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HiFi-Link for PC - Reviews
TV Reviews:
Check out television reviews of the HiFi-Link here.
David Drucker from PC Upgrade Magazine (USA - September, 2003)
'However, if sound quality is an important consideration, you have two choices. You could buy a really expensive sound card, install it in your computer, and hope that it's one of the good ones, or you could bypass the sound card and move the audio out of the computer while it's still in digital form. One product designed to perform this chore is the Xitel HiFi-Link ($49). Unlike a simple cable running from a sound card's line-out or headphone-out jack, the HiFi-Link does the digital-to-analog conversion and outputs a high-fidelity signal. Audio processing is handled by the HiFi-Link's own DAC processor, which provides significantly better sound quality. The package includes a 30-foot, high quality audio cable, which by itself would run you at least $25, making the HiFi-Link a terrific bargain.'
Dahmien Owen from Computer Edge (USA - July 24, 2003)
'For listening to a movie or music at home, headphones or small computer speakers may not do, and if you already have a good stereo system, the Xitel HiFi-Link ($50, www.xitel.com would be a wonderful solution.' 'The HiFi-Link receives audio from your Mac's USB port (OS 9.0.4 or later running Apple Extension 1.0.5 or later), and outputs via 30-foot RCA cable.' 'The HiFi-Link is powered via the same USB cable that connects it to the computer.' |
MAC Home Magazine (USA - July 2003)
'Xitel's HiFi-Link is all about chaining your computer's audio to your remote stereo while retaining the highest possible fidelity.' 'It works as a conduit for any audio coming from the computer, whether it be Internet radio, compressed music (or uncompressed AIFF files) or CD audio). Plug the HiFi-Link into a built-in USB port on any Mac using OS 9.0.4 or higher and it installs without drivers.' 'Bypassing the sound card by routing music through USB assures that less or no noise will be introduced along the way.'
Matthew Hirsch from Envynews.com (USA - July 13, 2003)
'The HiFi-Link produces movies and music with superb clarity and depth. With some audio solutions, like older sound cards, sounds are muffled, or you are missing the deep bass or high tones. These old cards can't even hold a candle to the Xitel HiFi-Link.' 'PC audio has just taken the next big step up with the Xitel HiFi-Link. No longer are you confined to the underwhelming performance of PCI cards.' 'For those of you with spare computer parts willing to take the next step into the realm of the Home Theater PC, or for anyone with any setup who just wants better sound than their PC speakers can provide, join the ranks of the satisfied Xitel HiFi-Link users, you won't be disappointed!' |
Modsynergy.com (USA - April, 2003)
'And you thought your Logitech Z-540s sounded good. Think again! ' 'The Xitel HI-FI Link changes the way we connect our stereo to our PCs. Now we can hook our stereos to our PCs with ease, flexibility and functionality. I know most of my friends and colleagues who have cheap 2.1 speakers that were included with their systems. If you are in that position, do not settle for cheap sound, put your existing stereo set-up to use. Or put it this way. Why spend $500 on PC speakers while you can use your own stereo and purchase a Xitel HI-FI Link for only $49.99?'
'I highly recommend the Xitel HI-FI Link to everybody looking for bloody good portable sound. They will not disappoint.' 'Portable, clutter-less and CD-less. Kickass sound quality. Talk about instant gratification! I rate the Xitel HI-FI Link a 9/10!'
PC World (USA - May, 2003)
'Big PC Sound. You've got a drive laden with MP3s playing through your PC's wimpy 35-watt speakers while your stereo uses speakers the size of the monolith in 2001. No sweat. Xitel's $50 HiFi-Link lets you funnel MP3s from your PC to your stereo and make full use of those more-powerful speakers. Use the supplied cable to connect the cigar-shaped device to a USB port on your PC and to audio inputs on your amplifier. Crank up the volume on your PC and stereo, launch your PC's MP3 player, and get ready to macarena!' |
Robert Capps from Macworld (USA - Spring, 2003)
'If you want to up your sound quality a notch you should check out HiFi-Link from Xitel. HiFi-Link - which works with both OS9 and OSX - moves audio directly out of your Mac via a USB port, thereby avoiding noise or signal degradation. In addition, HiFi-Link includes a higher quality DAC (digital to analog converter) than does the Mac, further increasing the sound quality.' 'Overall, HiFi-Link is a great option for people who are concerned with getting quality audio output from their computers while still keeping costs and complexity at a minimum.'
