[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PtrPwr /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi - I've been using the Icon as a DAC between a laptop and a Denon receiver, listening with Senn HD580s. What would any of you with experience with the Icon's DAC and other DACs see as an upgrade path? Would replacing the Icon with a Hotaudio "Straight DAC" or perhaps the VALAB DAC give me a substantial improvement? Or would I need to go up to something like the audio-gd DAC-100 at $250 to hear a big difference? Thanks for any input.

I think your second option is correct - the Nuforce DAC detail and space is about like that of the PCM2702 driven DAC, and you'd need something else to do better.

I haven't heard the audio-gd DAC, but I can say the iBasso D10 or Pico or Micro DAC will do better as a DAC than a PCM2702 based DAC (which is still nice). A Super Pro DAC707 is also pretty good for the price and matches the sound of the old iBasso D1 when (which was below the Micro DAC) but uses the same chip set as the D1 and Micro DAC. The D1 and Super Pro USB are not as good as their optical and coax inputs though. Also, when I tried a 24v sigma 11 PSU with the DAC707 it became quieter, more detailed, more spacious and now sounds close to the Pico and Micro DAC as a DAC source (with optical and coax). DAC707's USB is still not quite as good, while the D10, Pico and Micro DAC USB inputs all sound almost as good as optical.

Another good choice for an inexpensive but great DAC is the AMB Gamma 1 (y1) and Beefy is selling one for $300AUD + shipping that I would jump on if I wasn't getting a Stello DA100 sig or PS Audio DLIII soon. It sounds like a $700 DAC for 1/3 the cost.

 

[b_jay_k]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fiddle /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just received my HD600 and I'm pleasantly surprised that this amp can drive it to very acceptable listening levels. Although I must say I am very tempted to get the D10 now...

Big spender

i wish i could get the D10, let alone the hd600!

 

[fiddle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by b_jay_k /img/forum/go_quote.gif Big spender i wish i could get the D10, let alone the hd600!

Its a vicious cycle..no thanks to me stumbling across this forum.

Only consolation and justification I give myself is that its helpful for my work.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, it can be a little bright with the Phonak unless you use the black filters, or maybe the Complys or both.

Hi HeadphoneAddict:

I really enjoyed your review of the NuForce Mobile and would like to know your thought on how it would match to my pair of Grado SR225i headphones?

Thanks!

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacedonianHero /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi HeadphoneAddict: I really enjoyed your review of the NuForce Mobile and would like to know your thought on how it would match to my pair of Grado SR225i headphones? Thanks!

It would be better than the Vivid V1 with the SR-225, but the D2 boa or Headstage Lyrix would sound a little better with Grados.

The Nuforce was good with the RS-1 IF I put flat pads on them, but I haven't heard of using flat pads on a SR-225 before, and that's a $40 experiment just to find out that it might not be a good match of pads/phones.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif It would be better than the Vivid V1 with the SR-225, but the D2 boa or Headstage Lyrix would sound a little better with Grados. The Nuforce was good with the RS-1 IF I put flat pads on them, but I haven't heard of using flat pads on a SR-225 before, and that's a $40 experiment just to find out that it might not be a good match of pads/phones.

Hi again:

Actually you're right, they come with the bowls. The reason is Grado wants the drivers right next to your ears for optimal sound. I'll give it a try and post it here.

Thanks again for your prompt reply...you are the man!

Cheers!

 

[boomy3555]

Hello,
I know i've been away from this thread for a while but I took many people's advice and got a hold of Nforce because I was at issue with the lack of volume coming from my Icon Mobile Amplifier.
I was confused because the sound coming out of the NIM was no louder than the volume of the soucre feeding it. LOD,Headphone out, Dac or in-line amp made no difference. and the high gain was only slightly louder.
I have gone back and forth with them trying to describe my issue and this is thier email reponse from today:

Hi, Larry I've discussed the problem with our engineering staff and unfortunately, what you've mentioned is what should be happening. As I've mentioned, the Icon Mobile offer 0db-gain which means the volume that has processed by Icon Mobile would be the same as what has been fed into it. We're terribly sorry that Icon Mobile wasn't able to meet your requirements and we're willing to issue a full refund if you want to return the item. Best Regards, Richard NuForce Thanks for using the help desk, if you have any further difficulties or are required to respond to your request, please login to the help desk _______________________________________________ Was this response helpful? We would be grateful if you would submit a short rating for this response as part of our satisfaction monitoring. http://www.nuforce.biz/cgi-

I'm still fairly new to audiophiledom but shouldn't an amplifier make the sound louder than the source. Are there any other amp out there that are set at a gain of 0 db's. Does this even make any sense..

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomy3555 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello, I know i've been away from this thread for a while but I took many people's advice and got a hold of Nforce because I was at issue with the lack of volume coming from my Icon Mobile Amplifier. I was confused because the sound coming out of the NIM was no louder than the volume of the soucre feeding it. LOD,Headphone out, Dac or in-line amp made no difference. and the high gain was only slightly louder. I have gone back and forth with them trying to describe my issue and this is thier email reponse from today: Hi, Larry I've discussed the problem with our engineering staff and unfortunately, what you've mentioned is what should be happening. As I've mentioned, the Icon Mobile offer 0db-gain which means the volume that has processed by Icon Mobile would be the same as what has been fed into it. We're terribly sorry that Icon Mobile wasn't able to meet your requirements and we're willing to issue a full refund if you want to return the item. Best Regards, Richard NuForce Thanks for using the help desk, if you have any further difficulties or are required to respond to your request, please login to the help desk _______________________________________________ Was this response helpful? We would be grateful if you would submit a short rating for this response as part of our satisfaction monitoring. http://www.nuforce.biz/cgi- I'm still fairly new to audiophiledom but shouldn't an amplifier make the sound louder than the source. Are there any other amp out there that are set at a gain of 0 db's. Does this even make any sense..

