[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwong /img/forum/go_quote.gif I ordered my black Nuforce-Icon Mobile on the 22nd, arrived tonight on the 24th shipping from San Jose, CA to New Jersey. Looks like Santa came a bit earlier this year with my first amp First impressions: It's smaller than I thought it would be, pairs nicely with my Ipod Touch 8gb with the included stretchy band. Have it setup Foobar/Asio4all-->usb-->nuforce-->denon d2000's on low gain. Bass sounds tighter but with less quantity compared to my laptop onboard headphone jack. Vocals/mids seem slightly more forward. So far its been a bit mediocre, not much of an upgrade from onboard my sound yet to my ears. Going to wait for the burn-in time to do it justice.

Expect big changes in the first 24 hours.

 

[clownzee]

my icon mobile is listed as delivered but my freight forwarder isnt working on christmas!! auughhh!!

 

[davidw89]

They don't ship internationally do they?

Anyhow are these worth the $100 prie point?

 

[slwiser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidw89 /img/forum/go_quote.gif They don't ship internationally do they? Anyhow are these worth the $100 prie point?

These are very much worth that 100$ US dollars, especially with a ESW9 for synergy.

 

[FlyPenFly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif iPhone 3G has excellent sound quality already and NE-7M or Westone 3 don't need an amp with it. When I had E4c they always seemed to wake up more with an amp, but I haven't tried any with the iPhone 3G.

Okay thanks!

I think I'll just roll it over for next month.

 

[SavageThrash]

Alright few noob questions here if you guys dont mind >.<

I own a pair of HD 595s and they run fairly decently out of my x-fi extreme music. However i want to pick up a pair of d2000 as my Christmas present to myself. I was thinking of getting an icon mobile to pair with them, i read the review that said the modded d2000 were quite nice with this amp/DAC.

Now my first question is, if i want to use my x-fi as source (or iphone 3g/ipod classic) can i use the icon mobile as just an amp for my sennys/d2000? Im guessing the only time the icon would use its DAC is when you hook it up via usb, just wanting to make sure though that its not doing something funky with the 3.5mm line in.

My second question, Is it fine to leave the icon plugged into usb and just used it as a desktop amp? (this is if my x-fi cant drive the d2000... anyone know if it could?)

Anyone know of any dealers that sell the Icon mobile and use paypal, if not im going to have to wait about 2 weeks to place my order >.<

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SavageThrash /img/forum/go_quote.gif Alright few noob questions here if you guys dont mind >.< I own a pair of HD 595s and they run fairly decently out of my x-fi extreme music. However i want to pick up a pair of d2000 as my Christmas present to myself. I was thinking of getting an icon mobile to pair with them, i read the review that said the modded d2000 were quite nice with this amp/DAC. Now my first question is, if i want to use my x-fi as source (or iphone 3g/ipod classic) can i use the icon mobile as just an amp for my sennys/d2000? Im guessing the only time the icon would use its DAC is when you hook it up via usb, just wanting to make sure though that its not doing something funky with the 3.5mm line in. That should work fine, and you can compare the DAC vs the x-fi and decide which is better later. My second question, Is it fine to leave the icon plugged into usb and just used it as a desktop amp? (this is if my x-fi cant drive the d2000... anyone know if it could?) That should work fine also. It stops charging when the battery is charged. Anyone know of any dealers that sell the Icon mobile and use paypal, if not im going to have to wait about 2 weeks to place my order >.<

That was probably me with the modded D2000 and Icon Mobile - they did seem to go nicely together. See red answers above.

 

[dwong]

So far my mobile has been burning in for at about 20 hours or so. At the 6 hour mark it began to sound MUCH better than from out of the box. Pairs very well with my D2000's, the bass really comes out and makes my music sound much more dynamic. The somewhat harsh mids I was hearing before have toned down to something much more enjoyable. For $100 this thing has been really great!

 

[clownzee]

my mobile has been delivered to my freight forwarder but they dun start work again til 29th! sigh.

 

[epithetless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuforce-jason /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you have jack bigger than 8.5mm, please contact us directly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaykay /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've sent an email to your direct sales department. Thanks for the quick reply

Same here, as of a couple days ago (I use the Denon AH-D1000 too). Curious to see what solution(s) NuForce comes up with. Since I'm assuming a re-revamped case is a bit much to expect, perhaps a very short and light (but high-quality) headphone extension cable?

 

[jaykay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by epithetless /img/forum/go_quote.gif Same here, as of a couple days ago (I use the Denon AH-D1000 too). Curious to see what solution(s) NuForce comes up with. Since I'm assuming a re-revamped case is a bit much to expect, perhaps a very short and light (but high-quality) headphone extension cable?