Kate Mackensie from The Australian (Australia - April 29, 2003)
'I tried out the HiFi-Link and the Pro HiFi-Link and both lived up to their promise of merging the benefits of PC and stereo. The Pro product in particular made MP3 files sound almost as good as CDs being played directly on my stereo - which is impressive considering the compression MP3 files use. Installation was easy on my Windows 2000 system, and judging from other reviews I've seen, is just as simple on XP or Mac OS. Very highly recommended.' |
Travis Einarson from Futurelooks.com (Canada - February, 2003)
'Awarded the Editor's Choice Award - A+'
'Gloriously Clean and Distortion Free Sound Output'
'Basically this little silver box kicks butt by ignoring your weak multimedia speakers and converting the digital signal to analog straight to your home entertainment center. So don't go and rush out to purchase some new multimedia speakers. Give the Xitel HiFi-Link a chance and kick back and enjoy the sound as you normally would. Listen to what you want, when you want and now at the quality that you want. Xitels HiFi-Link is simple but it does deliver a whole lot.'
Daniel Spisak, Reviewer for Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor column, Byte.com (USA - February 2003)
'Installation of the [HiFi-Link] was painless under both Windows and Mac systems, with no additional drivers needed - It Just Works. Sound from the [HiFi-Link] was clear, with excellent bass and crisp highs and midrange and no discernible hum. In comparison with a SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum, using various different classical audio CDs, the [HiFi-Link] more faithfully reproduced complex auditory detail, even at high volumes.' |
T3 Magazine (UK - January 2003)
'If you've got a PC or Mac chock-full with digital music, chances are you've also got a headphone-to-RCA phono lead running from your computer to your stereo. Fine, you might think, until you try out this clever little gadget...''The way it works is simple: by being external you get less noise interference from inside your computer. The result is a genuine reduction in reverb, with less fuzz and a clearer, brighter, sound.'
Jason Scott Alexander from Satellite Orbit Magazine (USA - January 2003)
'If you've ever hooked up your computer's sound card to your high-end stereo system, you know the qyality pales in comparison to that of your shelf-top CD player. Don't blame your software - it's your soundcard!' 'The HiFi-Link from Xitel is a simple way to significantly improve the audio performance of PCs and Macs (especially portables), allowing them to bypass inferior soundcards altogether.' 'Simply insert the USB plug of the cigar-sized HiFi-Link into any available USB port on your PC or laptop, and allow the advanced digital rendering technology to do its thing - eliminating distortion and noise, producing clean, powerful audio output.' |
Eric J Adams from Dig IT Magazine (USA - 2003 Special Issue)
'Okay, on the one hand you've got a stereo system for which you've paid hundreds or thousands of dollars, and on the other you've got a computer system for which you've paid hundreds or thousands of dollars. Quick, what would you pay for a pocket-sized, no-brainer device that connects the two? Xitel (a company that supplies Sony with a number of audio connectivity interfaces) figures around $49, the street price of its HiFi-Link, a pocket-sized PC-stereo connection device.' 'Once you take 30 seconds to get it working, the device automatically bypasses your sound card's output and send audio signals through the HiFi-Link to your stereo.' 'The sound quality was great no matter what I threw at it, and the HiFi-Link is small and light enough to toss into any notebook bag or hide behind stereo components. Easy, light, works as promised, what more could you want?'
