Rating: 
Summary: What a bargain, easy to set up
Review: Bought this, took it out of the box, hooked it to the PC USB port, plugged the optical cable into the receiver. Windows XP recognized it without any additional adjustments. No sw to load. Works great, total time about 4 minutes. Does have some sw if you want to play DVDs on your pc and send the 5.1 to your stereo. Full set of pretty expensive 30' cables: optical, coax, and standard. Worth $90 by themselves.
Rating:
Summary: So glad I found this!
Review: I had this old 200MHz MMX notebook from eons ago that was serving a pretty good role as an expensive doorstop. Decided that I wanted to try and use it to stream Internet radio to my stereo - did some minor upgrading, patched it into the network, and everything worked great except that I found out that notebook sound cards don't really seem to be meant to be piped through good stereo systems, as it sounded [bad]. Looked first at the Creative Extigy (sp?) or whatever as a solution, but it seemed like overkill and I read that it was a resource hog, which was no good with this old machine. Saw the original Xitel HiFi-Link, which looked good, but decided to try the Pro to make sure the sound was the best possible. Setup and install took like 2 seconds, it doesn't hog up like any resources at all, and best of all, the sound is really impressive! Good lows, good highs, good sound in general. I would put it equal to, to maybe slightly under CD quality sound, given that the connection now and again makes for the occasional extra noise depending upon the station/connection. I *highly* recommend this if you're trying to stream audio to your stereo and you're pretty picky about sound quality! (btw, am using the analog outs, but have a really good [but older] Yamaha receiver - the Pro also has 2 other types of digital outputs too)
Rating:
Summary: What a bargain, easy to set up
Review: I have a large collection of high bit-rate MP3's on my laptop. Prior to this product, I was connecting my laptop to my home stereo via the line out. It sounded OK. I purchased this product and am extremely pleased with both the sound quality and ease of use. I am especially pleased with the 30 foot cables as this allows me to manage my playlist from across the room.I highly recommend this to people wanting to play on their home stereo. Couple this product with iZotope's Ozone plugin-in for Winamp or Media Player, and you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Product
Review: I have a large collection of high bit-rate MP3's on my laptop. Prior to this product, I was connecting my laptop to my home stereo via the line out. It sounded OK. I purchased this product and am extremely pleased with both the sound quality and ease of use. I am especially pleased with the 30 foot cables as this allows me to manage my playlist from across the room. I highly recommend this to people wanting to play on their home stereo. Couple this product with iZotope's Ozone plugin-in for Winamp or Media Player, and you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Great alternative to changing soundcards
Review: I have recorded all my CD's in WAV format on my computer and am still waiting for a Digital Audio Receiver that does justice to the complex audio interface offered by music match and others. In the meantime, the XITEL Pro HiFi link has worked flawlessly to digitally connect my computer to my stereo in the next room. I've tried both the digital RCA and the tos-link and both work great at the 30-feet distance which the included cables provide. The cables alone are worth the $100 this baby costs. If you already have an audio-card with an optical output, just purchase a long toslink cable from the internet (stores rarely carry them) and you'll get the same result. Eventually, I think I will just build a small computer to keep in my stereo cabinet and network it to my "server" in order to access my music, use it as a tivo, and give internet access in my living room. Until I can afford that, however, this is definately a good way to go.
Rating:
Summary: Great alternative to changing soundcards
Review: I have recorded all my CD's in WAV format on my computer and am still waiting for a Digital Audio Receiver that does justice to the complex audio interface offered by music match and others. In the meantime, the XITEL Pro HiFi link has worked flawlessly to digitally connect my computer to my stereo in the next room. I've tried both the digital RCA and the tos-link and both work great at the 30-feet distance which the included cables provide. The cables alone are worth the $100 this baby costs. If you already have an audio-card with an optical output, just purchase a long toslink cable from the internet (stores rarely carry them) and you'll get the same result. Eventually, I think I will just build a small computer to keep in my stereo cabinet and network it to my "server" in order to access my music, use it as a tivo, and give internet access in my living room. Until I can afford that, however, this is definately a good way to go.
Rating:
Summary: Buy One Now!
Review: I plugged into my iMac, went to System Perferences, Sound and selected USB audio. It worked! The sound is fabulous. The cables are a great value--3 30-foot cables to connect Coax audio, TOSLINK or analog. I used the Coax.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent sound, great bundle
Review: I was a little unsure of whether or not I should spend the extra 30 bucks for the Pro HiFi instead of just the HiFi, but it was definitely worth it! I recently got a Pioneer HTP-230 HTIB system and am very pleased with it. Living in a dorm, I play almost all my music from my computer, so the Pro HiFi is indispensible. The music quality is noticeably higher than if you just ran an RCA cable from your sound card into your receiver. Not only is it clearer and more refined, but BIG. The DVD's I've played from my PC through the Pro HiFi (Lord of the Rings, Chinatown, Army of Darkness) sounded great and I definitely got full Dolby Surround/DTS support. Setup was a cinch and I've had no problems so far (about a month). Also, the cables are high quality and almost worth the list price themselves. If you use your PC to play a lot of music and/or movies, I'd highly recommend the Xitel Pro HiFi!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent sound, great bundle
Review: I was a little unsure of whether or not I should spend the extra 30 bucks for the Pro HiFi instead of just the HiFi, but it was definitely worth it! I recently got a Pioneer HTP-230 HTIB system and am very pleased with it. Living in a dorm, I play almost all my music from my computer, so the Pro HiFi is indispensible. The music quality is noticeably higher than if you just ran an RCA cable from your sound card into your receiver. Not only is it clearer and more refined, but BIG. The DVD's I've played from my PC through the Pro HiFi (Lord of the Rings, Chinatown, Army of Darkness) sounded great and I definitely got full Dolby Surround/DTS support. Setup was a cinch and I've had no problems so far (about a month). Also, the cables are high quality and almost worth the list price themselves. If you use your PC to play a lot of music and/or movies, I'd highly recommend the Xitel Pro HiFi!
Rating:
Summary: Worth its price in CDs any day...
Review: I was skeptical at first, and indeed my installation experience wasn't as headache-free as the other raters (not the fault of the product). However, once it was working properly, I felt compelled to give the Pro HiFi-Link a proper listening. I ended up mesmerized on my couch. I encountered a humming sound with the RCA connection. Once I tried the digital cable, I was all set...the sound exceeded my expectations.
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