Halide Bridge Fixed Now!

You'd be better off with a Flux Capacitor instead.

My Devilsound DAC from the same company died and they covered it under warranty and gave me the benefit of the doubt.   It might have been my fault but they were supportive and very helpful, and quickly sent me a new unit.  I intend to buy a Halide Bridge when I get a DAC.   I like Jonathan and the other people there.  If you like the product, I feel sure you will be pleased with the support they provide.  Have you sent them an email to discuss?

Yep, sent them an email. No reply as yet, but it is the weekend.

What I will say is that after a brief time with the Halide Bridge, I miss it. I noticed quite a loss of enjoyment going back to the Mac's SPDIF optical.

I have just installed the replacement Halide Bridge. Great service. A replacement sent with no questions asked and no cost.

I will send the faulty one back this week. Thanks to the guys at Halide Designs.

That was my experience.  I will get the Halide Bridge when I get the nDAC because of the quality and service on the Devilsound DAC.  Same folks.  It is remarkable what they can accomplish with a self-powered USB product.

Better than a HiFace?

Can't comment on whether it better than Hiface. It is now working great for me, though. A clever design. It is really just a "smart cable" with absolutely zero-fuss set-up.

Yep, I wrote this in another forum but it still stands here...

I choose the Bridge over other options for a number of reasons. The governing software "Streamlength" is written by Gordon Rankin of Wavelength one of the leading lights of the USB Dac movement and is embedded in the device, ie no drivers to update. Form factor was another reason ie I didn't have to think about what USB or Coax cables to use with it or add to the expense, having a BNC connection was another benefit. That it went to 24/96 was no big deal - as Dan Lavry has pointed out the differention between 96 and 192 is vanishingly small. Reviews of the device compared to other usb/spdif interfaces were positive and rated it highly (whilst I take reviews with a grain of salt, it most be noted that trialling these things is extremely difficult in getting your hands on more than one at a time).

Compared to the other data transports - including optical, some of the cheap Chinese products like Pop Pulse and Trends, the Hiface, the Bel Canto etc-  from a mac mini into a Naim Dac with ps, the Bridge was to me the best sounding solution and moreover fairly cost effective when cabling was taken into account. I will acknowledge that when I bought it the Hiface Evo wasn't available, which may have changed things

I found the Halide Bridge to be adaptable with 44.1, 48 88.2 and 96,  reasonable micro detail retrieval whilst not overly bright and etched like some of the other rivals, excellent separation and good bass articulation. It has enough "bounce" to keep up with a Naim setup. Flaws? perhaps a smidge rolled off at the top end.

My specific concerns with the Hiface were the high output which i felt lead to a harshness in the treble (sought of like overloading as it were), the driver stability and just overall sound quality (bright and recessed with that treble harshness). As I indicated above I did not compare it to the Evo due to lack of availability.

The Hi Face is good value for money (provided you don't go overboard on the I/C), and perhaps suitable for a low to midrange Naim setup, but in a DAC/XPS2/252/250-2 setup it failed to perform at the level of the Bridge in a head to head contest. As always this is in the context of my system, my room, my music and my ears....

regards,

Giles

Very helpful review. Thanks.