PC World (USA - December, 2002)
'In our tests with MP3s and audio CDs, the HiFi-Link produced higher-quality sound than did our test computer's existing sound card; if your PC's current sound is poor, the improvement should be even more noticeable. The 30 feet of shielded audio cable that Xitel includes seals the deal.' |
GadgetGuys.com (USA - December, 2002)
'Since computers can already play MP3 files, you're probably saying to yourself, 'Why would I want to spend $50 just so I can do what I can already do?' - the answer is simple, because you want to do it better! Sparing y'all from the technical details (just read them at www.xitel.com), think of it this way: the HiFi-Link does just one thing: decodes digital sound. Hard Drives, Power supplies and processors all interfere with internal sound-cards. Far from all this interference, the HiFi-Link uses high-quality electronics to generate the audio for your speakers - and it really does work.''Xitel has made the HiFi-Link a product that does just one thing and does it really well. For even the casual MP3 user, the HiFi-Link is $50 well spent'.
Computer Shopper Magazine (USA - December, 2002)
'Sonic satisfaction: Not satisfied with the sound quality of music played on your PC? Connect it to your home stereo. With the $49.95 HiFi-Link from Xitel, you can hook your stereo to PC in minutes. Then you can bypass your computer's limited audio subsystem and listen to all you favorite MP3s in true audiophile fashion.' |
Craig Ellison from PC Mag (USA - December, 2002)
'The Xitel HiFi-Link connects your computer's USB port to the RCA input jacks on your stereo via the supplied 30-foot audio cable with gold-plated connectors. The HiFi-Link uses the USB audio drivers of Windows 98 SE or later, and installation is a snap. The HiFi-Link is the cheapest, easiest way to improve your computer's audio.'
Peter Wilson from the Vancouver Sun (Canada - December 4, 2002)
'There are a lot of ways to get the sound of your MP3s from your Computer to your stereo, but many of them are highly expensive and the others may not give you the sound you know you deserve. The Xitel HiFi-Link, which transfers your music from your Windows or Mac machine to your home stereo system via a USB connection (bypassing your sound card), may not look like much, but it sure does provide clear, vibrant sound.
Why bother? Well, first of all, that sound card might not be the best. Secondly, there's lots of noise (as people who connect directly through a standard RCA cable can attest) that can be picked up along the way. For you tech folk, the HiFi-Link's total harmonic distortion plus noise to signal ratio is less than 0.005 per cent with channel unbalance better than 0.05dB, and channel separation exceeding 90dB. It comes with 30-foot audio cable with gold-plated connectors.' |
PC World.com (USA - November, 2002)
'In our tests with MP3s and audio CDs, the HiFi-Link produced higher-quality sound than did our test computer's existing sound card; if your PC's current sound is poor, the improvement should be even more noticeable. The 30 feet of shielded audio cable that Xitel includes seals the deal.'
Bill Machrone from PC Magazine (USA - November, 2002)
'In ease of use, the Xitel HiFi-Link wins hands down. you plug it into a USB port, period. It uses standard USB audio device drivers, so you don't even need a disc. The unit also comes with a high-quality, 30-foot stereo cable to bridge the gap from your computer to your receiver.' 'How do you know whether you need an outboard audio converter? Trust your ears. Compare audio quality with your stereo's CD player. If your music sounds like mud instead of hi-fi, one of these babies could be the cure.' |
Tech Edge Magazine (USA - November, 2002)
'Tired of listening to MP3s and streaming audio through your crappy desktop speakers? Using its 20-bit digital-to-analog converter, the HiFi-Link ($49) bypasses your sound card altogether and pumps the signal to your stereo's speakers without any degradation. Just plug the Link into a USB port on your computer and an RCA input on your stereo.' 'Is your mini system clear across the room? Don't worry. The HiFi-Link comes with 30 feet of shielded audio cable for hard-to-reach places.' 'HiFi-Link runs with all Windows and Mac media players, including the usual suspects of Windows Media Player, iTunes, Real, Winamp and MusicMatch.'
