fotomill
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2009
- Posts
- 13
- Likes
- 0
I was looking for a nice mid-range DAC/headphone amp with both USB or optical input & RCA analog input, without spending much money. I have been using Styleaudio's DAC line; CARAT-HD1V, then Peridot (Emerald in US), and now Ruby (Topaz in US). The CARAT-Ruby is a decent quality DAC/amp but I definitely wanted something better. So the candidates were NuForce Icon and Beresford TC-7520, among others. Anyway I ordered an Icon from Amazon, which was $262 including shipping to Korea, pretty good price. Partly because I was impressed by the NuForce Icon Mobile, a tiny portable headphone amp, which I found very resolving or revealing, though not very silky.
The Icon arrived very soon. It took only probably 3 days. The setup was 1: Mac Pro > USB > Icon, 2: Mac Pro > optical/USB > Ruby > pure silver RCA > Icon.
Firstly, the DAC part is very weak, much quieter than RCA input. The same music sets the volume, for example, at 12 o'clock with RCA input, but at 3 o'clock with USB input. With some classical pieces, max volume would not do enough.
I turned to setup 2. It was pretty nice. But the sound was neck and neck with the Ruby. Sometimes I could not distinguish the sound from both amps. Until 40 hours burn in, it was about the same, not really open, sometimes I feel like the Ruby is just a little bit more resolving, which obviously made think that I might have spent the money for no use.
About 70 hours passed. Things began to change. First, the bass became deeper, but treble not quite detailed and resolving, yet. Anyway I was happy to see the potential to open up.
At about 100 hours, things changed a lot. The bass got even deeper, still with substantial texture and power. That great bass I have never heard on my AKG K701, and I did not think I would even get that quality of bass on K701, either. It is awesome, sometimes overwhelming to feel the thump. The treble also got much more open and detailed. So the whole dynamic range has expanded a lot and everything is clear to distinguish. Mid frequency is just a little more laid back than the Ruby amp.
However, the DAC part is still not satisfying. It is not as dynamic as the Ruby DAC and Icon combo, and the soundstage is a bit narrower, too. Above all, it's too weak to drive my K701 to the full potential.
The Icon is surely a stepup from Ruby, which costs $185 here in Korea. Now I can easily hear the difference. So I recommend this Icon to anyone who wants heavy bass and great detail on K701 for a reasonable price. And the best setup would be CDP or another decent DAC + Icon with RCA input, and minimum of 100 hours is required to burn it in.
The Icon arrived very soon. It took only probably 3 days. The setup was 1: Mac Pro > USB > Icon, 2: Mac Pro > optical/USB > Ruby > pure silver RCA > Icon.
Firstly, the DAC part is very weak, much quieter than RCA input. The same music sets the volume, for example, at 12 o'clock with RCA input, but at 3 o'clock with USB input. With some classical pieces, max volume would not do enough.
I turned to setup 2. It was pretty nice. But the sound was neck and neck with the Ruby. Sometimes I could not distinguish the sound from both amps. Until 40 hours burn in, it was about the same, not really open, sometimes I feel like the Ruby is just a little bit more resolving, which obviously made think that I might have spent the money for no use.
About 70 hours passed. Things began to change. First, the bass became deeper, but treble not quite detailed and resolving, yet. Anyway I was happy to see the potential to open up.
At about 100 hours, things changed a lot. The bass got even deeper, still with substantial texture and power. That great bass I have never heard on my AKG K701, and I did not think I would even get that quality of bass on K701, either. It is awesome, sometimes overwhelming to feel the thump. The treble also got much more open and detailed. So the whole dynamic range has expanded a lot and everything is clear to distinguish. Mid frequency is just a little more laid back than the Ruby amp.
However, the DAC part is still not satisfying. It is not as dynamic as the Ruby DAC and Icon combo, and the soundstage is a bit narrower, too. Above all, it's too weak to drive my K701 to the full potential.
The Icon is surely a stepup from Ruby, which costs $185 here in Korea. Now I can easily hear the difference. So I recommend this Icon to anyone who wants heavy bass and great detail on K701 for a reasonable price. And the best setup would be CDP or another decent DAC + Icon with RCA input, and minimum of 100 hours is required to burn it in.