That's weird because it sounds pretty darn loud in high gain with my Denon and Edition 9, which rock like crazy with it. A low gain of 0dB is for IEM (a gain of 1, where a gain of 2 is 3dB), and the Tomahawk has a gain of 1 (0dB) for IEM. I know the high gain is not 0dB. How much did they say high gain was?

 

[boomy3555]

They did not specify which gain setting was 0 dB. Apparently I am ignorant as to the technical workings of a portable amp. so I'll just write this one off. I just thought that if I ran a cable from the headphone out or LOD of my Ipod, to an amplifier, that the amplifier would make it louder. This 0dB's dosn't make any sense to me. Whats the point if the volume increases by a facter of 0

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomy3555 /img/forum/go_quote.gif They did not specify which gain setting was 0 dB. Apparently I am ignorant as to the technical workings of a portable amp. so I'll just write this one off. I just thought that if I ran a cable from the headphone out or LOD of my Ipod, to an amplifier, that the amplifier would make it louder. This 0dB's dosn't make any sense to me. Whats the point if the volume increases by a facter of 0

I just said why a gain of 0 in my last post. Let me try another way.

With IEM you want to have fine control over the volume and they IEM will be have a high sensitivity and don't need a lot of power. So, a 0dB gain amp (gain of 1) like Nuforce or Tomahawk in low gain is like putting a volume attenuator on the line out, but one that does impedance matching so the line-out sees an amp instead of an IEM (earphone). And amp needs voltage more than it needs current, but a headphone needs current, so the 0 gain amp is like a buffer and also provides the current.

Switching the Nuforce gain to the {+} with a pen tip should give you tons of volume and tight controlled powerful bass with your D7000, because you'll be in high gain.

 

[boomy3555]

If I'm cranking along at plus gain with my Denons, shouldn't taking the headphone plug out of the Nuforce and plugging it directly into the Ipod make the volume lower?. Well it dosn't. it stays the same. It's as if the Nuforce isn't even there. What I'm saying is that there is no volume increase when I use the Nuforce regardless of which cans are plugged in.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

So, you said you plugged it into headphone out and to line out and found no difference?

If plugged into HP out, what volume is the iPod set at (max or 80% or what) and what volume is the Nuforce set at (how many turns)?

With headphone out turned all the way up and the Nuforce volume all the way up (or as high as you can stand it) you are saying the volume level and sound quality is the same, and not loud enough with either?

i.e. is the volume insufficient before clipping from the headphone out, and the same with the Nuforce just below clipping?

Do the iPod and Nuforce both play clean at max volume, without clipping or hearing damage?

I can get massive volume levels with clean sound out of my Nuforce mobile off my iMod and D2000 (or Edition 9) in high gain. I wonder if you might have a defective one.

 

[bakhtiar]

Check with other sources, ie, TV, radio, PC, laptop ....or use other cables...

 

[boomy3555]

Thanks.
the testing was done with Ipod 5th gen 80gb ( both h/p out and LOD)video, shuffle, mp3(knockoff touch screen 8gb flash drive), laptop h/p out as well as DAC. The volume was adjusted form 50% to 90% on all sources. The volume is almost exactly the same with or without the Nuforce. on low gain the volume was identical. On high gain it was less than 5% increase in volumes. The only cans that showed any appreciable increase was the 16 ohm C-3 customs, all other headphones including the UE SF5pro's showed increase only on high gain and only a very slight increase (5-10%). I have tried charging th battery on both USB out as well as wall USB Charger. I can accept that perhaps there is something wrong with the battery or line out, or gain, but the 0dB output confuses me. I would assume that an amplifier would increase the volume by at least a few dB's. If not, I'm having a hard time understanding the usefulness of it, other than the DAC in this particular AMP. I'm going to POP it in a box and send it back. If they find something wrong with it, they can repair it. If it is in good working order, then they can refund as offered, I got it when they first started selling them, so it's one of the first off "the line".
Thanks again for all of your suggestions and support. I would have sent it back along time ago if I had not had Head-Fi'ers to bounce my concerns off of and I'm not one to giveup easily.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomy3555 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks. the testing was done with Ipod 5th gen 80gb ( both h/p out and LOD)video, shuffle, mp3(knockoff touch screen 8gb flash drive), laptop h/p out as well as DAC. The volume was adjusted form 50% to 90% on all sources. The volume is almost exactly the same with or without the Nuforce. on low gain the volume was identical. On high gain it was less than 5% increase in volumes. The only cans that showed any appreciable increase was the 16 ohm C-3 customs, all other headphones including the UE SF5pro's showed increase only on high gain and only a very slight increase (5-10%). I have tried charging th battery on both USB out as well as wall USB Charger. I can accept that perhaps there is something wrong with the battery or line out, or gain, but the 0dB output confuses me. I would assume that an amplifier would increase the volume by at least a few dB's. If not, I'm having a hard time understanding the usefulness of it, other than the DAC in this particular AMP. I'm going to POP it in a box and send it back. If they find something wrong with it, they can repair it. If it is in good working order, then they can refund as offered, I got it when they first started selling them, so it's one of the first off "the line". Thanks again for all of your suggestions and support. I would have sent it back along time ago if I had not had Head-Fi'ers to bounce my concerns off of and I'm not one to giveup easily.

If plugged into HP out you should have HP out at 90% or as high as it will go without clipping. But I would not use HP out, only line out.

You should get very loud volumes with the amp in high gain with those D7000 or Pro 900. If it cannot play louder than you can stand, or as loud as you want, you may have to send it back and if it is not defective ask for a refund.