Niko Coucouvanis from Mac Addict Magazine (USA - November, 2002)
'Your Mac already sounds good - HiFi-Link makes it sound great'.'We never minded the degraded quality of music played through our Macs - frankly, we never really noticed it, at least until we tried piping the same tunes through Xitel's HiFi-Link. This Snickers bar-sized widget receives the pure audio signal over USB and decodes it en route to your home stereo, which connect to the HiFi-Link via any standard quarter inch-stereo-to-stereo-RCA cable - such as the professional-grade 30 foot cable Xitel includes in the box (it's a good one, too: fully shielded, with gold-plated RCA jacks). If the proof's in the pudding, Bill Cosby would be all over the HiFi-Link. Every track we played - MP3 files, Internet radio, even direct from CD - sounded better through the HiFi-Link than it did when we connected the Mac directly.' 'Even if you've already got too many gadgets and gizmos to plug into your Mac, serious connoisseurs of sound will make room for the HiFi-Link'. |
Jonathan Seff from Australian MacWorld (Australia - October 2002)
'Instead of relying on the often tinny output that can come from your Mac or buying new multimedia speakers, you can use the stereo-system equipment you already have, with the help of the HiFi-Link from Xitel.' 'Plug the HiFi-Link into one of your Mac's USB ports, and the device's 20-bit digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) does the rest, delivering high-quality audio to your amp via RCA-type input plugs. The results are much better than running a cable from your Mac's built-in sound processor. Even if your computer and stereo live in different rooms, the song remains the same - the HiFi-Link comes with a ten-metre, gold tipped audio cable, shielded and matched to work with the HiFi-Link without losing signal strength or quality. After all, a digital hub should be able to expand its reach beyond a single room.'
Joan Lynch from EDN.com (USA - September 19, 2002)
'Bypass those nasty computer sound cards with the HiFi-Link. It lets you easily connect your PC or Mac to your home stereo equipment, so MP3s, streaming audio, and Internet radio sound a whole lot better. All you need to do is plug the device into any USB port on a computer and into the audio input of your stereo system. There's no need to download drivers or make any modifications to your system. Included in the $49.95 price tag is a 30-ft audio cable with gold-plated connectors.' |
IJ Hudson from NBC4.com (USA - September, 2002)
'HiFi-Link - Hooking up to the stereo: Some of us use our computers for more than computing, like listening to music, streaming audio, Internet radio. Sometimes it sounds good, sometimes not so good. A lot of manufacturers have spent time converting the analog world to digital so we can play with it in our computers. Xitel has gone the opposite direction - a 'silver bullet' for music. It's called the HiFi-Link. It's essentially a digital to analog converter that changes the ones and zeroes our computers use, to a crisp analog signal that works with stereos. The HiFi-Link uses the computer's USB port, bypassing the sound card all together. I set up the HiFi-Link in about two minutes. That's mostly the time it took Windows 2000 to recognize the new hardware. There's no software to load. The 50-dollar gadget has a USB connection on one end; a sub-mini jack on the other. Feed the output of the HiFi-Link into an auxiliary input on the stereo, select AUX, and you've got music streaming out of the computer, into the stereo system, and out bigger speakers. I like to listen to Internet radio and the HiFi-Link did a nice job of keeping computer noise out of the signal. That's thanks, in part, to the very high quality audio cable and connectors included with the device.'
Bill Blinn from Technology Corner on Newsradio 610 WTVN (USA - Sept 8, 2002)
'[I]f you're frustrated by your computer's sound quality, listen to this! For $50, you can add a Xitel HiFi-Link to your PC and change forever the way you listen to your computer.' 'HiFi-Link is a USB device, so it is inherently portable. You can move it from one computer to another - at home, at the office, on vacation.' 'The device is a huge improvement over a standard audio cable plugged in to your built-in audio card unless you have spent more than $100 for a premium sound card. Even then, the HiFi-Link may well outperform the audio card because the card is located inside the computer, in an electrically noisy area.' 'Audio is digital inside your computer and remains digital until it reaches the HiFi-Link. The noise reduction is more noticeable when you send computer-based audio through the device to a good amplifier with high-fidelity speakers.' 'The manufacturer even includes 30 feet of high-quality shielded studio audio cable. For a nickel less than $50, this is something your closet audio freak will love.' |
Joel Shore from ReferenceGuide.com (USA - September 17, 2002)
'This is one of the simpler, and more elegant products you'll come across this or any other year. Barely longer than 3 inches and weighing all of two ounces, this little silver-colored device converts your digital audio files into a high-quality audio signal that your stereo system can understand. Best of all, it completely bypasses that miserable-sounding audio card that you had no choice but to take when you bought that PC in the first place. It's so cool, they ought to paint it icy blue instead of silver.' 'No product will ever be easier to install than the HiFi-Link. First, you connect the unit to your stereo system. The included 30 foot cable has a standard 1/8' pin plug at one end, and a pair of gold-plated RCA plugs at the other end. You can plug the RCA plugs into any available line or auxiliary input on your stereo. Second, you connect the HiFi-Link to your computer with the included USB cable. That's it! There's no power supply to plug in. And best of all, there's no software to install.' 'Wouldn't it be nice if all products installed this easily?' 'Bottom line? Xitel's HiFi-Link is so cool, so affordable, and sounds so good, every music-pumping, eardrum-shattering college dorm-room stereo should be equipped with one. Don't leave home without it' Awarded 4.5 stars out of 5.
