Old thread... brought back to life.I figured it out! We're dealing with three different volume controls and trying to get the best sound out of the Icon. I've got the Icon HD, not the HDP. So here's what I've done on my Windows 7 system:
1. Set the media player's volume to max, turn OFF any FX or EQ.
2. Set the device volume (right-click the speaker volume and select 'playback devices', open the properties for the NuForce Icon, go the the 'levels' tab and slide the levels slider) way down... like 10% to start off
3. Turn on the Icon to 9 o'clock, when the device is standing vertically
Now turn up the device volume (step 2) 'til everything is clear sounding. It should still be pretty quiet. Now, turn the Icon up to 11 o'clock and fine-tune the device volume (step 2) from there, erring on the low-side. Now only adjust volume on the Icon from here on out and let the music play!
Everything sounds awesome once you're up around 11 o'clock. I know people complain about how low the volume is and that you shouldn't mess with the computer volume, but I completely disagree. The NuForce Icon HD sounds substantially better when the knob is anywhere past 10 o'clock. Besides, moving the volume slider on the system sounds better to me than moving the volume slider in the media player (WMP, in this case).
So the summary of my experience is that AKG K171's and a NuForce Icon HD sound phenominal together. A match made in heaven. Before hearing things through the NuForce Icon HD, I didn't think the AKG K171's could sound really, really good.