[Dohara]

The AKG K272 HD is indeed a great match. Now i have it.
Also thinking about buying a set of monitor speakers.
 
Can i send the signal from the HDP's pre-out to a Mackie MR5 ?
specs:
http://www.mackie.com/products/mrseries/index.html

 

[kite7]

Yes of course
 
Quote:

The AKG K272 HD is indeed a great match. Now i have it.
Also thinking about buying a set of monitor speakers.
 
Can i send the signal from the HDP's pre-out to a Mackie MR5 ?
specs:
http://www.mackie.com/products/mrseries/index.html

 

[sling5s]

 quote from HeadphoneAddict review:
UPGRADED 45 WATT PSU NEWS - I've spent a while with the larger 45 watt PSU and I have to say the smaller stock PSU seems to be a little more neutral sounding and more properly balanced in frequency response, while the larger more powerful PSU adds a noticeable bump in the treble and a maybe small bump in the bass or a small dip in the mids relative to the bass.
 
 email from nuforce
Power supply provides a very "healthy" 42 watts of available power.  Although not necessary for use with the Icon HDP, most users will notice a quieter background  noise level and a more natural musical presentation.
 
Seems like two different opinions.
My question is:
 HeadphoneAddict, does the 45 Watt PSU provide more power to drive headphones like akg k702? And does it increase soundstage?  I'm not sure if I want the bump in treble but power and soundstage might be welcomed.
 
Thanks

 

[sling5s]

HeadphoneAddict:
How does your 80 watt Radio Shack regulated power supply compare to stock? 
And how much is it at Radio Shack?  Do they still have them?
 
thank you

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

 
[size=medium]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sling5s /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 quote from HeadphoneAddict review:
UPGRADED 45 WATT PSU NEWS - I've spent a while with the larger 45 watt PSU and I have to say the smaller stock PSU seems to be a little more neutral sounding and more properly balanced in frequency response, while the larger more powerful PSU adds a noticeable bump in the treble and a maybe small bump in the bass or a small dip in the mids relative to the bass.
 
 email from nuforce
Power supply provides a very "healthy" 42 watts of available power.  Although not necessary for use with the Icon HDP, most users will notice a quieter background  noise level and a more natural musical presentation.
 
Seems like two different opinions.
My question is:
 HeadphoneAddict, does the 45 Watt PSU provide more power to drive headphones like akg k702? And does it increase soundstage?  I'm not sure if I want the bump in treble but power and soundstage might be welcomed.
 
Thanks

 
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by sling5s /img/forum/go_quote.gif

HeadphoneAddict:
How does your 80 watt Radio Shack regulated power supply compare to stock? 
And how much is it at Radio Shack?  Do they still have them?
 
thank you

It's been too long since I've tried them to properly answer all those questions, but when using the HDP I preferred the stock PSU over the upgraded Nuforce PSU.  I'll have to try the 80 watt RadioShack PSU again sometime, to comment on that.  I seem to recall the main improvement was in a smoother sound and blacker background, but little effect on power output.  I think I paid $89 for the PSU at the time.  I saved the link for the PSU, but the item number is no longer valid. 
 
I do like the bigger Nuforce PSU on the Icon desktop integrated amp, especially when driving speakers, which seems to give cleaner more open sound, although I can't say I've tried to judge whether max power output has increased or not.
​

[/size]

 

[Dohara]

"I do like the bigger Nuforce PSU on the Icon desktop integrated amp, especially when driving speakers"
 
HeadphoneAddict, which speakers do you drive with the integrated amp?

 

[epocs]

I am curious how the LCD2 do with the HDP in comparison to the WA6.
 
There have been comparisons saying that the WA6 is preferred by some over the Concerto for the LCD2, and I don't know if I could justify paying the extra money for something like the WA6 or Concerto if i have this awesome little dac amp in the house.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

"I do like the bigger Nuforce PSU on the Icon desktop integrated amp, especially when driving speakers"
 
HeadphoneAddict, which speakers do you drive with the integrated amp?

I was (past tense) using a pair of my Velodyne Decco Satellites with a powered subwoofer, but now my son uses the Icon to drive with Woo WEE electrostatic headphone transformer, with the preamp out running a pair of powered Audioengine A5.  I moved the Decco speakers back into my 5.1 system.
 
Quote:

I am curious how the LCD2 do with the HDP in comparison to the WA6.
 
There have been comparisons saying that the WA6 is preferred by some over the Concerto for the LCD2, and I don't know if I could justify paying the extra money for something like the WA6 or Concerto if i have this awesome little dac amp in the house.

The HDP does well with the LCD-2, and it's very slightly aggressive nature is complimented nicely by the laid back sound of the LCD-2 (similar to the synergy with HE-5 LE and HD600).

