Icon iDo Reviews
Steve Guttenberg, the audiophiliac (Icon iDo)
"...My Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones seemed to like the iDo, with my old Bob Marley albums. The clarity and detail were exceptional, the bass wasn't boomy or thick, and every note was clear. I quickly compared the sound of the iDo with the iPod directly driving the headphones. Big difference, the iPod squashed the music dynamics, and the iDo restored them. The difference must be attributed to the iDo's superior digital-to-analog converter and more powerful headphone amplifier...
...Bass seemed more potent, but it was the iDo's improved transparency that really made the difference. I also tried the iDo with my Monster Turbine Pro Gold in-ear headphones with Jakob Dylan's "Women and Country" album. This recording has a ton of bass, vocals sounded more natural, and the treble detailing improved with the iDo...In any case, the iDo's bass punch was excellent, and the Turbine Gold sounded like an even better headphone than I thought it was..."
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Michael Berk, Sound and Vision Magazine (Icon iDo)
"...which is perhaps the most complete of these officially endorsed iOS DACs, although it's the least portable...
...the iDo is a fine-sounding headphone amp; output impedance is given as a very reasonable 5 Ohms, and it supplied plenty of power to drive whatever headphones we had on hand, including our reference HiFiMan HE-500s ($699, hifiman.us)...it'd make a good pairing with any of the new generation of small powered monitors, but it'd sit nicely (or unobstrusively) alongside your high-end gear as well...
...the 30-pin connector directly actually makes it a lot more convenient than any Camera Connector Kit solution, and if you're the sort of person who forgets to charge your devices at night, you'll appreciate the fact that the iDo does the work for you while your're listening. And the sound quality is noticeably better than the iPad's onboard output jack..."
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Steve Guttenberg, Inner Fidelity (Icon iDo)
"...Even with the super efficient JH-13 in-ears the iDo was dead quiet, and added absolutely no noise or hiss. The iDo worked its magic with most of the headphones... made most of the headphones sound like better, more expensive headphones...had a leaner tonal balance, but it seemed to have better resolution of fine detail than the DACport...iDo does a lot of stuff right: it sounds sweet, takes up precious little desktop real estate..."
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Icon uDAC-2 Reviews
Greg May, TrulyGadget.com (Icon uDAC-2)
“…improve your listening experience…we definitely appreciated the build quality – components felt sturdy and the casing was sleek…strongly recommend that audiophiles take a look. It blows away your onboard sound card…it’s handy at parties and even at the office. The uDAC-2 won’t smooth over defects in your music,- it can accentuate them in fact….if you need a fairly capable and ultra-portable DAC, look no further…”Read Full Review
Jackie Liu, everythingusb.com (Icon uDAC-2)
"...systems such as laptops and brand name desktops cannot be upgraded with an aftermarket sound card (at least without voiding warranty for the latter). Nuforce has long been part of the solution with their uDAC line of USB digital-analogue converters (DAC)....
...From the uDAC-2, the SRH840 sounded rich and blooming with detail...The highs came out with sparkling detail...The mids also felt full and very smooth, which brings out fantastic vocals. Finally, the bass was excellent, with plenty of punch and good extension.
...Throughout this review, I struggled to find faults on the uDAC-2 that are relevant to the average consumer ...The build quality was superb, and the sound quality was even better."Read Full Review
Bill Henderson, The Gadgeteer (Icon uDAC-2)
"...While the uDAC-2 comes with specs any audio geek would love, it really comes down to the sound quality. Just ask yourself: With the uDAC-2, is the audio improved? Yes. Is it richer? Yes. Is it less distorted? Yes. Is it all worth it? Heck, yes." Read Full Review
Tom Martin, Playback (Icon uDAC-2)
"...The beauty of the uDAC-2 is its blend of clarity and instrumental separation. Each instrument sounds clear, yet not in a forced, painful, or artificial way. Instead, the uDAC-2’s clarity is the real deal, especially when you stop to think about how live music actually sounds. You can hear each member of a band quite distinctly and you hear the details of their instruments even as they decay to low levels. Once you’ve heard delineation like this, you start to notice the smeared, slightly foggy sound of other competing products...." Read Full Review
Jeff Giles, Popdose.com (Icon uDAC-2)
"...After doing an A/B comparison between my unassisted sound card and the uDAC-2, I heard an immediate, noticeable difference...what ends up hitting your ears is what feels like an expanded field, where treble and bass actually have a little room to play instead of being crushed together and squeezed out of a digital tube. It helps cut down on ear fatigue, which is another way of saying I wish I could marry the uDAC-2....." Read Full Review
ViciousXUSMC, forum.notebookreview.com (uDAC-2)
"I will never at this point be plugging my headphones into the headphone jack on my laptop ever again. The uDAC-2 has earned a permanent home in my laptop bag along side my Triple.Fi 10's. I loved how everthing sounded so much better, it didnt matter what kind of music it was, if it was a game, a movie. Everything was better and not just a bit, it was substantially better." Read Full Review
The New York Times Technology Podcast (uDAC-2)
"...the sound quality is really really exceptionally good..."
http://podcasts.nytimes.com/podcasts/2010/09/08/09techtalk.mp3 (14:09)
Icon HDP Reviews
Anthony Clarke, theage.com.au (Icon HDP)
"...Specialist hi-fi retailers offer various solutions to let you throw it away, such as the small but potent Nuforce Icon HDP, a device that will take music files straight from your computer in uncompressed or compressed formats and turn them into a full-frequency, high-fidelity experience...All digital files have to be converted to analog to be heard via loudspeakers or headphones and the Nuforce is a pre-amplifier that boasts a digital-to-analog converter superior to that found in most computers or CD players. It can be connected to your computer via USB and used to produce an analog signal perfect for high-end headphones. Or, with your computer laptop attached, it will connect via standard RCA jacks to a conventional stereo amplifier for listening using your own system...The Nuforce Icon HDP retails for less than $700 but the audio experience is beyond price..."
