[ekoshyun]

This may be a silly comparison, but I just thought I'd throw it out there anyway for those who've actually taken a look and tried the two DAC's on some decent bookshelf speakers. I recently went to a local hifi shop to test both of them out and I'm hard pressed on the performance gain/dollar with the Music Hall DAC.

The unique thing about these two DACs are their approaches to desktop hifi. You're able to run digital out from your computer via Coaxial (if available) and get excellent performance gains from these bad boys. The Music Hall 25.2 has balanced XLR outputs (which I'm not too familiar in regards to sound performance gains), but I do like the fact that it also has TOSLINK input for those who need it. The Nuforce on the other hand doesn't offer as many outputs and runs a much smaller profile. It also costs about $300 less.

If I'm running on a budget of $300, which one should I be going for? Will I see more performance gain using the 25.2 instead of the Nuforce icon for my passive speakers? Any help is greatly appreciate!!

 

[ekoshyun]

Anyone?

 

[intelonetwo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekoshyun /img/forum/go_quote.gif This may be a silly comparison, but I just thought I'd throw it out there anyway for those who've actually taken a look and tried the two DAC's on some decent bookshelf speakers. I recently went to a local hifi shop to test both of them out and I'm hard pressed on the performance gain/dollar with the Music Hall DAC. The unique thing about these two DACs are their approaches to desktop hifi. You're able to run digital out from your computer via Coaxial (if available) and get excellent performance gains from these bad boys. The Music Hall 25.2 has balanced XLR outputs (which I'm not too familiar in regards to sound performance gains), but I do like the fact that it also has TOSLINK input for those who need it. The Nuforce on the other hand doesn't offer as many outputs and runs a much smaller profile. It also costs about $300 less. If I'm running on a budget of $300, which one should I be going for? Will I see more performance gain using the 25.2 instead of the Nuforce icon for my passive speakers? Any help is greatly appreciate!!

ekoshyun,
I too am in the market for a new DAC and can't make my mind up. Both of the DAC's you ask are units I have looked myself. I owned the NuForce Icon for a time. It was used as an all-in-one solution, Integrated Amp, DAC, Preamp for my modest 2-channel rig. At this task it was well suited and performed admirably.

I did not get a chance to rate the quality of the DAC specifically before selling, but I don't remember anything out of place with the music through the Icon. This is more of an omission than anything. It wasn't the end all be all but it was respectable. Certainly for a computer system it would absolutely rock. I used it as the quarterback in my system and it did a good job.

Now I'm looking at a DAC that I can use in my main system. My main systems' primary source for music is my media center PC. Because of this I'd like to DAC to either be tubed or NOS. Both of have qualities I believe will help smooth out the roughness inherent in my computers digital music. It will also add some midrange warmth to my system which is a bit lacking with a NuForce IA7 as my integrated amplifier. My speakers are BG Z-7's. They feature a very nice ribbon tweeter and have a midrange that is a bit bloated.

The biggest compliant, rather, reason I have yet to pull the trigger is REMOTE CONTROL. Very, very few units actually have a remote control. They are available, but they are few and far between. The Yulong DA1 MKI, and MKII have remotes. I've been looking at them heavily. They are priced right at $300 on ebay, but they don't have a very lively audiophile following. Finding reviews from audiophiles regarding strictly the the DAC section is tough. I understand the headphone portion is nice, but the DAC is what I'm interested in. The headphone is a nice to have and I may get around to using it sooner than I'd like, but for now my focus is the DAC.

I'm in Sacramento.

 

[ekoshyun]

intelonetwo,

Thanks so much for the helpful words about the Icon. Personally, when I heard the Music Hall's 25.2, I was blown away at the performance. If you can find a place nearby (I visited a guy in Campbell's at Audio Arts) that carries the DAC, I'd suggest giving it a listen. Supposedly he has both of them available right now, so you could make it a trip down to the south bay if you wish to check out the performance of either.

I probably won't be able to head down there until the end of the month, but when I do, I'll post my impressions here. The Nuforce Icon seems to hold excellent value since there's an amplifier and DAC both built into it - and it's dirt cheap at $224 compared to many other components.

The Music Hall on the other hand runs a good $600, which doesn't include an amp (but does have a headphone jack available in case you wish to use it as one). But mainly, it's just a DAC - an excellent one from what I've heard, but I still want to see if it's worth the extra premium above the Nuforce.

Do let me know if you plan to settle on some equipment.. and hey, maybe even a listening session may be in order?

I work out of Sacramento after all. Or at least, until the end of the month, when I'll be moving across the country.

 

[-=Germania=-]

Quote:

Originally Posted by intelonetwo /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Yulong DA1 MKI, and MKII have remotes. I've been looking at them heavily. They are priced right at $300 on ebay, but they don't have a very lively audiophile following. Finding reviews from audiophiles regarding strictly the the DAC section is tough. I understand the headphone portion is nice, but the DAC is what I'm interested in.

The Yulong uses the AD1955 Analog Devices Chip which is the same used in many high end SACD players like the Esoteric P-03 (granted it uses many of them).

You can check out more on the chip here: http://www.analog.com/static/importe...ets/AD1955.pdf