[tinseljim]

I'm a little confused.com,
 
The 6moons review states that the HDP is a good dac, better pre-amp, and best as headphone amp. Yet some people on other hdp threads say that they didn't rate the HDP's headphone amp but thought the dac was excellent! I think i'll go with the 6moons review for now...also it's worth mentioning that the HDP won a 6moons award! Realsization. 
 
In other news I'm really enjoying my Fidelity Triples IEMs which arrived recently (only had to wait a month from sending impressions to receiving them!). I needed to burn these in for at least 300 hours before they sounded good - before that they were about as good as apple earbuds (seriously!).  
 
Plugged into my cheap and cheerful Zero Dac (with HDAM) they sound great, full, and somewhat euphoric for such a cheap amp. But with the uDac they sound a bit bass-lite with a narrower soundstage (but with much improved imaging and separation).
 
So all that to ask: will the HDP widen the soundstage and help the bass be less polite?
 
Thanks in advance. 

 

[jasonl]

The comparison is relative amount the 3 components in Icon HDP. It is illogical to state that Icon HDP's headphone amp, DAC and preamp are all equally good. Read the beginning of the review where we disclosed new technical information that contributed to the performance.
 
Interesting that the review reaffirmed our design goal: HDP headphone amp should be the amount the best in the market at any price, follow closely by DAC and preamp.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

I'm a little confused.com,
 
The 6moons review states that the HDP is a good dac, better pre-amp, and best as headphone amp. Yet some people on other hdp threads say that they didn't rate the HDP's headphone amp but thought the dac was excellent! I think i'll go with the 6moons review for now...also it's worth mentioning that the HDP won a 6moons award! Realsization. 
 
In other news I'm really enjoying my Fidelity Triples IEMs which arrived recently (only had to wait a month from sending impressions to receiving them!). I needed to burn these in for at least 300 hours before they sounded good - before that they were about as good as apple earbuds (seriously!).  
 
Plugged into my cheap and cheerful Zero Dac (with HDAM) they sound great, full, and somewhat euphoric for such a cheap amp. But with the uDac they sound a bit bass-lite with a narrower soundstage (but with much improved imaging and separation).
 
So all that to ask: will the HDP widen the soundstage and help the bass be less polite?
 
Thanks in advance. 

Vs the uDAC the HDP bass impact will be better and the soundstage will become larger.  Most of my use with the HDP is as a headphone amp while I wait for my tube amps to warm up, and sometimes I don't bother firing up the tube amps.  But I think the DAC is still pretty good too.

 

[adsmithy]

In terms of the pre-amp & volume control how does this compare to Benchmark DAC1, Mytek DAC96 etc..

 

[busyx2]

Hi,
Anyone realize there is a new HDP review in Secrets?
 
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/digital-analog-converters/841?start=0

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Hi,


Anyone realize there is a new HDP review in Secrets?


 


http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/digital-analog-converters/841?start=0

That seems like a fair review too.

 

[Jodet]

Quote:

The comparison is relative amount the 3 components in Icon HDP. It is illogical to state that Icon HDP's headphone amp, DAC and preamp are all equally good. Read the beginning of the review where we disclosed new technical information that contributed to the performance.
 
Interesting that the review reaffirmed our design goal: HDP headphone amp should be the amount the best in the market at any price, follow closely by DAC and preamp.

Jason,
 
Would you say the pre-amp in the HDP is an improvement over the original Icon pre-amp? 

 

[Jodet]

Another question for Jason about the Home Hi Fidelity review: 
 
The reviewer says he has problems when connecting both the coax and optical inputs.  Apparently even when one device is turned off the Icon has problems with that. 
 
"The only issues I really ran into with the HDP is when I tried to feed it two digital signals (from the Touch and the Oppo) at the same time. Even if I tried to keep them both powered off when not in use, it seemed that sometimes the HDP would still be getting a signal from one of them, and so the other would not play when I powered it up, as there is only a single input choice for Digital on the front panel. For this reason I probably would not try to use the HDP in a system where I wanted to feed it with both the coaxial and optical inputs at the same time, but it was quite happy in a setup where being fed USB, analog, and one digital signal at once" 
 
I would like to plug a digital source (mini-disc) into the optical input and my cd player into the coax input.  I assumed that if only one device was active I would get that output if I selected the 'D' input on the HDP. 
 
But it sounds like you can have EITHER a coax OR an optical device plugged into the HDP.   Is this correct?  Thanks for any information.
 

 

[busyx2]

The optical 3.5mm input superceeds the coaxial input on the back, when set at "D".   So basically one can't select between coaxial and optical unless physically removing the optical 3.5mm every time to select D-Coaxial.

 

[Jodet]

Quote:

The optical 3.5mm input superceeds the coaxial input on the back, when set at "D".   So basically one can't select between coaxial and optical unless physically removing the optical 3.5mm every time to select D-Coaxial.

Thanks.  Nuforce must have a Japanese soul.  They apparently don't want to make anything too 'perfect' or it would tempt the fates.  Always some flaw.  The original Icon had that ridiculous (and way, way, overpriced 'speaker outlet box' if you wanted speaker cables more than 3 feet long.  The 'Icon Amp' has no sub output.  Now the HDP has two digital inputs, but you can only use one.
 
I like these products a lot, think they are quite innovative and a great value for the money.  I just wish Nuforce would think on them a bit more before they build them.
 
What do I want from an amp?  To use whatever length speaker cables I want.
What do I want from a basic amp?   To run a subwoofer with my speakers.
What do I want from an amp with two digital inputs?  To run two digital inputs.
 
This is not rocket science. 
 

 

[jasonl]

There are cost issues other than features. Sure, if we can build all the features in the world and sell it for $99 and still make a good margin, we will do it.
Comparing Icon HDP with other products on the market (see the 6moons.com review), you are getting tremendous value just for headphone amp alone. Space constrain (also affecting cost) is another issue. A bigger box implies new chassis platform, etc.
No product can satisfy every users.
 
Well, may be that's why we have the $1250 DAC-9 (releasing in late August) with lots of inputs: Coaxial x 2 (RCA + BNC), Optical x 2, AES/EBU x 1,
USB and both RCA and XLR outputs. It is our answer to super high-end DAC.
 
Having line out on Icon Amp is a good idea. It was designed just as a simple stereo amp so we never thought of that.

 

[Jodet]

Quote:

Having line out on Icon Amp is a good idea. It was designed just as a simple stereo amp so we never thought of that.

 
Wow.   

 

[Sid-Fi]

Has anyone tried Sennheiser IE8s with the Nuforce HDP that could comment on their synergy and sound quality in general?

 

[Ypoknons]

I'd be more worried about the volume pot and channel imbalance. 

 

[tennisplyr3]

Quote:

I'd be more worried about the volume pot and channel imbalance. 

The nice part is that there's only channel imbalance between 8:45-9:00 on my HDP. I usually listen anywhere from 9:30-11:00, depending on the recording. I can always reduce the volume on my media player (winamp/foobar) and increase the volume on the HDP if that ever happens. I do need a 75 ohm adapter for my more sensitive RE0 IEMs though -- I can hear a low level hum.