Precursor: I've been dragging my heels on this review for months and months. Something something working 60-70hr weeks is not conducive to the hobby. So what I'm going to do is just copy and lay out snippets and pieces of what I've got, and hopefully you guys will ask me questions which will...

...a lot of table behind it. This seems to create a bit of an odd honk, I'm assuming from the rear port reflecting off the horizontal surface.   *note* Most listening impressions were done with the speakers in passive mode, with amplification provided by a NuPrime IDA-8. Impressions with the...

...floating if you really wanted to remove ground from your output entirely (Andrew does say there is no benefit to this in the circuit, thought the *crazy* part of me kinda wants to try anyways). Do note that this also means you can't have a 1/4" output anymore.   The Makoyi can also be wired...

...be brief as it was from memory, but I thought to mention it since these amps are roughly the same size. I did not care for the LC. It was a very *shrug* reaction as nothing really stood out, and there were background noise issues. I did not get an immediate sense of prowess or power like I...

Just copying this from another forum. Seems there are more and more of these Raspberry Pi options coming out. Really curious to see how NuPrime's take on it turns out if they decide to run with it. As someone who actually owns both the uDSD (small dac/amp) and IDA-8 (all-in-one power amp), this...

...doesn't show any fingerprints. The edges are bevelled to make it a bit less, well, edgy. The only other notable feature aside from the logo is the *tiny* red LED power indicator. My only gripe with the construction is that I wish the usb plug were offset to one side. When space is a premium...

        This here is another budget conscious IEM coming from the crowdfunding angle (MSRP $59, crowdfunding price $30). It's an interesting approach to bring out new limited release products that I think we will be seeing more of in the near future. The problem with designing any new...

    Announcement here: http://www.sonicunity.com/blogs/news-1/36252545-the-encore-rockmaster-headphone-coming-soon   indiegogo is now live: https://www.indiegogo.com/project/preview/e984f477#/story     I've had the opportunity to evaluate the Encore RockMaster OE before release. For the...

    Noontec is a name perhaps unfamiliar to most here in headfi. They are an Asian/Australian company that started up way back in 2002 making hard disk based movie/media players. This sort of product never really gained much traction in the North American market, as people here were more...

    To start, here are the features/specs from the website: http://nuprimeaudio.com/index.php/product/dac-headphone-amps/portable-dacs/udsd   For comparison/reference, here's my review of the NuForce uDAC-3 from only a year and half ago. My how time and technology flies eh...

...and a wide head and who's reference is a big honkin' the HE-6, yeah sometimes I just want something simple I can put in my ear without putting it *in* my ear and still hear the world around me.   I really do forget that I'm wearing them, and it's like I simply have a nice soundtrack backing...

I stumbled across this dac while randomly browsing audio stuff...       product page: http://www.essenceelectrostatic.com/product/hdmi-dac-blu-ray/   some reviews: http://www.soundandvision.com/content/essence-hdacc-dac-headphone-amplifier...

...in the home series and the fit and finish is excellent as usual. Actually, the finish of the case is improved and more resistant to scuffs* and marks. The amp has a good heft to it and if you pop it open you'll see the big transformer, power supply, and ample heat sinking. Pricewise, it's...

So I got these in a trade and literally had them less than an hour before deciding I needed to make a balanced cable for them.   First up, I had to figure out the wiring. The plug that goes into the left cup is a 2.5mm TRRS. Hmm ok, that hopefully means it's a 4 wire cable already so I can...

Sitting at home with a wicked headcold, bored, and with a microphone...     (click to enlarge)   Singing the same note twice, but the top one is humming. It's interesting that the basic shape is the same but a bunch of higher order harmonics are missing.

  Some may accuse me of being a bit of a Nuforce fan, and to be fair I sort of am given the amount of their gear that I have owned and/or reviewed. I have enjoyed their products for many years, and their customer service has been excellent for me. That said, I don't give glowing reviews just...

...is slightly hard, though eases up a bit as the amp warms up (when I first listened to this amp it was still cold off the delivery truck and sounded *awful*, but improved dramatically once it got warmer). The bass runs low, really low, and positively growls without becoming blurry. In fact, I...

So after a bit of prodding on the YKYAAW thread, this here is a thread to share stories about your worst dates. Also acceptable are crash & burns, pickup attempts, or maybe just some sad feels. Anyhow, let me start it off:             Wow that came out longer than I expected. ...

...to loud levels no problem, just not ear-bleeding levels.   The sound of the headphone amp itself is excellent. It is superbly clean, and very *very* similar to the DAC-100. If I had to differentiate, I would describe it as the “technical” sibling of the DAC-100 which I would categorize...

...left side, which was considerably harder to get to fit properly because the jack eats up a lot of valuable space inside. Those arrows indicate the *only* orientation that I could find where the baffle and driver actually fit into the cup   Put it back together with the fuzzy disk, and...

So crazy transplant in progress...   The drivers: the venerable T50rp   the shell: V-Moda Crossfade LP - chosen because it looks cool, and because it has a series of bass vents in the cup as well as a baffle port, similar to the T50rp shell     Well ok, let's start with the...

Nuforce HP-800   Spec table from nuforce.com     Packaging   The box for these headphones is really quite pretty. And big. Slide off the outer box and you'll find... another box! Open that one up and you'll find your headphones inside tied down to a plasticky shell. Underneath...

edit: Wow I was sure rambling there wasn't I? Note to self, do not try to write when hopped up on codeine. So anyhow, the TL;DR version, this is how I originally allocated my headfi spending:    1:2:3 - which are the relative ratios of money spent on dac/amp/headphone   After expanding...

...trying to decipher all the traces in the circuitry, one can still make a basic assessment of the board. There's the usb receiver child board (*very* similar to the one found in the LPS power supply, review [here]), the main dac section, then the output area with two socketed LM4562 opamps and...

...I can practically hear the room resonances. Okay so I might be engaging in some flowery descriptors there, but I really am impressed. It's not a *huge* step up per se, but it's there.   As a speaker amp Compared vs: vintage Harman Kardon 330A Feeding into: full sized Paradigm...