HiFi-Link for PC and Mac

The HiFi Link is capable of reproducing exquisite digital sound through a home stero system, but results will vary according to the media player one uses on their PC. It worked immediatley out of the box when played through Windows Media Player, but was horribly distorted. The sound cleared right up when I lowered the volume on both the PC and WMP. But it still sounded flat. I then tried playing music through Real Player and it was just as dull. I then downloaded and set up DFX Audio Enhancer plug in for WMP and it improved the sound tremendously. DFX however, uses preset processing modes. It has quite a lot to choose from and one can tweak each a little, but in the end it is limited by lacking a true graphic equalizer. Finally I downloaded Winamp (free version) and that turned out to be he real deal. Winamp faithfully processes the music even with it's graphic equalizer turned off (infanitely better than WMP or Real Player) and one can optinally turn on its graphic equalizer for even more control. The take home message is that HiFi link CAN work great, but if one just assumes that all media players are built equally then they could be disappointed if they choose the wrong one. Stay away fform WMP and Real Player, unless you also use an audio enhacer. Go ahead and keep it simple with Winamp and you will have true hi fidelety home stereo music.

My setup: Windows 2K with low-end PCI soundcard. Sennheiser 280 pro headphones plugged into line out from the soundcard. What I was looking for: I work in a noisy office, and so I like to put on headphones to listen music, but also just to reduce the office noise. What drove me nuts was the hissing, crackling, popping I'd hear as I'd move windows around, start applications, type on the keyboard, click the mouse, and otherwise use the computer. I believe the origin of this noise is electromagnetic interference (EMI) from the electronics inside the computer. (processor, PCI bus, hard drive, etc) The results with Xitel: 1) Absolutely no more of the annoying noises. 2) Had to turn up the volume to get soundlevel I am used to. I think this is a result of the xitel only being powered off the USB, which doesn't have a lot of power. This is why I only gave 4 stars. 3) I can hear the music much better. This is a mixed blessing -- when one of my lower sample-rate MP3s come on I can hear it. I have good headphones, so this might not be a problem if you don't. 4) If anything I'd say the influence of this processor is to create very clean, sharp music. Doesn't add warmth, like my NAD stereo amp. Conclusions: Does what is says it is going to do. Probably very useful for a home media pc. Definitely recommended if you want clean audio from a low-end soundcard. Might consider getting an headphone amplifier if you are in an office setting.

So you've digitized your CD collection or listen to internet radio, but are tired with the tinny sound of your computer speakers. "Why can't I use my stereo that's located just 15' away," you ask yourself? Having bought a DVD/CD player that can read .mp3 disks was a reasonable stopgap, but what about internet radio? If this sounds like you, the HiFi-Link is a must have. There are three items in the box: (1) a USB cable for your computer to the HiFi Link, (2) the HiFi Link, and (3) a 30' long RCA cable for between the HiFi Link and your stereo. Hookup was reasonably simple (I did get a message that a certain file was not found during installation, but the HiFi-Link still worked). The HiFi Link is small - about the size of fat candybar - so you can stuff it anywhere easily out of sight. The sound quality is great. On the downside, using the HiFi Link requires you to change your multimedia default sound output to "USB device" instead of your soundcard; this means that everything will play through your stereo (computer games etc) unless you toggle the sound output back to your sound card. A minor inconvenience for the overall utility of digital music on your home stereo.

It didn't work for what I wanted it but installation was very simple and quick.

I purchased the HiFi-Link for connecting my laptop to the stereo in my family room while listening to the Rhapsody music service. I read good reviews here so I ordered one - I was not disappointed. I connected the USB cable, Windows XP installed the drivers and I was up in running in seconds. Originally I was connecting from the headphone jack of my laptop to a stereo, and while the sound was adequate, it wasn't what I would consider 'CD Quality'. There was a very noticeable improvement after connecting up the HiFi link and listening to my first song. The sound quality is great and I had no issues with hum or noise - the device really works as advertised. Bottom line, for the small investment you can't go wrong with the HiFi Link.

I beg to differ with other positive reviews here. I'm using a 700mhz iBook with OS X. The operating system saw the device right away, and it worked flawlessly. The sound quality, however, was much, much worse than my home CD Player/NAD amp/B & W speakers. The sound quality out of the Xitel unit was very close to the sound quality coming straight off the analog headphone jack of the iBook. My thought when I heard the unit was, "[a few of my hard earned bucks]something that boosts my levels a little, but sounds no better..." I'm sorry Xitel, you'll have to do better than this. Try at least to sound as good as a $50 portable CD player, and then I'll be interested.

...you probably don't need one of these. I'm feeling like an idiot right now because I bought this thing BEFORE I tried plugging my computer straight into my stereo. D'oh!!! A 1/8" stereo plug-RCA adapter and RCA cable from Radio Shack do the same job as this thing. Just plug it into your computer's headphone jack, and you're all set. I did a side-by-side comparison between this thing and the stuff I bought at the Shack and there's NO discernible difference. I guess there are some situations where interference inside your computer and/or a weak sound card will make this not work so well, and in this case I'm sure this product would be perfect; it definitely works as advertised. But I would HIGHLY recommend you try the Radio Shack version for $12 before you buy one of these.

Wow, this little gadget is great! I bought it to run streaming audio (from Listen.com's Rhapsody program) from a laptop into our home stereo. Computer sound cards tend to be lousy, and laptops are often some of the worst, so the HiFi-Link is a vast improvement. No more buzzing and hissing, no more having to unplug or mute the laptop when the music wasn't playing to stop the background noise you could still hear--just clear music when it's playing, and silence when it's not. I also use it at work sometimes between my PC and my headphone amplifier (an AirHead from Headroom: headphone.com), and that sounds EXCELLENT. I may just get another one so I can have one at home for the stereo and one at work for headphones.