[jasonl]

There have been a lot of discussion about hiss (noise) and channel imbalance. There are many factors that affect your listening experience: music source, player, computer, power supply and headphones.
Or a defect in the product

We found out that an audiophile magazine in Taiwan has conducted a thorough test of 25 DAC and headphone amps on the market.
Check out the result here: http://picasaweb.google.com/nuforce.com/DACAndHeadphoneAmpTests#
This is the complete report (it is in Chinese): http://www.nuforce.com/hp/docs/review/DAC-Headphone-Amp-Tests.pdf
There isn't much to read about in each mini report, since they didn't go into listening comparison of each product (that's very difficult to do for 25 products). The test results speak for itself.
Overall, I think Nuforce Icon HDP comes out ahead of all other products in the report, regardless of price

 
Please start a new topic to discuss the test results. This thread is already long enough, and should be reserved for review of Icon HDP.

 

[cravenz]

assuming I'm going to be experiencing hiss issues with the HDP and IE8 connection again, what's a good impedance adapter to get (so far I see the Etymotic one, Head-Direct and the apuresound ones)? I'm keeping quiet on whether I believe my ears are more sensitive than others

 
on a side note: Jason, that report just made me realise how rubbish my Chinese is now!

 

[grokit]

Is there an HTML version of the complete report, so Google Translate could have a crack at it?

 

[kite7]

I didn't know there was a blue HDP. The results do look good compared to the other DACs reviewed

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

assuming I'm going to be experiencing hiss issues with the HDP and IE8 connection again, what's a good impedance adapter to get (so far I see the Etymotic one, Head-Direct and the apuresound ones)? I'm keeping quiet on whether I believe my ears are more sensitive than others

 
on a side note: Jason, that report just made me realise how rubbish my Chinese is now!

If you can handle a soldering iron, you can just make your own for pretty cheap.

 

[cravenz]

Quote:

If you can handle a soldering iron, you can just make your own for pretty cheap.

mmm...that'd be tough. lol. never tried one

 

[jasonl]

Quote:

Is there an HTML version of the complete report, so Google Translate could have a crack at it?

 
You can find each review in separate Word file in http://www.nuforce.com/hp/docs/review/DAC-HeadphoneAmp-Tests-Word-Files.zip
We purchased the rights to distribute the entire review.
Measurement test results is only a factor in our purchase decision. Even though Icon HDP has the overall best measurement, it might not sound the best with your particular headphones.  The reviewer (Editor) is very good and each review points out the strength of the product. Magazine rarely criticize a product, so readers have to draw their own conclusion.
It will be great if someone start a thread to do translation and let the forum members comment on their own feedback. But we should not turn this into a shoot-out. The fun about audio is like good food, each of us have different taste.

 

[jasonl]

Quote:

I didn't know there was a blue HDP. The results do look good compared to the other DACs reviewed

We just didn't sell the blue or red chassis HDP in the USA. Blue and red can be purchase on special request.

 

[jasonl]

Icon HDP is designed mainly for headphones and some people with sensitive ear or earphones, would be able to hear low level noise since the gain of HDP is adjusted for harder to drive headphones. The headphone section will have to be redesigned for in-ear earphones.
You might be better off exchanging Icon HDP with uDAC2 if you are struggling with noise and your earphones.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

We just didn't sell the blue or red chassis HDP in the USA. Blue and red can be purchase on special request.

Aw Man, I wanted to remain the only one in USA with a Red HDP.  

 

[RCSI]

Blue you say...
 
Warning: Segmented post
 
No impressions other than that I do enjoy the HDP -> HD600 quite a bit.
 
I had purchased the HDP around March, the third headphone related purchase I had made in the year, HD555 (January) and uDac (January), all thanks to upgraditis that I had caught from this site.  Then I also had the urging to have a better headphone to pair with it, so along comes the HD600(May), which happened to cure any headphone disease I may have contracted.  Thus the HD600, along with the HDP, cured any longing to upgrade (least for the time being). 
 
Straight to the point, thank you Nuforce, you had helped cure upgraditis for me which in itself is fairly rare for me since I am not an impulse buyer.  As for Head-fi, I would entirely avoid this place if not for the fact that the better headphones and amps are expensive for me, thus they are unable to spread any deadly longing to upgrade toward me.

 

[busyx2]

I thought this is kind of interesting......
 
Nuforce HDP ($449)

 
Ayre QB-9 ($2500)

 
dCS Debussy ($10000)

 

[TobaccoRoad]

Question to all HDP owners: When you plug the HDP on your computer does it read the device as HDP? On mine it says "USB Audio Device" which I thought it was kind of weird while it reads uDAC correctly.

 

[kite7]

Yes, it reads Nuforce Icon HDP

 

[Sid-Fi]

Out of the box, mine initially read as USB audio device as well and actually wouldn't play (Windows 7 Professional). For some reason my usb drivers were kinda screwy. I had to right click on usb audio device in device manager and deleted the drivers. After that and rebooting, my PC recognized it as Nuforce HDP automatically and it has played fine and been automatic since then. It sounds great to boot.
 
 
Quote:

Question to all HDP owners: When you plug the HDP on your computer does it read the device as HDP? On mine it says "USB Audio Device" which I thought it was kind of weird while it reads uDAC correctly.