Well, if anyone is interested, the NuForce Icon iDo is here, and I'm burning it in. I didn't see any reviews on here, and decided to take a chance.
Where I'm coming from:
Relatively new to Head-Fi. Not too much experience with different DAC's or amplification. But I have spent hours auditioning every headphone brand I can get my hands on (Beyer, Senn, Grado, Shure, etc. etc.) at J&R and B/H. My terminology is somewhat limited, so my apologies in advance.
I started with: Laptop(Lossless) > iBasso D6 Amp/DAC > Ultrasone Pro900's. Loved this combo for Dubstep/House music, but Rock, Vocals, or Chillout just didn't sound right. After reading a lot of reviews, and without ever trying them on, I purchased a set of used AKG K702's and they were everything the Pro900's weren't, and visa versa. Thinking that I've found my perfect headphone duo, for now at least, I decided to setup a bedside rig using my iPod Touch 4G playing Apple Lossless files. I do most of my listening in bed, and the laptop gets annoyingly hot and takes up too much space. Plus its screen is a distracting light source if someone is sleeping nearby.
Other products I was considering:
FiiO E9i - This was the first purchase I made. Having read all the rave reviews about the E9 I assumed they applied to the E9i as well. They don't. I mean they do, but only to its amp section. Which is still limited by the iPod's DAC, which meant I didn't get the sound stage or the bass extension (not sure if I'm using the right word) I did with the Laptop > iBasso D6 combo. Though the bass was certainly there, certain lower frequencies were completely missing. The difference was so audible that I felt like I didn't enjoy the same song anymore. 2 weeks in, the mini jack went (left channel was gone), so the E9i went back to Amazon for a full refund.
Fostex HP-P1 - ~$700, its expensive!. Not needing a portable rig, I can buy the iDO, and a much better Amp than the one inside the P1 for under $700.,
CLAS - Expensive. No on board Amp, means I need to buy an amp right away. If I go that route, the Pure i20 might be the better value/$.
Pure i-20 - Cheap. Cheap looking. Not in stock on Amazon because you guys bought them all!!!
So here I am, with the NuForce Icon iDo.
My Impressions:
Ordered it thru Amazon. Shipped from NuForce in CA, took about a week to get here. Very nice box, you can definitely tell NuForce designed this for the Apple crowd. Out of the box it didn't sound all that great. Didn't sound a whole lot better than the E9i. Plus there was a lot of barely audible (but definitely present and definitely annoying) crackles and pops, kind of similar to what you hear with a low quality vinyl player, but a lot less audible. I don't know what the term to describe it is. There was also quiet, but audible hiss. Both "symptoms" where heard and described by a non-audiophile friend of mine when asked "whats wrong with how this sounds?" I decided I was going to return it, but then let it play with the Pro900's for a few nights without going near it, just to make sure. To be safe, I did a hard reboot on the iPod, after reading that people with the HP1 had similar things occur and that the reboot helped.
Put it on last night, and it sounded very different than it did a few days ago! Tonight, even better. A definite improvement in soundstage and bass response when compared to the E9i.
But this is using Pro900, which seem to only need a little amplification (w/ a decent DAC of course) to shine. The iDo definitely does not have enough juice to drive the K702. It can make them loud, but they just don't sound as good as they did out of the E9i when using it as an Amp only. Looks like I need a better amp, to get them to sing again.
Some pics of my setup, with the iTouch for comparison:
If you guys have any questions, or are in the NYC and want to check it out, let me know.
Edited by mgurvits - 10/17/11 at 7:12am
