How to Connect Nuforce HDP to desktop.

If you're intending on using the HDP as a DAC for your computer, you should probably use the USB input and completely avoid your computer's onboard soundcard. 

 

1. Connect the HDP to one of the usb ports that is connected directly to your motherboard (probably one in the back of your computer as they tend to be full powered, and not daisy chained). 

 

2. Next thing you should do is set up your audio output to be a the HDP's DAC (might show up as HDP as a recognized device, or it might be the generic term 'USB audio DAC' as my Windows XP recognized my uDAC and gamma-2 as being).  Based on WinXP (should be similar for other windows), Control Panel > Sound and Audio Devices > Audio tab.  Under Sound playback, use the drop down menu to select USB audio DAC or whatever the HDP shows up as when connected to your computer.  Restart your music play back software, in case you had it open, so that they recognize the change.  If you're using an Apple, there should be a similar process, where you change your audio output to be a USB DAC, though I don't know the details.

 

3. I think you can now switch the HDP to USB input, plug in headphones into the headphone out of the HDP and be able to use it as a DAC/AMP as is. 

 

After this, try out some of your music with the media player of your choice.  I like using foobar2000 for its customizability, but there are other good choices too. 

 

Good luck.

Edited by daigo - 8/26/10 at 10:00pm

First off, what sort of music are you listening to? Maybe it's not complex enough for the HDP to be squeezing out more detail. When I started out with more serious home speaker set-ups one of the first things I noted, when it's really quiet anyway (as I didn't have the cash to acoustically treat the whole room) is that I can hear the rhythm and lead guitar as distinct instruments better. It helped that when I was a kid I've always wondered what the heck the other guitar and the bass was for when I couldn't hear them anyway, and I can't understand how the overall sound comes out when I look at the music sheets. I never ahd the skill to play lead but I never did get to really appreciate the rhythm and bass until I got more serious playback equipment.

Edited by ProtegeManiac - 8/27/10 at 4:08am

I'm still pretty much a newbie to the audio world so take my comments lightly when it comes to describing sound. 

 

My personal impressions, switching from onboard sound to the uDAC at first and now with my gamma-2 is that the improvement in source results in better definition of sound.  Both in clarity and also be more tonally representative of the real instrument or voice. 

 

Like Protegemaniac says, you start noticing different instruments in a band or ensemble, and how they sound when their unique sounds are combined. 

Are those audiophile recordings? There are a lot of cheap classical CDs, used to buy those when I was in high school. Then later on I got sucked into TELARC et al, then SACDs...until my SACD player kicked the bucket and I just went back to plain CDs since classical was all I was listening to on SACDs anyway

 

On beter recordigns though, if not necessarily Telarc the Sony and Victor/JCV discs are usually of good recording quality, on most parts you should be able to hear, say, the four string instruments doing their own thing, even if it's a huge orchestra, since usually each instrument plays the same notes, regardless of how many they are, and you should be able to pick out the violins, violas, cellos and double bass. Even on symphonic metal it should be distinct. The brass coming in on "Creek Mary's Blood" during the bridge is hard to pick out when I use the computer's headphone out, are very, very easy to hear with my CD60 feeding Grados, and is distinctly part of hte background with my HD600s using the same source.

HDTracks shouldn't be too far off from audiophile CDs. In fact, I think they offer downloads of tracks FROM the audiophile recordings themselves, just not from the firms like Telarc, though I could be wrong. In any case, if you liek listening to pop rock mixed with Irish folk music, next time you're out check the record bar for The Corrs: MTV Unplugged. It's on CD, DVD-A (if your PC can read that) and DVD, but I suggest the video and you compare the instruments you see playing in there with what you hear with and without the HDP.

 

On non-acoustic music though, and if you're willing to tolerate some Metal, Epica's "The Classical Consipracy" is also a nice intro to the genre. Nice rcording for a live event with amplified instruments, too. Listening to this on a K701 with my LD MkII and DAC-Ah was an eye-opener: the AKGs staged the orchestra in a pit IN FRONT AND BELOW the metal band with the drums far off to the back. That's why they seem "bright with less mids" compared to Grados. But that's also why some people think they're "artificial" on that department; all my other headphones may suck with staging compared to it but they stage the orchestra BEHIND the Metal band, as it's done with the studio recordings. Even the Grados give a hint that they're behind. Then again the AKG plays back the studio recordings normally but with a really deep stage, or at least, as deep as it gets for a Metal album. Their engineers definitely don't mind depth much, but width and instrument separation are important things to check with playback equipment.

 

 

BTW, maybe I just missed it on your posts, but what headphones are you using?

Your cans aren't as source-sensitive as the K701/2, but it is possible that the strong bass is distracting you. Pay a lot of attention to the uper midrange and play music that covers mostly those, like a small acoustic band with a female vocalist, like the ones that are on the Best Audiophile Female Voices series.

Your music is still passing through Window's OS sound mixer, and quality can suffer. I'm a Mac user and can't tell you how to install and use ASIO4ALL or WASAPI or how they work, but I would investigate the software that can bypass Windows kmixer. Also, keep your Windows software volume control at 100%.