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Got me a new NuForce Icon HDP

post #1 of 37
7/12/10 at 10:49am
Thread Starter 

Greetings all,

 

Two weeks ago, I purchased a new Icon HDP.  I am very pleased with the sound playing powered speakers fed by its analog RCA outputs.  However, when I plug in my headphones, I have to raise the volume knob to the max to even get them to play at comfortable listening levels which is not really loud enough.  At the moment, I am using a previously owned Sennheiser HD 448 which does play twice as loud when plugged into another device (reveiver, CD player, etc.), but fully intend on getting a set of higher quality phones.  Before I take the plunge, however, I want to make sure there is nothing wroing with the headphone output on the HDP.  Has anyone had a headphone gain issue with their HDP?

 

Also, any good sounding headphone recommendations would be greatly appreciated.  Something in the range of $250-$500.  I listen to mostly jazz (90% of the time) and bit of everything else otherwise. 

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post #2 of 37
7/12/10 at 10:57am

Definetly sounds as if there's something wrong with it. I've listened a few times to the HDP with HD650 and I think I had the volume knob turned half way, roughly. Have you tried with another pair of hp's? Maybe the hp's are broken? What is the source?

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post #3 of 37
7/12/10 at 11:17am

Are you sure you have your source at maximum volume? If you are using USB input, make sure the operating system volume as well as the software is at the max and if you are using analog input make sure the volume is maxed etc


Edited by kite7 - 7/12/10 at 11:21am
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post #4 of 37
7/12/10 at 11:18am
Thread Starter 

I don't think the headphones are broken because they play a lot louder plugged into other devices including an iPod.  Unfortunately, I don't have another set of headphones to try with the HDP other than a cheap set of iPod earpieces, which I will try just to see if they are any louder.  The source is USB out from a Sony notebook.
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by trentino View Post

Definetly sounds as if there's something wrong with it. I've listened a few times to the HDP with HD650 and I think I had the volume knob turned half way, roughly. Have you tried with another pair of hp's? Maybe the hp's are broken? What is the source?

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post #5 of 37
7/12/10 at 11:26am
Thread Starter 

No, the source (computer) is at mid-level, which is *very* loud when music is played through the analog output of the HDP.  Hmm, I guess I should try raising the computer's volume then.  Is there a way to disable the Sony's built-in speakers?  I ask this because they are still playing Windows notification sounds and they'd be very loud if I maxed the computer's volume.
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by kite7 View Post

Are you sure you have your source at maximum volume? If you are using USB input, make sure the operating system volume is at the max and if you are using analog input make sure the volume is maxed etc

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post #6 of 37
7/12/10 at 11:32am

If you hear sounds coming from the built-in laptop speakers then you don't have the HDP set as the default sound device in the Windows control panel. What player are you using to play your music?

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post #7 of 37
7/12/10 at 11:57am
Thread Starter 

I should check, but I thought I did.  The only sounds coming from the computer speakers are email notifications and such.  All music is coming from the HDP.  I use Windows Media Player to play CD's and DVD's.  Don't know if that's ideal or not, but music sounds pretty darn good.
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by kite7 View Post

If you hear sounds coming from the built-in laptop speakers then you don't have the HDP set as the default sound device in the Windows control panel. What player are you using to play your music?

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post #8 of 37
7/12/10 at 12:17pm

Like the other poster wrote, laptop volume should be max, or close to it.

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post #9 of 37
7/12/10 at 4:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gPope View Post

I should check, but I thought I did.  The only sounds coming from the computer speakers are email notifications and such.  All music is coming from the HDP.  I use Windows Media Player to play CD's and DVD's.  Don't know if that's ideal or not, but music sounds pretty darn good.
 


 

This shouldn't be possible. HDP's DAC should bypass your computer soundcard and you shouldn't hear anything coming out of your speakers.
 

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post #10 of 37
7/12/10 at 5:39pm
Thread Starter 

That is what I thought too.  I will pay more attention when I get back home and report back.  Thank you all for your help... 
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by TobaccoRoad View Post



This shouldn't be possible. HDP's DAC should bypass your computer soundcard and you shouldn't hear anything coming out of your speakers.
 

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post #11 of 37
7/13/10 at 3:06am

I normally have the volume between 9'o clock and 12. Sometimes at 13. This is using the HD-650 and all maxed on the computer side.

Below 9 it drops of very fast and gets slightly unbalanced.

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post #12 of 37
7/13/10 at 8:55am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jespiir View Post

I normally have the volume between 9'o clock and 12. Sometimes at 13. This is using the HD-650 and all maxed on the computer side.

Below 9 it drops of very fast and gets slightly unbalanced.

 

Is this the volume control on an Icon HDP?
 

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post #13 of 37
7/13/10 at 11:41am

I'm sure he is referring to the physical volume control knob position on the HDP with it standing upright

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post #14 of 37
7/14/10 at 5:55am

Sorry for being confussing...

 

Kite7 is right, I mean the physical position when the unit is standing upright in the stand.

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post #15 of 37
7/14/10 at 6:27am

The HDP IMO is a great combo piece, and is almost worth it alone for their DAC section IMO... it is excellent.  The headphone out I wasn't overly impressed with (I find the soundstage somewhat lackluster compared to others in its price range, and overly analytical to my taste with neutral headphones), but it gets the job done with most headphones and has no issues with gain or anything. 

 

For what its worth it still sounded great with my warmer headphones, and sounded the best with all of my Senns (the HD650's especially).  So I think you'll end up impressed regardless.

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