Lynx Hilo

Re-posted: I got it for mastering, read below...

Folks got mine Monday and starting using it yesterday. Someone asked about the software and if its easy to use...The internal software and touch screen are very intuitive AS LONG AS you understand what this box is. A quick read through the manual makes it a synch to operate. My set-up, if I keep it, will be this:

USB in
Line out to Dangerous Liaison (to all my analog toys)
Line in from Liaison (from my analog toys)
Monitor Out for, well, monitoring
Dedicated Headphone out for...

So I’m using it as a dual stereo D/A and a single Stereo A/D. There are a massive number of permutations you can have because every input can be routed to specific outputs so you can really create many many routing matrixes. Because of this flexibility, however, the user should take 10 minutes to understand what this box is capable of. It is NOT simply a stero D/A - A/D But once you "get it" the user interface is as simple as can be.

More importantly, I had a chance to listen to it at length having run it all day while I was out. First: WOW! The clarity is exceptional and absolutely transparent. The imaging is actually incredible. I was impressed during a brief listen yesterday but today I'm experiencing a much much broader stereo image with no ambiguity in the imaging, and no smearing across regions. I'll state this claim to the headphone amp as well. (Speaking of which, I have very little time on the headphone amp but do find it so far to be very impressive.) The sound is very three dimensional (which has been a minor complaint of the aurora) And possibly among my biggest cheer is that the sound is very un-clinical, which is the most common complaint of the benchmark and sometimes the Lavry.

This box has the same converter chip as the aurora but as we know, this does;t mean much. I spoke with Lynx rep who discussed the improvements in the analog path. I can't point to what makes the difference but this box is a meaningful step up from the aurora in terms of both depth and imaging.

My initial impression is that this may be the perfect DA/AD system for a mid level dedicated Mastering room. At the end of the day, it comes down to what your ears like and work well with so I'll never say that this is the one. However, for a system like mine, where you'v got a stereo pair out to the analog world where it will stay and be routed around by a mastering console or something like that, this box gives you the out/in to and from the DAW/Real World, a separate DA for monitoring and a dedicated reference quality headphone amp. Ummmm?

I bought it for the functionality and its expected use with the Dangerous Music Liaison. I've got a lot of listing to do before I make a final decision, but so far, its earning its pace in a new home.

p.s. I'm trying to keep me excitement down because I only have about 2 hours of listening and comparing, but I am really really impressed!!

p.s.s: Today using Focal Solo 6 and Seinhesier HD650 for the HP amp.

More to come....