[slair76116]

Hi Guys, Annoyed and disappointed with my latest purchase please help if you can
 
I've had a pair of HD650's for about 4 years now. I used to listen to it using my creative Xifi and I remember it sounding awesome. the first time I heard the HD650 in the store I was like WOW!!@#!@#! I have got to get me this
 
The X-fi broke about 3 years ago and Just a few days ago I bought the Nuforce HDP.
 
I'm using foobar2000 Wasapi push directly to the Nuforce 24bit 96Khz, and the Laptop is also set the same.
 
Cable is audio quest green which connects the nuforce to my laptop.
 
The mids are good voices come clear and nice high are good, Notes like clapping(actual people clapping) seem to be over emphasized it hearts my ears. (Sorry I'm not an audiophile)
 
Worst part and this is the problem the Bass is very low, clean but just very low flat. no ooomp to it.
 
What am I doing wrong here? Are my headphones broke ? Or is the DAC/AMP broke?
 
I feel like the Nuforce does not have enough power to drive the HD650's but then when I increase the volume my ears heart because the highs and mid are too much.
 
I so wanted to be blown away by getting my first DAC/AMP, just so frustrated now

 

[radi9red]

Either the Nuforce HD is reputated not a powerful amp itself to power that 300 ohm hd650.  or your creative xfi might be tuned to give you the impression of a more powerful impact bass response , is that the accurate bass response ? i'm not too sure - you need to try the same songs on other players since different players has their own in-built dac.     
 
I would recommend you try another headphone 32ohm - and see if you are getting the bass from your current setup.   Alternative, plug you hd650 to a powerful dap - AK100 , or Ibasso dx100  - can see if there's better bass from that same song

 

[blueangel2323]

Did you have any kind of bass boost on the X-Fi? Either your X-Fi was very warm/dark, or the Nuforce doesn't have enough juice to bring out the bass on the HD650's. They are not a bright headphone at all - they're warm and smooth - so nothing should hurt your ears.

 

[slair76116]

I don't have any other highend gear or access to any.
 
I have a western digital TV player, I connected the Nuforce to the western digital VIA optical connection and then ran the digital passthrough on the western digital player.
 
The sound were noticeably better the Bass was more pronounced yet not satisfactory, and it didn't heart my ears as much at high volumes. the music was overall more enjoyable.
 
The sound from my laptop VIA audio quest green USB cables through wasapi sound almost analytical, there is no music in the music it's almost flat.
 
The creative audio card came with this external unit.
 

 

 

 

[derbigpr]

I'm pretty certain its the HDP, not your headphones. That device is just bad, as I said many times. It just doesn't sound good at all for the money and doesnt do justice to any mid to high end headphone, its just going to hold it back. It has too high output impedance for low impedance high end cans like AT's, Shures, Denons,and not enough power for Senns and Beyers. Unless you need the preamp + dac + headamp in one unit, you can get a CONSIDERABLY better sound for half the price. IMHO its not worth more than 200 dollars, let alone 500. For example, Asus Essence ST soundcard sounds like its considerably more expensive than HDP.  In fact, if I plug any of my headphones, be it the HD650's, K701's, T1's....any headphones, into a 300 dollar integrated speaker amp headphone output, it blows the HDP away in sound quality. I would rate the HDP DAC sound as only marginally better than my onboard realtek soundcard on a pretty high end motherboard. As a standalone DAC, no matter how much they brag it has the same chips as their high end cd players, its not worth more than 60-70 dollars, the price of an entry level soundcard pretty much. As for the headphone amp section, apart from being louder, it brings nothing to the table, Little dot MkV for example demolishes it in every way when it comes to sound, its like comparing a toy to real gear. I would not be surprised if your old Creative X-fi unit was a considerably better sounding piece of gear than HDP.  To me, HDP sounds worse as I go up in my headphone collection. The better headphones I use, the worse sound I get.  Out of HDP, I swear, Sennheiser HD212 sound almost as good the T1. Because the T1 sounds like crap out it.   HDP has an amazing ability to sound bright,shouty, thin and harsh, as well as muddy and congested at the same time. Like taking two negative characteristics of audio, and putting them together. I dont know if its the Nuforce sound signature, but I found the same faults, just multiplied in their cheaper u-dac2 device.  Sorry if it again sounds to some people as if I'm bashing the HDP, but I am doing that. Its still to this day, after buying probably 100+ audio products, the worst piece of gear I bought, apart from Bellari HA540 tube amp, which is a special kind of crap, thats hard to take out of the "I suck" throne and I dont even consider it an audio product, even if thats what it apparently is. 

