I am hearing mixed opinions on amping the L1.    Some people think the L1 must be properly amped and some say it can be driven well by the output found on any regular portable player. Proper amping will, of course, make any decent headphone performs better, but by how much(in the case of the...

I agree that recording/mixing/performance is more important. 192kHz/24bits of static is not going to be very interesting.   The tough question is given the same recording/mixing/performance, is higher sampling rate better? Personally, I always get the highest sampling rate I can get. It's...

Size really doesn't matter nowadays because storage space is so cheap. (A 1TB drive is selling for around $70-80.)   Pick the highest setting, 96kHz/24bits in this case, because you can always down sample later. Although if you often burn your recordings to CDs, 88.2kHz/24bits might be...

Quote: Originally Posted by DoReMi On their site they state the DAC has been improved in the Glow Amp One 2009... does anyone know better about it ? The DAC on the Amp One is not very good. Use an external DAC instead.

Quote: Originally Posted by AustinHorn No I think I said that I prefer listening to the HDP as a ss headphone amp to my HDR. I think my HDR, especially now that I had it modded, is a big step up from my old usb DAC1. I do prefer my DAC1, used as a dac only feeding my Doge 6810 tube amp...

Quote: Originally Posted by jasonl If it is not better than DAC-1, I will make sure you get not only full refund of the HDP purchase price, but the shipping as well It will be hard for me to tell as I have not heard the Benchmark DAC-1 before. I've been thinking about purchasing...

How does the HDP compare to the Benchmark DAC-1?

I currently own the nuForce Icon and am very interested in the HDP. I just have one question for all Icon product owners out there. Has anyone figure out a way to hold the Icon in place? They are small and very light, so they move around a lot. Is tape the only way to go?

Do you know any place online where I can get them?

I own the 09' version of the little Glow Amp One and just bought a pair of Sovtek EL84. Anyone has any other recommendation for tube rolling?

No matter which amp/dac you choose, you should upgrade the cable of your headphone. I just upgraded my K701 yesterday and now it's truly the best headphone!

Quote: Originally Posted by turophile I think that last post of mine came across too negatively: compared to much more expensive options, the Icon is not a great headphone amp. But for the price and versatility, they're great. I really do love mine - I just don't use mine with...

I just tried canz3d out, but the music is still coming from within my head. In addition, the quality of the music seems to have been degraded a bit by canz3d. The marginal improvement in soundstage just doesn't justify using canz3d for me. Anyone has a thought on this, maybe I my setting is...

The Icon uses the Burr-Brown PCM2706 DAC chip.

Quote: Originally Posted by DJ taka My PC isn't the greatest thing in the world a few years old, but I just use it for music and that's practically it. What is the difference from DACs and Soundcards? or can you use both at the sametime? cause I don't want to spend money on both ends...

you should forget about sound cards and get an external DAC, the noisy environment inside a computer is really not suitable for audio conversion, so no matter how good the sound card is, the "sound" is not going to be great

I just thought of the 42W power supply upgrade. I haven't try it myself but it might solve the headphone problem.

It's a little off topic, but I wonder how the Icon mobile (the original Icon's little brother) compare to the Icon. Does anyone has a thought?

Quote: Originally Posted by MASantos Don't mean to be harsh, but there are already a ton of threads here that cover that subject. You could have posted some more info, like if you plan on doing this, or something else, but then, those threads are for that too... Yes I am planing...

I crack-opened the K701 today, it looks pretty easy to recable. Download high quality version to see the detail

Quote: Originally Posted by DeusEx Why is it bad? Describe sound? First, sorry for the late reply. I agree with sochee, the Icon headphone output lacks soundstage and detail. I can hear clipping in some music. Overall, the sound is very "flat", also it just can't produce the...

I own both the NuForce Icon and AKG K701. I would not use the Icon as a headphone amp, it's a good amp if use with speakers but the headphone output is bad, at least for the K701. I am using the Icon as a DAC/preamp, plug the USB to the computer then the line out to my tube amp.