I was asked by Miniature Audio (
Welcome to Miniature Audio -Firestone Audio -USB DACS -Headphone Amps) to review the Firestone Audio iCute headamp and Fubar III USB DAC/Headphone Amp. The iCute is a small footprint home headphone amp with RCA inputs, a mini-jack headphone output, and a high/low gain switch.
The Fubar III is a USB DAC that has RCA analog OUTPUTS as well as a mini-jack headphone output. There is no input other than USB.
Both products use a 24V wall wart power supply.
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I listened to both using my S2-Audio modded Ultrasone HFI-780’s, Audio Technica AT ESW9’s, and Denon D5000’s. I played music from an iMod ipod for the iCute, and from my PC using lossless files for the Fubar III.
I owned a Fubar II a year or so ago, and liked it. I have since sold it, so I cannot do any direct comparisons. But what attracted me to it at the time was that it was considered to offer very good sound for the price. And that is how I would characterize both of these devices – they offer very good performance for the money. There are some qualifiers, though.
The iCute, IMO, offers much higher headphone amplifier performance than the Fubar III by itself. I fed the analog outputs of the Fubar III into the inputs of the iCute, and this provided better headphone sound than the Fubar III’s headamp did. Further, I felt that the Travagan’s White, which I had on hand and includes a USB DAC and an analog input provides better headphone sound than the Fubar III does, for about $70 more.
Unfortunately, I did not have the Travagan’s Red to compare to the Firestone iCute. The Red has a different feature set than the iCute, but they do share some significant similarities in terms of design. Still, in terms of my memory at least, the iCute seems a little warmer and darker than I recall the Red being, which I recall as being a little brighter and lighter in terms of sound. Still both provide excellent sound. Also, for an extra $90, the Meier Arietta offers better performance than the iCute (or the Travagan’s Red). But in this price range, a few dollars mean a lot, and the iCute is well built, sounds great, offers excellent performance for the money, and is a better choice for bright headphones than the Red.
I enjoyed the iCute with all of the headphones I tried it with. Compared to my more expensive SS amps, it lacks transparency, has a narrower soundstage, and is somewhat less neutral. However, it outperformed the portable amps I had on hand, although not by a super-wide margin – but I have only the truly excellent 2Move and iQube to compare it to, both of which cost more than the iCute! If you don’t need portable, I would choose the iCute over these.
The Fubar III is a little harder for me to be enthusiastic about as a headphone amp. At $230, it’s certainly a good value, but I prefer the sound of Travagan’s White by a notable margin as a headphone amp, and think the $70 is easily worth it since you get a stepped attenuator, analog AND USB inputs, and a better headphone amp than is built into the Fubar III. Further, in comparison to the only $11 more expensive Travagan’s Green (which I do have on hand), the Green’s headphone amp offered slightly better performance, and the Green can drive speakers. HOWEVER, the Fubar III has analog OUTPUTS, whereas the others do not! So for use just as a USB DAC with a decent-but-not-fantastic headphone amp, the Fubar III is a good choice. It’s nice that these products all have different feature sets so that we as music lovers get a lot of choice!
All in all, these are solid, high-value products from Firestone Audio. Budget-conscious head-fiers, take note!
REVIEW: Firestone Audio iCute Headphone Amplifier and Fubar III USB DAC/Headphone Amplifier
). There'll be no next step after the Little Dot though, unless it's a sideways step to tubes, which I dislike on grounds of practicality (they're too vulnerable and heat up the room in Summer). One truth I discovered long ago with hi-fi is that there's far more variation between CDs than between components, and that even the best component can't make a crap CD sound good, though it may make it a little more bearable.
Linear Mode