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I don't have any other highend gear or access to any.
I have a western digital TV player, I connected the Nuforce to the western digital VIA optical connection and then ran the digital pass through on the western digital player.
The sound were noticeably better the Bass was more pronounced yet not satisfactory, and it didn't heart my ears as much at high volumes. the music was overall more enjoyable.
The sound from my laptop VIA audio quest green USB cables through wasapi sound almost analytical, there is no music in the music it's almost flat.
The creative audio card came with this external unit.

Did you delete all the Creative software?
Is the laptops' on-board audio enabled or diabled?
Did you update the laptop's built in audio's software/drivers, to the latest version?
Does the laptop have a S/PDIF optical or coaxial output?
(if it does, have you tried connecting the HCP that way?)
Have you tried turn up all the volume controls to max, on the laptop?

 

[slair76116]

I bought the Nuforce second hand for $200
 
      Listining to what derbigpr I feel sad I bought this, but I read so many reviews and I never came accross anythig bad about the Nuforce, I was going to buy the Schiit Magni modi combo, but thought since I'm getting the Neforce for $200 it was the better buy.
 
Dear Purple angel
Did you delete all the Creative software? That was an older laptop, this Laptop does not have any of its software
Is the laptops' on-board audio enabled or diabled? Onboard Audio is disabled
Did you update the laptop's built in audio's software/drivers, to the latest version? No
Does the laptop have a S/PDIF optical or coaxial output? No
(if it does, have you tried connecting the HCP that way?) When I connected it VIA optical to my western digital TV player the sound were marginaly better but not great.
Have you tried turn up all the volume controls to max, on the laptop? I find it better when the volume on the laptop is at half way and the Nufroce volume is turned up to roughly 75%, 3 oclock position on the dial.
 
Anybody here want to buy a Nuforce HDP for $200 ?

 

[derbigpr]

I bought the Nuforce second hand for $200

      Listining to what derbigpr I feel sad I bought this, but I read so many reviews and I never came accross anythig bad about the Nuforce

Thats because when you say something bad about it you get contacted by their guys and threatened unless you remove what you've written, as it happened to me in the HDP appreciation thread.

 

[mcandmar]

Thats because when you say something bad about it you get contacted by their guys and threatened unless you remove what you've written, as it happened to me in the HDP appreciation thread.

 
What they threatened to call around to you with baseball bats?
 
Sorry to hear your issues Slair but i got to ask , whats actually wrong the x-fi?  I would be surprised if its not something that's easily repaired, or worst case a replacement picked up for small money on ebay.

 

[derbigpr]

What they threatened to call around to you with baseball bats?

No, not as directly, it was just couple of long posts by one of their representatives who got very heated up and pissed off, basically saying things that he hopes I change my mind and remove what I've written, or I will be sorry. You can still probably find the posts in the HDP appreciation threads...basically, other head-fi'ers fired back at him and were also very disappointed by how a company representative reacted to a negative review of a product. Basically, he was acting as if I committed a crime because I wrote I didn't like their product, and I even specifically described each of my problems and dislikes in detail, but he was saying that I lack expertise, experience and knowledge to be the judge of whether its a good product or not...which was very funny at the time. He was basically saying I was lying and advising me not to try him out because if I do, I will suffer the "consequences". What those consequences would be, we will never find out, all I'm sure of is he wouldn't have talked that way into my face. Basically, showing off over the internet from a very insecure person, abusing his position, which made me lose the little respect I had for the company before that happened. Later he apologized when he realized what kind of crap he had done, and even offered me a free HDP if I return my old one, which I refused. Basically, what has been seen cannot be unseen, I wouldn't give a single cent to Nuforce anymore.

 

[slair76116]

   
What they threatened to call around to you with baseball bats?
 
Sorry to hear your issues Slair but i got to ask , whats actually wrong the x-fi?  I would be surprised if its not something that's easily repaired, or worst case a replacement picked up for small money on ebay.

 
I'm not sure what's exactly wrong with it, Creative service as almost every other service here in the middle east sucks
 
I've decided to collect money and purchase the WooAudio 7 firefly hopefully by Jan 2014