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[Review] Nuforce Icon HDP - Page 11

post #151 of 155
4/21/13 at 4:46pm

I'm putting my vote on placebo... unless there's something really weird going on with those adapters.

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post #152 of 155
4/22/13 at 10:00am

Same. Unless there is something wrong or some issue with the adapter you have.

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post #153 of 155
5/14/13 at 3:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BetaWolf View Post

Hey, I have a question about this unit.


I got one about two weeks ago, planning to pair it with an AKG K702. I've been trying to burn it in, and while it sounds better than it did the day I got it, certain quirks wouldn't go away. The bass was really light, certain frequencies were fatiguing, and there was a noticeably uncomfortable amount of sibilance. I had been using the 3.5 -> 6.3 adapter included with my K702. On a whim, I switched to the one included with the Icon HDP, and those quirks seem to have dissolved. There's more bass, the sibilance is tamed, and it's not fatiguing. Is this even possible, or is it possibly just the placebo effect?


Edited by derbigpr - 5/15/13 at 6:01am
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post #154 of 155
5/14/13 at 8:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by derbigpr View Post

 

 

I don't know about the adapter, but I really hate the HDP + K701 combo. The HDP is simply a bad device, and a K701 which is very transparent shows that.  DAC inside the HDP is horrible to say the least, its inferior in sound quality to a good motherboard integrated Realtek HD chip, and switching from HDP to a Asus Essence ST soundcard is a night and day sonic improvement. Considering the HDP costs 3 times more, its a rip off of the century for such a POS device. The only people who like it are those who never heard anything half decent before buying it, or love a bassless, muddy, very harsh and bright sound with less musicality than an average cell phone speaker and a soundstage so small the sound seems stuck in your head even with K701 which have a huge soundstage when used with almost anything else.  


Wow, thats funny, I have the ASUS Essence ST, the HDP, the Music Streamer II among others and with my HD-650's, HD-598's, AH-D5000's and ATH-M50's I cant tell much difference at all aside from very subtle. I think you have a bad HDP. Good DACs like these three shouldnt sound any different than one another as a good DAC should be transparent, so you shouldnt heard much difference between them.

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post #155 of 155
5/14/13 at 11:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by derbigpr View Post

 

 

I don't know about the adapter, but I really hate the HDP + K701 combo. The HDP is simply a bad device, and a K701 which is very transparent shows that.  DAC inside the HDP is horrible to say the least, its inferior in sound quality to a good motherboard integrated Realtek HD chip, and switching from HDP to a Asus Essence ST soundcard is a night and day sonic improvement. Considering the HDP costs 3 times more, its a rip off of the century for such a POS device. The only people who like it are those who never heard anything half decent before buying it, or love a bassless, muddy, very harsh and bright sound with less musicality than an average cell phone speaker and a soundstage so small the sound seems stuck in your head even with K701 which have a huge soundstage when used with almost anything else.  

 

Hi! I wonder if you have a bad icon HDP. I am using this device sometimes as DAC/pre-amp and sometimes in its full capacity with various Sennheiser, Yamaha and Ultrasone Headphones. And yes, I heard a lot of decent DACs and amps. But I must admit I am using the optical input all the time, not the USB. Anyhow, compared to a few other DACs I couldn't find any flaw in it and far from what you describe, muddy? harsh? not at all. So far the most owners seem to be very happy with it's performance.

 

Cheers,

K


Edited by Koolpep - 5/14/13 at 11:06pm
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