Stuart Feibusch from PCNEWS.com (USA - September 2002)
'THE XITEL HI-FI LINK IS A MUST HAVE PC ACCESSORY' 'If you have PC with an inexpensive speaker system and are thinking of upgrading them. Then Xitel'snew $50 HiFi-Link is a better choice for you.''This small but powerful unit--about the size of a deck of playing cards--boosts audio quality by cutting your old sound card out of the loop and connecting your PC via USB to your stereo receiver.' 'Xitel outfits the HiFi-Link with 30 feet of shielded cable, which alone may make the package worth the price.' |
Wall Street Journal (USA - August 13, 2002)
'Just about anything that will make your children's digital-music collection sound better is sure to be on their wish-lists this year. The Xitel HiFi-Link consists of a palm-sized 30-ounce silver tube and two cables. One of the cables connects to a PC, while the other plugs into a stereo system, enabling students to play digital-music files (that reside on the computer) through their stereo.' 'The bottom line: This is a relatively inexpensive way to help your kids amp up their music; it beats paying hundreds of dollars for new stereo equipment. But you may need to buy them some dorm-room sound-proofing for Xmas.'
Andrew Hawn from Tech TV (USA - August 12, 2002)
'To test, we listened to several CDs (recorded in 16-bit audio) and a variety of 192-Kbps MP3 and WMA files over our mid- to high-end Sony amp and Klipsch speakers. We played each song twice; first over our standard PC audio chip and second through the HiFi-Link. The differences between the two audio sources were immediately clear, particularly in higher frequencies and in the bass tones. We normally hear watery distortion in the high end and flatness in the bass when we play music through the standard computer audio out, but we could distinguish crisp high frequencies and natural bass tones using the HiFi-Link.' 'If you're tired of listening to PC audio through something that makes it sound like it was recorded in a toilet bowl, consider the HiFi-Link.'
'We recommend this device to any digital audio junkie who looks to maximize sound output with a minimal amount of fuss'. Awarded 4 out of 5 stars. |
Michelle Megna from The New York Daily News (USA - August 4, 2002)
'Pump up the volume of your digital music with the HiFi-Link. It allows you to connect your computer to a stereo so you can dramatically improve the sound quality of your MP3s, streaming audio and Internet radio. Plug the HiFi-Link into your computer's USB port and the RCA jacks of your stereo and it automatically installs and runs with all Windows and Mac-compatible media players. Since you bypass the generic sound card found in most computers, the result is better sound. Don't worry if your computer and stereo aren't located next to each other - the HiFi-Link comes with a 30-foot cable.'
