HRT Music Streamer 2 - Not impressed! (1 day old)

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xoceter

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I got the hrt ms2 recently.

I find that cowon s9 as a source to be much more vibrant, clear and offering a better sound stage than hrt ms2.

The high's are not there for me with hrt, which it is famous for. Sound quality is muffled compared to cowon s9. sound stage is not wide, its loud but not as wide as my analog source.

what am i doing wrong? can anyone help?

the performance is a little better in winxp than winvista.

source: cowon s9 or hrt ms 2
int amp: marantz pm6003
bs: kef q300
cables: standard chord company transparent cables (Rs 60/mtr) with banana plugs (Rs 250/plug)
usb a to b: standard $5 belkin gold plated 7ft cable
 
everything else is burnt-in properly ( 1 yr old) except hrt ms2.

electronic DAC burn-in in my personal opinion is BS.
 
Could you humor us and burn it in nonetheless? Please?

Post your impression after a week or two of listening.
 
I agree with your 'not impressed' views on the HRT Streamer II.

On every occasion that I heard it, it did not impress me.

PS: the ones I heard were 'well - burned' :p
 
don't wanna dive into the "burn-in" discussion, will revisit after 2 weeks if i keep using it.

DSP resampler plugin up sampling to 96 KHz in foobar 2000 helped improved the perceived quality
 
xoceter said:
I got the hrt ms2 recently.

I find that cowon s9 as a source to be much more vibrant, clear and offering a better sound stage than hrt ms2
Click to expand...

Is this with the "Normal" / default (forgot what it is called) EQ setting of S9 with no enhancements enabled?

HRT MSII is laid-back in presentation, a little thicker sounding with a slightly darker tonality. I may be very off the mark since I have not used it regularly and haven't listened to it in a while. If your gripe is with the 'laid-back' part, then burn-in won't help.

Not sure about the sound stage part as I did not compared S9 and MSII side by side when I had them. But, MSII has a better sound stage than the $800 DacMini CX even though it loses out in other areas (detail, energy).

I still think it was a better source than a few other DACs I tried like uDAC-1 and 2 and Maverick D1. DACs / Sources can be a little tricky, IME. Sometimes, when I move from something familiar to something different, I always felt that the new one was 'lacking'. After a while, once I got used to the newer DAC/Source, revisiting the older source gave me a better picture of what the newer source could do better or worse relatively. There's no guarantee that you will like MSII after a couple of weeks, but won't hurt if you "burn-in" the DAC as well as your brain than just a quick A:B.

Is it possible for you to try with a shorter USB cable and perhaps even a different USB port in your 2 weeks of experimentation? May not change anything, but you might as well try while you are at it ;)
 
denom said:
I agree with your 'not impressed' views on the HRT Streamer II.

On every occasion that I heard it, it did not impress me.

PS: the ones I heard were 'well - burned' :p
Click to expand...

Ditto with me
Twice I checked did not like it!

Both the time denom was with me!
 
10 day update on my experiments with HRT MS2.

1. Sound Stage for Cowon S9 is definitely better than HRT, but HRT connected with my PC really drives my speakers nicely (max volume with S9 is around 30% of what i get through HRT)

Some improvements that helped

2. Got stands from Magma's Soundfoundation Co, placed the KEFs with ample breathing space (1m from the sides, 9" at the back, 2 m between left and right)

3. Got WASAPI.dll and along with DSP resampler to 96KHz

4. Got loads of FLAC some 320 kbps files

Conclusion

5. I am definitely keeping HRT MS2, since its just so easy to use and manage music through PC.

6. Barring a less wider sound stage compared to S9 and a negligible hum at high volumes, i am not complaining since with HQ source files (and your eyes closed), this is pretty much what you expect from a $150 DAC. Running with bare minimum apps to control temperature and fan speed, on battery power with Wifi off helps more than you'd realize.

7. For my room size 20x14, this is more than enough to give you either a melodious or a heart thumping performance (Repeating Specs - PM6003,KEF Q300, HRT MS2, WinXP)

8. Could not really differentiate between sound quality by using a shorter USB cable, may be my low end hifi set up is the bottle neck here
 
Bluu said:
^ Try it without Dave. Maybe he is the weak link in the chain! :lol:
Click to expand...
:lol::lol::lol: ROTFL :lol::lol::lol:

BTW I've heard the HRT MS2. Found it ok. Nothing to complain at it's cost. Though I found Beresford Caiman better (also costs a "little" more)
 
Last edited:
I live with a few DACs (Workplace/Home/Listening room etc) all sub 200$ ones. The MSII has its hits and misses. But is still a very likeable piece of equipment at the price-point as sono correctly points out. The sound-staging is decent, resolution could be better but not muddy at all. Bass is definitely aneamic and lacks the punch a Xonar STX packs. But the treble and mids are silky smooth for a sub 200$ DAC.

The bottomline is "its not a perfect DAC" but then who makes a perfect DAC at less than 10K INR?

The Gatorized Cayman however is in a league of its own and I am definitely buying one soon. :)
 
Who sells HRT streamers in India? Any dealers in Bangalore? I'm looking at the HRT iStreamer.

Thanks
 
vraned, a forum member strategy has a used hrt istreamer for sale I think. Check it out. No dealers afaik in India.
 
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