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Jon Gaffney, GearPatrol.com (Icon HDP)
“The Icon HDP from NuForce is one of our favorite DAC enabled amps on the market…is actually and Amp, DAC, and a preamp allowing it clean up your mp3's and pump them out sounding better than ever. It’s also blessed to look like an offspring of Apple’s design department, allowing it to meld perfectly with your aluminum and glass office motif…make us feel like we’d just stepped into the recording studio with our favorite artists. Everything sounded more organic and 3D, layers you hadn’t known were there became vibrant. Having our friends try it out was always a treat as their eyes went wide and an invariable “wow” was uttered...”Read Full Review
techradar.com (Icon HDP)
"...the HDP is amongst the best-sounding DACs below £350...Against the DacMagic, the Icon HDP is more dynamic with increased bass depth and a more enveloping sound...As a DAC, the enveloping sound stage, dynamic clout and excellent separation ensure the HDP is up with the best. Dedicated DACs do little better. The similarly involving headphone amp and pre-amp are simply the icing on the cake. As desktop PC audio goes, this is as good as it gets..."Read Full Review
Gary Galo, audioXpress (Icon HDP)
"...NuForce offers superior measured performance. The measurements speak well for NuForce’s digital design expertise…My first reaction to the sound was how punchy and dynamic it was, especially for something so small, with necessarily basic internal power supplies. The bass was especially impressive...
...The NuForce Icon HDP is a remarkable device, combining three fine products— DAC, preamp, and headphone amp—into one compact enclosure. The USB input makes it ideal for a computer audio installation…It’s hard to imagine an audiophile who couldn’t find a use for one of these high value products..."Read Full Review
Chris Heinonen, SECRETS of Home Theater and High Fidelity (Icon HDP)
...The original NuForce Icon was a very nice, compact unit that served as an introduction to USB DAC's for me. As my headphones improved, and I acquired more 24/96 audio tracks, I started to see some limitations for it in my system, and the HDP version has come along to take care of all of those issues. With a DAC that offers better quality that $500+ players out there, and a headphone amp that was able to drive a difficult load, the HDP comes out as a fantastic bargain in my opinion..." Read Full Review
Tom Martin, avguide.com (Icon HDP)
Ratings (compared to similarly-priced headphone amp/DACs):
"...The HDP’s standout characteristic is what we normally call instrumental separation, by which we mean that you can hear each member of an ensemble or band quite clearly and distinctly...many competing amps have a certain smearing effect on the sound. While this smearing can lend a false sense of coherence to the music, it is a form of noise or distortion." Read Full Review
Srajan Ebaen, 6moons.com (Icon HDP)
The crown jewel in the NuForce Icon range perfectly fits our definition of a realsization component. The crown-jewel application for the HDP is as headphone amplifier where it competes directly against acknowledged greats and drives anything you might throw at it. That it costs less than many of them but includes multiple inputs, a pre-out and a USB DAC goes those extra miles deep into Realsization turf as an aggressive recession buster and talented multi tasker. Really well done!. Read Full Review
HiFi World (Icon HDP)
".., this is very well specified, well made and interesting product. It packs a lot of very usable features into a small space and will win many friends due to its combination of practicality and performance..."
Icon HDP
Icon Amp Reviews
Ben, The Newtown Nerd, blog.gartonhill.com (Icon Amp, first generation)
"...it’s just brilliant. I have plugged it into my 10 year old Krix Brix bookshelf speakers and they have never been driven like this before. No need for a subwoofer, the bass is fantastic and the high end is audible for the first time. At volume set to 1 o’clock, the sound is about comfortable listening level about 1 meter from my speakers. Set it to 3 o’clock or 4 o’clock and sound comes alive – clarity I have never heard before. On the headphone front the device performs admirably but I think I may have to upgrade from my Sennheiser CX300s to really appreciate it...
...All in all an excellent and much worthwhile upgrade to any desktop audio system – especially if you already have some good high sensitivity speakers and are looking for something to drive them..."Read Full Review
Icon-2 Reviews
Camillo Pfeil, imaedia.de (Icon-2)
“…the processing of the Icon-2 is flawless, it is an excellent product... It (Icon 2) has the finest details and nuances which give listeners an unexpected wonderfully listening experience…it works well with high quality speakers, such as the Amphion Helium 410 or 101…what also amazing is the non-existent noise floor, which is often a fault from many other amplifiers. Just turn the knob, you will hear no noise there, not a single one…
…The headphone output runs smoothly to my laptop which is really fine ...This is a true masterpiece of engineering that we recommend…Icon-2 worths more than its actual price, it costs just as small as the device itself…”
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Non English Language Reviews
Bernhard Rietschel, Audio Magazin (Germany)(Icon HDP). Read Full Review
Christian Rechenbach, Eins Null Magazin (Germany)(Icon HDP). Read Full Review
Amazon.com Online Customer Reviews
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