Eliot Van Buskirk from CNET (USA - July 29, 2002)
'In the box, you'll also find a coiled 30-foot cable, which features gold-plated contacts and shielding to avoid interference and signal degradation.' 'Aside from the fact that most internal sound cards don't deliver pristine audio, long cables can degrade sound quality significantly, especially toward the higher frequencies. To combat this, the HiFi-Link churns out audio that's matched to the sonic attributes of its cable, so music comes out clean and undistorted' 'Music sounded clear and rich--significantly better than with our internal sound card--through the whole sonic range when played on our Yamaha Natural Sound Stereo''Many products join PCs and stereos, but none sound as good for the same price.' |
David Coursey from ZDNet (USA - July 24, 2002)
'There's yet another new version of Windows on the horizon, this one intended to turn your personal computer into a home entertainment center (or at least a key component of one). Dubbed Windows XP Media Center Edition, the new Windows will initially be available only on special PC hardware, and 'initially' won't be until early fall, in time for Christmas but missing back-to-school sales'. 'While Media Center PCs should be able to directly connect to home televisions and audio systems, Microsoft is not focusing on such connectivity on the first release. Doubtless, however, more enthusiastic users will make those connections, perhaps using the USB-to-audio system HiFi-Link from the Australian company, Xitel.'
Richard Brill from The Brill Report (USA - July 4, 2002)
'The Best Way to listen to your home audio is thru your stereo!' ' If you are one of several million consumers that love to download and listen to MP3, streaming audio and internet talk radio, this device is for you'. 'Xitel's HiFi-Link is the first affordable and easy to use high quality device for delivering audio from your PC or Mac computer. Users simply plug the device in and it works. HiFi-Link bypasses the inferior soundcard in your computer by connecting directly through the USB port'.
'There are several problems using a computer to play music or any audio other than clicks and whistles through the soundcard in most computers.' 'A 30 watt per channel soundcard driven music that occasionally pauses and times out isn't really quality stereo or music for that matter. Instead, it is something we just adapted to over time. The next logical step is to tie in the home entertainments system with the PC.'
This neat little 'HiFi-Link' device gives me what I want for a hard to beat price. Why duplicate the Stereo components you already have.' 'The Free 30 foot high quality stereo quality shielded cable bundled with gold plates makes it a sweet deal! |
Stephen Dawson from Australian Hi-Fi Magazine (Australia - June/July 2002)
'Although most modern computers have a sound card already built in, the analogue output sections of these are not always of the highest quality. The inside of a computer is electrically very noisy and unweighted signal-to-noise ratios of 60dB or worse are not uncommon. The Xitel devices are designed to overcome this limitation ... clearly hi-fi performance.'
Josh Taylor from Zdnet AnchorDesk (USA - July 24, 2002)
'The HiFi-Link is the latest device that allows you to connect your PC to your stereo system, and can play any streaming or disk-based file.' 'From start to finish, installation took less than three minutes, and that included tweaking the audio settings on my PC'. XITEL, which came to fame a couple of years back when it developed hardware that allowed people to listen to MP3s on MiniDisc players, appears to have another winner on its hands. I found the sound on my stereo to be spectacular--my favorite radio station from New York, WFUV, sounded better than it did when I lived there. And for $49.95, nearly $100 less than the competing Harman Kardon DAL 150, the HiFi-Link is a steal, especially once you factor in that a decent 30-foot RCA cable could easily set you back $25 all by itself.' |
Cheapgeek.net (USA - July 24, 2002)
'What makes this product unique is its ability for the user to easily connect the PC to a stereo system without the need of a sound card. The device takes sound digitally from your computer, converts it to analog then sends it to your stereo. This translates to better sounding music...of course the quality of the music will depend on the quality of the music file and your stereo system.'Users can expect high quality sound from their stereo system using the HiFi-Link...[and] As far as the sound tests were concerned, the music quality from the HiFi-Link was superb.' 'Overall, HiFi-Link delivers on what it is designed to do.'
