MUSIC STREAMER GENERATION No. 2 IS HERE!!!

Back in January it has been only a year since Kevin Halverson and Michael Hobson embarked on a project called High Resolution Technologies. A project that some of us may have failed to see as almost a prophecy about what the future was to bring and - keep for a long time. HRT released two models of a product called Music Streamer, which enabled us to decode and convert music files from our computers into a good sounding analogue music to our ears. And what a success it was!

One year down the line, at the CES2010 in January, HRT launched the 2nd generation their Music Streamers (called Music Streamer II and Music Streamer II+), which now all offer 24/96-resolution capability and are a big step forward in terms of overall performance. Main differences between the two models are in the quality of their digital-to-analogue converting chipsets as well as much elaborated and proprietary power supply circuitry on the II+ model. Both new Music Streamer II models are available and shipping and UK prices have been set at £139 inc VAT and delivery for the basic Music Streamer II, while the Music Streamer II+ costs £329 inc VAT and delivery.

The already renowned current flagship model within the Music Streamer range - PRO - remains available without changes and its price also remains unchanged at £475 inc VAT and delivery.

Music Streamer Pro is, as is well known, a pure differential (balanced) design. As such, it has been equipped with true balanced outputs. But, as the overall size of the unit did not allow for the standard (larger) size XLR connectors, so smaller ones, called "mini XLR" connectors had to be used for its outputs. Which, of course, is posing very practical problems for almost every potential user of this true high-end d/a processor for streamed music files. How many of us ever even knew about the existence of mini-XLR connectors, let alone had an interconnect cable or suitable adapters to use the Music Streamer Pro with?? Thankfully, Cardas Audio came up with a solution and manufactured two different types of adapters as well as a couple of affordable, but very good sounding interconnect cables for those of us who do not wish to compromise and insist on having all our connections hard-wired at the two respective ends of a cable.

As you can see from the illustrations, the most important needed adapter is one with female mini-XLR connector on one end and the female RCA one at the other. This enables any RCA-RCA interconnect to be used for this application. The other alternative is a female mini-XLR to male standard XLR connector adapter, which facilitates the use of a standard XLR-XLR interconnect cable. Cardas Audio have also suggested two different interconnect cables which have the female mini-XLR connectors already fitted at the "Music Streamer end'. One is called "G Master Reference" (1m set costs £120 inc VAT) and the other "Microtwin" (1m set costs £145 inc VAT). Both versions of the mini-XLR adapters cost £70 Inc VAT per pair. Any of the mentioned solutions, especially when combined with the Cardas Clear USB cable, will provide an excellent sonic result most certainly capable of extracting the maximum performance from the Music Streamer Pro. Cardas Audio have informed us they would be happy to provide any type of their interconnect cable fitted with the mini-XLR female connectors at the Music Streamer end for as long as the outer diameter of the cable is suitable for this purpose. Being as curious as we are, we have been using our in-house sample of the Music Streamer Pro for a few weeks with the latest Clear Light interconnect cable ("baby" version of the Clear) and. Be brave and try it - you will not be disappointed.

We are delighted to report an unexpectedly high degree of acclamation and praise that our Karan Acoustics based system at the CES2010 has been receiving ever since the first day of the show!! Most paper and web audio publications mentioned and unequivocally complimented the performance of the KA L REF Mk2 line preamplifier and the KA M 1200 mono power amplifiers. As and example, allow us to mention Chris Martens of The Absolute Sound who chose the Karan Acoustics presentation as his personal best sound of the show and Robert Harley, the Editor of The Absolute Sound, who thought the system "sounded superb". Browsing the web and reading the recently published issues of "paper" magazines creates a long list of positive remarks and opinions which makes us feel that the first proper presence of the Karan Acoustics brand at the CES had its purpose and meaning. On behalf of Milan Karan and our own, we would like to thank all those who visited and enjoyed the music we played in Las Vegas this year.

Two more superb reviews of two very different products have been just published in the UK audio press. The technical team of What Hi-Fi? (Kuzma) and Roy Gregory (Avalon) seemed to be very happy with the performance of our smallest analogue playback system and one of the most relevant dynamic loudspeaker designs of 2009 respectively.