphone amplifiers. They also make very good DACs. I have no experience with their regular amplifiers though but I have owned one of their DACs (DAC19Mk3). I liked its sound more than Bel Canto DAC3 which is about six times more expensive and ended up selling DAC3. Of course It's not as black and white as it may sound and I had hard time choosing between the two.

Digital Interface sounds excellent but finishing of the casing is quite poor compared to Naim or many other manufacturers. I bought Russ Andrews AC/DC link cable to replace the original one, which was maybe the flimsiest cable I've ever seen. Between the DI and Naim DAC I use Chord Prodac. 

Hi JB,

I use an early HiFace between my Laptop and nDAC.

I use this to stream Spotify - use an NS01 for proper listening.

The laptop sounded really very good - when I had it set up using CMP principles, which stripped out all extraneous XP services, but this included networking.

In a standard XP build the HiFace may well improve the sound - but it's polishing a turd!

M

Sorry but what do you mean by this? Are you referring to XP's qualities as a transport or PC as a transport in general?

I'm just trying to understand why XP as a transport would be a turd. When I went from Windows XP to Windows 7, I didn't really notice any drastic improvements in sound quality. Of course it was impossible to compare these two OS side by side. I haven't configured my PC for only to be a transport. I use it for many other purposes also at the same time when I'm listening to music. Of course foobar2000 (the media player I use) has highest priority + WASAPI output and I've done some other minor tweaks there but nothing else. I've never been able to hear differences with these little tweaks but they make me feel better.

When compared with motherboard's digital output or some less expensive pro PCI sound cards digital outputs, HiFace is miles ahead in sound quality.

I use a BNC Hi-Face.

I connect it onto the back of the Naim DAC using a BNC to BNC  coupler.

This cuts out the need for a coax cable as its a direct fit.

I just run a female to male usb cable  from the Hi-Face to my Mac.

G.

> How many folks around here using a HiFace?

Used to, but settled on the MF VLink - prefer it because it doesn't need special drivers. 

However, I found the hiFace good too and you can eliminate the need for an optical/coax cable. 

Preferred both to my Mac's digital out. 

Also tried INT202, but preferred the VLink.

Not heard the device Patu mentions - happy enough at the moment though.

You can go crazy listening to too many options when you just want to sit back and listen to the newly re-mastered Herman's Hermits collection.

All the best, Guy  

Thanks to all who have replied.