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HRT microStreamer with iDevices. iPad DACing is first and foremost a game of accordance. From iPad users kind Cupertino pulled the rug out from under on the whole DAC + Camera Connection Kit (CCK) appeal midway through 2010. CCK’d devices must now draw less than 100mA lest they be met with onscreen refusal: "Accessory Unavailable: The attached accessory uses too much power.". For this effrontery the tone of Apple’s support page is one of ambivalence.


Some DACs still work. Some don’t. Will your DAC play ball with the iPad? You won’t know until you try. Connect your device and roll the dice. No joy? Slip a powered USB hub into the chain. Roll again. Maybe it’ll work. Maybe it won’t. Multiplying the frustration, not all powered USB hubs are created equal. Some will work, some won’t. Oof. HRT’s mid-2013 firmware update for the microStreamer lowers its power draw. This has committed certitude to iPad compatibility. Potential customers thus side-step the whole compatibility lottery with a guarantee ahead of purchase. From this we arrive at the microStreamer’s knockout quality: flexibility.


How does one describe the headphone output of the iPad itself? If we’re kind, how about ‘functional’? If we’re calling it out proper, it's rolled off, murky and congealed. Music is home, you knock but it won’t let you in. This is how I hear it next to the baby HRT. The silver matchbox is a healthy iPad game lifter. It not only brings sound quality in line with basic ‘audiophile’ expectations but as outlined earlier, opens the door to a much broader range of headphones.


The first to benefit are iPad-bound headfiers keen on Spotify, Pandora and iTunes consumption. That much is obvious. The HRT addendum allowed the Mr Speakers Mad Dog and V-Moda M100 cans into the iPad playback game.

Faux boxing. Just a shade over twelve months ago Logitech discontinued the Squeezebox Touch. I’d argue that this holds fast as the greatest digital audio product of all time. A median price of AU$400 got you a touch screen device which would stream music from an externally hosted Logitech Media Server (LMS) as well as popular streaming services like Spotify, Pandora, MOG and rdio. No server, no worries. The same playback engine could also deal tunes from a direct-connected USB drive or SD card. The SBT’s onboard DAC sounded pretty damn good to boot. Since then DIYers and the more committed of Squeezebox fanatics have begun rolling their own Squeezebox-like streamers: Joggler, Raspberry Pi, Squeezeplug. What about those who don’t have the patience or time for hardware hacks and/or Linux tinkering? Occam’s Razor reminds us. It’s time for a shave.

Squeezepad (AU$10.49) is this reviewer’s go-to LMS control app on the iPad. It’s far superior to Logitech’s own. A tidier layout and a faster more intuitive interface make Squeezepad a more agreeable user experience. How does this relate to the little HRT DAC? The in-app purchase option is how: an additional AU$5.49 nets you SqueezePad playback. This transforms your existing Squeezepad/iPad combo into a virtual Squeezebox Touch. Once installed, select your iPad from the drop-down list of playback devices and you’re off to the races. Music will now stream direct to the iPad.


As outlined above, the iPad’s headphone output is fairly ordinary. So you know what comes next. Plug in the HRT microStreamer via the host-mode adaptor (CCK) for a sound that trumps the Squeezebox Touch’s own onboard decoder for detail retrieval and finesse. A 1/8”-to-twin-RCA cable will be required for connection to an amplifier.


So you have software choices. Squeezepad isn’t the only trickster on the block.


The rival remote-controlling iPeng app for iPad (AU$10.49) also offers an in-app purchase (AU$5.49) for Squeezebox player emulation:
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/id380003002?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/id396993109?mt=8


Downsides? You cannot charge your iPad whilst pushing ones and zeroes into the HRT microStreamer. Next up, iPhoning…