So far I have not received a response after 2 emails. I'll give them the benefit of doubt being that the emails were sent just a few days before Christmas. The ridge that they have on the case just above the input jacks irritates me alot. Not being able to use my denon d1000 surprised me, but wasn't such a big deal to me because I will be using the amp primarily with my westone 3's for the time being. But what really irritates me is that I cannot use my custom interconnect that has switchcraft ends. The switchcraft connector is the same shape as the denon d1000 connector so I cannot plug it into the line in jack of the amp. The fact that NuForce failed to see the design flaw of the amp irritates me to a great extent. The amp itself is great. It mates extremely well with my westone 3's, however the recessed input jacks or rather the ridge along the top of the case is driving me insane. I sure hope they do come up with a solution to this because I really do not want to have to file down the ridge of the case and just ruin the aesthetics..but I very well may have to in order to use this amp.. :/

 

[epithetless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaykay /img/forum/go_quote.gif So far I have not received a response after 2 emails. I'll give them the benefit of doubt being that the emails were sent just a few days before Christmas. The ridge that they have on the case just above the input jacks irritates me alot. Not being able to use my denon d1000 surprised me, but wasn't such a big deal to me because I will be using the amp primarily with my westone 3's for the time being. But what really irritates me is that I cannot use my custom interconnect that has switchcraft ends. The switchcraft connector is the same shape as the denon d1000 connector so I cannot plug it into the line in jack of the amp. The fact that NuForce failed to see the design flaw of the amp irritates me to a great extent. The amp itself is great. It mates extremely well with my westone 3's, however the recessed input jacks or rather the ridge along the top of the case is driving me insane. I sure hope they do come up with a solution to this because I really do not want to have to file down the ridge of the case and just ruin the aesthetics..but I very well may have to in order to use this amp.. :/

Yeah, it is a bit baffling that NuForce would limit the usefulness of their amp to headphones (and cables) with plugs 8.5mm or less in diameter, when larger plugs clearly exist -- especially since this is a redesign of the case (i.e. their second attempt to get it right). Seems to be a scenario of aesthetics trumping functionality. The Icon Mobile is a lovely little unit, but I would certainly sacrifice a cosmetically uniform ridge to allow for complete functionality. I'm with you, jaykay, in hoping they come up with a solution for us.

 

[somestranger26]

I got my Icon Mobile today, and am pairing it with my Zune 80 + Westone 3s, right out of the box (err.. after waiting 5 hours for its initial charge) there wasn't much difference. 5 hours of burn-in and I tried it again, and I'm already noticing that it seems to make the bass a lot more tight and defined, and really brings forth the details in my music... will post more after it has a fair amount more burn-in.

Battery life: 35 hours at 2/3 volume, low gain. I had to charge my Zune before I had to charge the amp

. First time I've ever gotten more battery life than a product advertised.

Edit: I have the black one, it's pretty sweet looking compared to some of the other amps I was looking at, and it was ordered either Thursday or Friday last week (Christmas present... not completely sure here) and it is the "new" case that can accommodate the larger headphone jacks.

More editing oh god: Just tested to see if I get any EMI by putting the amp right on top of my phone (LG Dare) and sending/receiving a few txt messages, no interference whatsoever. Interesting... If I lay the amp on the FRONT side of my zune, I get some interference in the form of a moderately loud ringing sound but nothing from the back (not like I'm going to have it placed on the front), weird...

Here's a couple picture of it attached to my Zune, it's just slightly narrower, about the same depth, and is about the same length when you include the right angle plugs. They're a bit blurry but get the point across.

About 10 hours of burn-in: Wow... I can see why HPA found the sound to change so much, the sound suddenly became super muddy and the highs are shrill and almost painful.

12 hours: The muddiness and shrill highs died down and it sounds sort of like what it did after 5 hours... going to sleep soon and will have an update soon after I wake up.

20 hours: The soundstage is subtly opening up, all or most of the muddiness from 10-12 hours is gone, treble details seem to be more 'extended' and less rolled off. The instrument separation in rock and metal is also a bit better, which is one of the minor issues I've had with the Westone 3s. Without a doubt this amp makes the Westone 3s way more forgiving -- 192kbps mp3s sounded fairly flat and artifacts weren't too hard to pick out and now they sound almost identical to my V0.

50 hours: Everything is just more... engaging than without the amp, and the mids seem nicely balanced with the bass and highs.

 

[jaykay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by somestranger26 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I got my Icon Mobile today, and am pairing it with my Zune 80 + Westone 3s, right out of the box (err.. after waiting 5 hours for its initial charge) there wasn't much difference. 5 hours of burn-in and I tried it again, and I'm already noticing that it seems to make the bass a lot more tight and defined, and really brings forth the details in my music... will post more after it has a fair amount more burn-in.

I'm at the 110 hour mark and the Icon Mobile + Westone 3 combo out of my laptop usb has made me one happy camper.

 

[Anemone]

how's the battery life?