Shelley Emling from Austin American-Statesman (USA - July 22, 2002)
'The Yankee Group found that about 43 percent of this country's 60 million Internet households are downloading music. And about 46 percent of those listen to that music only on their PC, or through a stereo connected to their computer. 'It's members of the college crowd who are the leaders of this trend, because they are the most avid music downloaders and because the layout of their living space is conducive to this,' said Ryan Jones, an analyst at the Yankee Group. How exactly do you route music from your hard drive to your stereo? Many music lovers choose the cheapest option, an inexpensive telephone-cord connection from the computer's sound card to small, independently powered speakers. The drawback is that you have to stick pretty close to your computer, and the sound doesn't match up to a stereo's. A step up, Jones said, is a $49.99 'intelligent cable' from Xitel. One end plugs into a computer's USB port, and the other end into the RCA inputs of your stereo system. 'The average person can set this up pretty easily, and the sound quality is good,' he said.' |
Aoife McEvoy from PCWorld.com (USA - June 28, 2002)
'(Better MP3) Music to My Ears: Audio fiends need to know about a new piece of hardware from Xitel. The $50 HiFi-Link lets you listen to MP3s, Internet radio, and streaming audio through your stereo system while bypassing your PC's own (often low quality) sound subsystem. A small silver box with a 30-foot cable, the HiFi Link plugs into your PC's USB port and then into your stereo's audio input. The result? Improved sound quality. I heard the difference.'
Brian Bennett from Cnet's Tech Trends (USA - 26 June 2002)
'One of my favorite finds is a slick little device from Australian electronics maker Xitel. Called the HiFi-Link, this $49 gadget cheaply connects your PC to your stereo system, which is something I've wanted to do for a while now.''With the HiFi-Link, you can enjoy MP3s, streaming audio, or just about any computer-based audio source on your entertainment system's more robust speakers.' |
Ernest Lilley & Alex Pournelle from Byte.com (USA - July 8 2002)
'Xitel's new HiFi-Link is a little gadget that provides exceptionally clean sound output from your PC's USB port, suitable for connecting to your stereo. The signal that comes out of your headphone jacks really isn't intended to be put into a pair of RCA jacks, as it doesn't have the matched levels or impedance. For $49.99 this device gives you access to all the sound quality that your PC and your stereo have to offer.'
Larry Magid from the San Jose Mercury News (USA - July 11, 2002)
'A more high-tech solution is the Hi-Fi Link from Xitel (www.xitel.com). This $49.99 intelligent cable plugs into the USB port of a computer or a Mac. The software to support the device is built into Windows 98SE and Mac OS 9.04 or higher so there's no need to fiddle around with CDs or installation programs. The other end of the shielded cable -- which is 30 feet long -- plugs into the RCA inputs on your home stereo or boombox.' 'The company's Web site has some impressive technical specifications and claims. All I know is that music coming from my laptop sounded really good when I played it back on my home stereo system.' |
Dan Toose from T3 Australia (Australia - April 2002)
'For the increasing number of people with hard drive based music collections, the HiFi-Link is a godsend. MP3s never sounded so good - and you don't need to be an audiophile to hear the difference. If you've been listening to the fruits of your night-time Napsterthons on cheap, tinny desktop speakers there's simply no comparison. If you have gigabytes of music washing about on your computer's hard drive, this is a must have'.
David Price from Hi-Fi World (UK - April 2002)
'Australian company Xitel has joined the party with its new Digital Hi-Fi Link and Analogue Hi-Fi Link. They're very simple, no-nonsense products which are designed for folk who simply don't want to trust luck and suffer their built in soundcards - but do want decent sound.' 'Essentially the HiFi-Link has very smooth even sound with a surprisingly strong and agile bass.' 'clean and open with plenty of detail. Overall it's an incredible change from my notebook's built in soundcard and not far off a good budget CD player like the Marantz CD6000. Impressive!' '...what a result! Easy to use, fuss-free and with top sound per pound, you can't argue with either of these products!' |
Gear Magazine (Australia - Issue 13 2002)
'Computers can store an entire music collection on internal hard drives, but sound cards and crappy multimedia speakers makes the quality of what you hear pretty ordinary. Much better, then, to direct the music through a real hi-fi system with superior amplifiers, digital-to-analog converters and speakers. Making the link between the computer and your hi-fi equipment is Xitel's HiFi-Link packages that provide ten-metre cables for connecting Macs and PCs - via USB - to conventional stereo systems…[with] prices that undercut by several hundred bucks even the cheapest of hard-drive audio components.'
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