I got one about two weeks ago, planning to pair it with an AKG K702. I've been trying to burn it in, and while it sounds better than it did the day I got it, certain quirks wouldn't go away. The bass was really light, certain frequencies were fatiguing, and there was a noticeably uncomfortable amount of sibilance. I had been using the 3.5 -> 6.3 adapter included with my K702. On a whim, I switched to the one included with the Icon HDP, and those quirks seem to have dissolved. There's more bass, the sibilance is tamed, and it's not fatiguing. Is this even possible, or is it possibly just the placebo effect?
I don't know about the adapter, but I really hate the HDP + K701 combo. The HDP is simply a bad device, and a K701 which is very transparent shows that. DAC inside the HDP is horrible to say the least, its inferior in sound quality to a good motherboard integrated Realtek HD chip, and switching from HDP to a Asus Essence ST soundcard is a night and day sonic improvement. Considering the HDP costs 3 times more, its a rip off of the century for such a POS device. The only people who like it are those who never heard anything half decent before buying it, or love a bassless, muddy, very harsh and bright sound with less musicality than an average cell phone speaker and a soundstage so small the sound seems stuck in your head even with K701 which have a huge soundstage when used with almost anything else.
Wow, thats funny, I have the ASUS Essence ST, the HDP, the Music Streamer II among others and with my HD-650's, HD-598's, AH-D5000's and ATH-M50's I cant tell much difference at all aside from very subtle. I think you have a bad HDP. Good DACs like these three shouldnt sound any different than one another as a good DAC should be transparent, so you shouldnt heard much difference between them.
I don't know about the adapter, but I really hate the HDP + K701 combo. The HDP is simply a bad device, and a K701 which is very transparent shows that. DAC inside the HDP is horrible to say the least, its inferior in sound quality to a good motherboard integrated Realtek HD chip, and switching from HDP to a Asus Essence ST soundcard is a night and day sonic improvement. Considering the HDP costs 3 times more, its a rip off of the century for such a POS device. The only people who like it are those who never heard anything half decent before buying it, or love a bassless, muddy, very harsh and bright sound with less musicality than an average cell phone speaker and a soundstage so small the sound seems stuck in your head even with K701 which have a huge soundstage when used with almost anything else.
Hi! I wonder if you have a bad icon HDP. I am using this device sometimes as DAC/pre-amp and sometimes in its full capacity with various Sennheiser, Yamaha and Ultrasone Headphones. And yes, I heard a lot of decent DACs and amps. But I must admit I am using the optical input all the time, not the USB. Anyhow, compared to a few other DACs I couldn't find any flaw in it and far from what you describe, muddy? harsh? not at all. So far the most owners seem to be very happy with it's performance.
Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask this -- I have a basically new HDP I'm trying to sell on eBay (ended up getting an integrated amp since I also needed to power speakers) and I have NO idea how to price it. Could the people on the forum who've bought it used give me some recommendations on a fair price?
Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask this -- I have a basically new HDP I'm trying to sell on eBay (ended up getting an integrated amp since I also needed to power speakers) and I have NO idea how to price it. Could the people on the forum who've bought it used give me some recommendations on a fair price?
I bought mine brand new for $340. A quick completed listings search on eBay show that they sell for under $300 used. Figure youll pay 12% in ebay and paypal fees on that too and all that should give yo an idea.
Hey, maybe one of you that have Nuforce Icon HDP can help me with this.
So, I recently acquired a pair of HD650s and since years ago I have a stereo setup with an amplifier and a 2.0 stereo setup. The thing is that my amplifier doesn't have a headphone out so I think I would need an headphone amplifier. The solution I was thinking of is this: I plug a Nuforce Icon HDP into my computer via USB, then I plug the Nuforce Icon HDP into my amplifier via Analog OUT, this way I can listen to the headphones without having the amplifier on all the time when listening from the computer. And when I want to play on the 2.0 system I simply turn the amplifier on and leave the Nuforce running also. And then, to be able to play let's say PS3 with headphones (which I have plugged in with one of the ANALOG IN on my stereo amplifier), I would have a connection from REC or PRE OUT to my ICON HDP. (See the picture below) Does this solution work and does it seem like a good solution to you guys, or is it over complicating things? /Alex.
Hey, maybe one of you that have Nuforce Icon HDP can help me with this.
So, I recently acquired a pair of HD650s and since years ago I have a stereo setup with an amplifier and a 2.0 stereo setup. The thing is that my amplifier doesn't have a headphone out so I think I would need an headphone amplifier. The solution I was thinking of is this: I plug a Nuforce Icon HDP into my computer via USB, then I plug the Nuforce Icon HDP into my amplifier via Analog OUT, this way I can listen to the headphones without having the amplifier on all the time when listening from the computer. And when I want to play on the 2.0 system I simply turn the amplifier on and leave the Nuforce running also. And then, to be able to play let's say PS3 with headphones (which I have plugged in with one of the ANALOG IN on my stereo amplifier), I would have a connection from REC or PRE OUT to my ICON HDP. (See the picture below) Does this solution work and does it seem like a good solution to you guys, or is it over complicating things? /Alex.
Sure, it can work, but has a few catches. The HDP will only output from its analog outs when there is no heaphones plugged into the headphone out. Other than that everything else should be easy enough to figure out.
You could also plug the PS3 directly into the HDP if that's the only analog source you're going to be using with headphones.
You will be using both preamps when you output the analog signal of the HDP into an analog amp input - your amp has no main-in. Setting the gain control to about 75% on the HDP will mimic a line level signal (2Vrms).
You could also save some dough by purchasing the Icon DAC instead of the HDP.
Ok I will play it cool and see when Icon DAC get's added to my store. What seems to be the difference between Icon DAC and HDP (it's seems cheaper)? No preamp?
Icon DAC and Icon HDP shares the same chassis as in several models in this line. But they have completely different design.
Icon DAC headphone amp is seriously powerful, same power as some pure class A headphone amp.
Icon DAC also support USB audio for Android 4.1 and above with OTG feature (just about all the new Android devices should support it, see the list on our website), PC and Mac.
Icon HDP is a more general purpose high performance preamp, headphone amp and DAC.
Icon DAC is a designed to support Android where HDP can't.
Basically if you do not need the SPDIF or preamp feature, definitely get the Icon DAC. It is really good.
Typical setup for Icon DAC:
1. A high-end CD player with built-in DAC but need a powerful headphone amp - connect to analog input
2. Whether your music is stored on Android device or computer, Icon DAC async USB is the idea input. This powerful DAC will not go obsolete for a long time.
I have an urgent question to ask... I ordered a DAC that I think I might not need at all.
The USB part of my HDP doesn't work (the circuit went out due to voltage changes). However, the rest of the knobs (Digital and Analog) work. Currently, I am connecting the AUX cable to the HDP as an amplifer.
The QUESTION is: I put the HDP knob to Analog, I know the headphone is getting amplified, but is it also using its DAC feature? Or is it just purely amplifying it without using the DAC feature within the HDP?
Could someone please help me out... I would be truly grateful because there's around $100 at stake.
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