 

[steveotron]

Hi guys,
 
I know that this is a noob question and could go in the computer audio section, but I just wanted to make sure my NuForce HD is setup correctly on my computer (using Audio Midi Setup):
 
http://i53.tinypic.com/wi0dnn.jpg
 
I'm fairly certain that all my files at 16/44, but the USB connection on the HD goes up to 24/96, so I figured I would just set it up that way. There shouldn't be any effect on my 16/44 files, right?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Hi guys,
 
I know that this is a noob question and could go in the computer audio section, but I just wanted to make sure my NuForce HD is setup correctly on my computer (using Audio Midi Setup):
 
http://i53.tinypic.com/wi0dnn.jpg
 
I'm fairly certain that all my files at 16/44, but the USB connection on the HD goes up to 24/96, so I figured I would just set it up that way. There shouldn't be any effect on my 16/44 files, right?

That is how I have mine set up, and it will work fine with 16/44 and 24/96 music files.

 

[knuty]

Would a Nuforce Icon HD work straight from the box with USB on a Windows XP laptop? Anything else I would have to do first?
 
I want it to control all sound on my computer: games, youtube, spotify, mp3s, flacs ++.

 

[gPope]

Quote:

Would a Nuforce Icon HD work straight from the box with USB on a Windows XP laptop? Anything else I would have to do first?  I want it to control all sound on my computer: games, youtube, spotify, mp3s, flacs ++.

 
Yes, although I have Windows 7, mine is setup just like that.  True plug and play too.  Cannot imagine why it would be different with XP.
 

 

[epocs]

Thanks for that HPA.
 
I'm currently using the LCD-2 with the HDP and am pretty happy but haven't had the opportunity to try these cans out with higher end amps.

is the LCD-2 easy enough to drive that the difference it makes while scaling up to higher end amps might not be as worth it than with other headphones (such as the hd800).
 
Just trying to decide if adding another dedicated amplifier to this setup is even worth the extra cost when the LCD2 might be getting a very good performance with the HDP relative to amplifiers costing double or triple the price.

I am curious how the LCD2 do with the HDP in comparison to the WA6.
 
There have been comparisons saying that the WA6 is preferred by some over the Concerto for the LCD2, and I don't know if I could justify paying the extra money for something like the WA6 or Concerto if i have this awesome little dac amp in the house.

The HDP does well with the LCD-2, and it's very slightly aggressive nature is complimented nicely by the laid back sound of the LCD-2 (similar to the synergy with HE-5 LE and HD600).

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Thanks for that HPA.
 
I'm currently using the LCD-2 with the HDP and am pretty happy but haven't had the opportunity to try these cans out with higher end amps.

is the LCD-2 easy enough to drive that the difference it makes while scaling up to higher end amps might not be as worth it than with other headphones (such as the hd800).
 
Just trying to decide if adding another dedicated amplifier to this setup is even worth the extra cost when the LCD2 might be getting a very good performance with the HDP relative to amplifiers costing double or triple the price.

I am curious how the LCD2 do with the HDP in comparison to the WA6.
 
There have been comparisons saying that the WA6 is preferred by some over the Concerto for the LCD2, and I don't know if I could justify paying the extra money for something like the WA6 or Concerto if i have this awesome little dac amp in the house.

The HDP does well with the LCD-2, and it's very slightly aggressive nature is complimented nicely by the laid back sound of the LCD-2 (similar to the synergy with HE-5 LE and HD600).

 

I would probably just use it the way you have it for now, as long as you like it.  I get a little better sound with LCD-2 from my maxed WA6 with upgraded tubes, but it cost $1200 for everything without a DAC, and doesn't hit quite as hard as the HDP does when rocking out.

 

[dj nellie]

That's a very helpful comment, thanks HPA.  It pretty much answers the PM that I sent you.  I'm kind of in a similar boat as epocs, I'm wondering whether the HDP would be a better amp for my Lavry DA10 DAC and my LCD-2 than the RSA SR71b with a balanced cable.  If I choose to go SE, I'm wondering if there are any other amps in the same price range as the HDP that are clearly better, since I don't need the DAC or pre-amp.  I'm thinking that there isn't, especially when form factor is taken into consideration--I want something compact and discrete.
 
So I guess it comes down to which amp matches better with the LCD-2:  The HDP or the SR71b? 
 
I was excited to hear that Nuforce had just released a pared-down version of the HDP, but then I figured out that it doesn't have the analog inputs that I need to feed it from my DAC.  I would be very interested if Nuforce released an amp-only version of the HDP, with analog (RCA) inputs.  I would definitely pay the asking price of the HD for that.
 
Jason, are there any plans to make this kind of a simple amp version of the HDP?