BYTE.com > Chaos Manor > 2003
The Sound of Movies
By Jerry Pournelle
June 30, 2003
(The Sound of Movies
: Page 1 of 1 )
Column 275 (Continued from the Previous Week)
High End Audio from USB
The following report is courtesy of Chaos Manor Associate Dan Spisak.
Xitel's Pro HiFi-Link is just the thing for the musician on the run as well as
anyone looking for clean, quiet, audio output and distortion free optical
output via TOSlink or digital coaxial cable. The Pro HiFi is a USB 1.1
compliant device housed in a small sleek case and allows any Windows or Mac to
output high fidelity stereo, Dolby Digital or DTS audio sources via digital
and analog outputs simultaneously. The Pro HiFi has the same great analog
stereo output of the HiFi due to its included 20-bit Digital to Analog
Converter.
Installation under Windows and Mac systems remains very easy, with no
additional drivers needed—It Just Works. Plugging the Pro HiFi into your
system automatically reroutes any previously existing soundcard's output
through itself. Unplug the Pro HiFi and full functionality is returned to any
existing soundcard. Sound from analog outputs of the Pro HiFi was just as good
as the HiFi previously reviewed, as expected. Using various DVDs I was able to
test the Dolby Digital and DTS digital output from the Pro HiFi to my A/V
receiver and found it worked exactly as advertised. The Pro HiFi-Link will
also output any stereo signal via the digital outputs.
The Pro HiFi-Link is great for people with extensive digital music collections
on their computer who wish to hook up to their home stereo via a distortion
free digital hookup. Another great thing about the Pro HiFi-Link is it comes
with a complete set of cables for all its analog and digital outputs; these
cables alone are well worth the price of the product. The Pro HiFi is ideal
for laptop users doing presentations as well as music due to the available
distortion free digital outputs and high fidelity analog output. Highly
recommended.
Klipsch PROMEDIA 5.1 PC Theater
I have a number of computers, and I'm forever changing them around, so I don't
often pay much attention to sound systems.
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