[bizkid]

I made some instructions:

 

[Jmstrmbn]

Did anyone else notice that the DAC-100 is discontinued on the Nuforce website.  It is replaced by the DAC-80 however the DAC-80 has no headphone amp.

 

[kazsud]

Quote:

Did anyone else notice that the DAC-100 is discontinued on the Nuforce website.  It is replaced by the DAC-80 however the DAC-80 has no headphone amp.

Weird.
I'm gonna upgrade from my Dac-100 & HAP-100 to either a HDVD800,Zana Duex or WA5 w/ a CDP-8 or Dac-9

 

[project86]

Quote:

Did anyone else notice that the DAC-100 is discontinued on the Nuforce website.  It is replaced by the DAC-80 however the DAC-80 has no headphone amp.

 
Just noticed that too. Strange. I wonder if it has to do with the special chassis? All other Home Series models are based on the same chassis with slight variations as needed, but the DAC-100 had the special copper treatment. Maybe it was too expensive to continue making that single chassis as opposed to mass quantities of the "regular" style.
 
I'd say DAC-100 is/was a really good buy. For $300 more than the DAC-80, you get that great headphone amp as well as the improved enclosure. I don't think you can buy a better outboard amp for $300. 
 
Then again, if you intend to go with HAP-100 anyway, then the DAC-100 had a redundant amp section. So it makes sense from that angle. 
 
 
Quote:

Weird.
I'm gonna upgrade from my Dac-100 & HAP-100 to either a HDVD800,Zana Duex or WA5 w/ a CDP-8 or Dac-9

 
I'd skip the DAC-9 if I were you. It's roughly on par with the DAC-100, and in fact I think the DAC-100 might be the better of the two. Nothing wrong with DAC-9, but it will probably disappoint as an upgrade in your case. 

 

[kazsud]

Quote:

 
Just noticed that too. Strange. I wonder if it has to do with the special chassis? All other Home Series models are based on the same chassis with slight variations as needed, but the DAC-100 had the special copper treatment. Maybe it was too expensive to continue making that single chassis as opposed to mass quantities of the "regular" style.
 
I'd say DAC-100 is/was a really good buy. For $300 more than the DAC-80, you get that great headphone amp as well as the improved enclosure. I don't think you can buy a better outboard amp for $300. 
 
Then again, if you intend to go with HAP-100 anyway, then the DAC-100 had a redundant amp section. So it makes sense from that angle. 
 
 
 
I'd skip the DAC-9 if I were you. It's roughly on par with the DAC-100, and in fact I think the DAC-100 might be the better of the two. Nothing wrong with DAC-9, but it will probably disappoint as an upgrade in your case. 

 
Thanks for your input.

 

[bizkid]

The headphone amp in the UDH-100 is also very good. I currently have the Asgard 2 here for comparison. 2 different flavours of amping i would say. The UDH-100 offers better mids, instrument seperation and a better transient response. The Asgard 2 has a more solid and deeper bass, drums sound great, mids sound flat compared to the UDH-100 and treble is smooth. The UDH-100 has more lively mids, it does sound a bit colored actually but in a very good way. That only affects the headphone amp, not the DAC part.

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

 
Just noticed that too. Strange. I wonder if it has to do with the special chassis? All other Home Series models are based on the same chassis with slight variations as needed, but the DAC-100 had the special copper treatment. Maybe it was too expensive to continue making that single chassis as opposed to mass quantities of the "regular" style.
 
I'd say DAC-100 is/was a really good buy. For $300 more than the DAC-80, you get that great headphone amp as well as the improved enclosure. I don't think you can buy a better outboard amp for $300. 
 
Then again, if you intend to go with HAP-100 anyway, then the DAC-100 had a redundant amp section. So it makes sense from that angle. 
 

I know the design of the DAC-100 face was actually done out-of-house and they were planning on changing that up so it'd match with the others in the series. Whether the DAC-80 has replaced it or if it's just the ampless version, I do not know.

 

[project86]

I know the design of the DAC-100 face was actually done out-of-house and they were planning on changing that up so it'd match with the others in the series. Whether the DAC-80 has replaced it or if it's just the ampless version, I do not know.

I almost since a bit of incongruity in the planning - like maybe DAC-100 was initially a separate thing, and then the Home series models were conceived with their matching aesthetics.... The DAC-100 doesn't fit with the Reference series so it had to be shoehorned in somewhere. Thus it became a member of the Home series despite not quite matching.

But whatever, the DAC-80 at $795 makes a good deal of sense, assuming it doesn't lose anything from the DAC-100.

 

[kazsud]

In other news my refurb Hap-100 just died out of nowhere. I turned everything on and heard some electrical noises then vaguely heard music. volume knob was unresponsive. I tried other inputs and but all i could hear was the vague music

 

[project86]

Quote:

In other news my refurb Hap-100 just died out of nowhere. I turned everything on and heard some electrical noises then vaguely heard music. volume knob was unresponsive. I tried other inputs and but all i could hear was the vague music

 
Doh! Now to test NuForce's support. Hopefully they take care of you quickly. 

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

In other news my refurb Hap-100 just died out of nowhere. I turned everything on and heard some electrical noises then vaguely heard music. volume knob was unresponsive. I tried other inputs and but all i could hear was the vague music

 
Ouch man, that sucks. I had a problem with mine too (I suspect it may have been a power surge on my end that fried the volume controller, but don't know for certain). Their customer service was pretty quick in fixing it up though, so hopefully they pull through for you too.
 
 
Quote:

I almost since a bit of incongruity in the planning - like maybe DAC-100 was initially a separate thing, and then the Home series models were conceived with their matching aesthetics.... The DAC-100 doesn't fit with the Reference series so it had to be shoehorned in somewhere. Thus it became a member of the Home series despite not quite matching.

But whatever, the DAC-80 at $795 makes a good deal of sense, assuming it doesn't lose anything from the DAC-100.

 
I was thinking something along the same lines as well. I think there was a bit of a disconnect between the product planning cycle and the R&D.
 
One thing I'd like to see them do is make a universal remote for their home series. I mean, a *proper* one with buttons to select between devices, not one remote that does the exact same thing for all units simultaneously like it does now, which is dumb.

 

[kazsud]

The Dac-100 is now under Home Stereo along w/ the Dac-80 but the Dac-9 is absent. I feel they should of called the Dac-80 the Dac-8.

 

[bizkid]

In general i find the Nuforce lineup a bit confusing.

 

[project86]

Quote:

In general i find the Nuforce lineup a bit confusing.

 
To some degree, it's always been that way. Seems they like to add models, update models, and make new stuff, on a more frequent basis than many other brands. Which creates some difficulty with naming and series integration. But if it leads to better gear then it's arguably a small price to pay if you look at it that way. 

 

[Armaegis]

I think the most confusing part is how they called everything Icon at the beginning... Icon, Icon 2, Icon Amp, Icon HDP, Icon mobile, etc.
 
A  lot of their gear is also multifunctional, which blurs the lines or makes aspects of components redundant when you have multiple pieces.