Icon HDP Black Open Bos High Performance Headphone Amp, DAC and Pre amplifier

As an audiophile and being exposed to different systems over the last 20 years, I wanted simplicity, and what better way to listen to music than by hooking up your headphone directly to a laptop. Unfortunately the built in sound card of the laptop is really terrible and unbearable. The problem with using high end hi-fi equipments is that you have to connect different kind of equipments to the chain. Mixing and matching is very critical, cause if the speaker cables, interconnects, power amp, preamp, plus cd player and speakers are working well together, then your output sound will be very poor and disappointing, not to mention sterile and unnatural. Some people like overblown bass with warm midrange and shiny highs. Well What I prefer is a very neutral sound without any coloration or distortion. I like laid back character with a deep tight rounded punchy bass, without any exaggeration. Well different equipments have different sounds. Some try to impose their own signature character which makes them sound very colored, but colored doesn't mean bad. I just like to listen to things the way they are intended to be and mastered in a studio, which leads us to the nuforce hdp. The sound is so realistic, with instruments floating everywhere in an open space. No matter what kind of music genre you play on it, it will gracefully produce the sound in ease with a wide open soundstage. The bass is tight, the mids are natural and the highs are sweet. This is a very analogue sounding device. All the digital harshness and grain you hear from your laptop, doesn't exist hear anymore. The sound is very clean and open with air between and around instruments. Details and sounds that were masked before, exist now for the very first time. Notes and instruments can be picked up easily now with hologram and 3D effect. You feel you are there with the clapping of audience and the lips movement of the singer and everything else is distributed around the singer from back to front and left to right. This is one of those best kept secrets out there, as for the price, it will go head to head with much more expensive dacs.I'm using klipsch image x10 which is an in-ear headphone. It's a very revealing headphone. If there is any problem in the recording, the klipsch immediately picks it up, as most high end headphones do. I do suggest a break in period between 150 - 300 hrs to enjoy the full potential of the hdp. Straight out of the box it sounds very harsh and shut in. Just let the signal run fully loaded everyday for 5 hrs at least and after a few weeks you'll get there. Never ever judge any equipment; especially high end ones till they are fully broken in. Break in does magic to the sound and perform miracles more than you would expect. Unfortunately, most people are not patient enough and they end up returning their equipments before their break in period is even over, I know I'm not a patient person myself, but it's very interesting to listen to any equipment during the break in period, as your system will go thru many changes till the sound becomes stable. Remember, you only have to go thru this once straight out of the box, and I would suggest for you to be patient before any proper listening session evaluation. I have to be honest and say that I haven't listened to a lot of other equipments out there, but remember, you are getting different features including a dac, headphone amp and preamp all three in a single chaises. For those of you who love music and want the joy of listening in a whole new level, then I would suggest that you give the hdp a test run before finalizing your purchase cause for the price; I don't think you can do any better.

I bought this DAC due to its compact design for my travel use. And while I'm home I don't use it frequently. Fast forward, 7 years later, I decided to use it again since the sound quality of the laptop is garbage. It still works flawlessly. I think the cost was a little high at the time around $450. Thus I gave it 4 stars.

Prior to receiving the Icon HDP, I auditioned two other headphone amps: the Bellari HA540 tube amp and HeadAmp Pico DAC/Amp...both in the same price range as the NuForce.The Bellari, after sufficient break-in time (for those who believe in this) and tube-swapping, sounded just "ok" with my 650s, though the mid-range had a "sucked-in" effect, something these Sennheisers do not suffer from, quite the opposite! The highs were sufficient and bass was mediocre (I listen to classical and jazz), compared with what I've heard from my headphones when plugged directly into my old Creek 5350SE integrated amp, which was getting impractical to have next to my bed as I do most of my headphone listening at night. The Bellari was also not very quiet, with intermittent pops and hissing. Also a very narrow sound stage. Back it went!Next, I tried HeadAmp Pico which didn't exhibit the problems of the Bellari amp. It was quite good, with great balance throughout the sound spectrum and very decent sound stage. I thought I'd found the ideal solution within my price range, but I kept reading a number of glowing reviews about the NuForce Icon HDP. I thought I owed it to myself to try "just one more" headphone amp before settling in and enjoying my HD-650s, sans the Creek.Well, right out of the box, I was blown away by what I heard! Everything the HeadAmp Pico did, the HDP did better! The amp virtually "disappeared" - I became totally immersed in the music! Starting with Steely Dan's "Gaucho" SACD, the HDP revealed the bass with exceptional richness without any temporal distortion. The drums had visceral impact that blew me away - and the vocals had presence and solidity I'd never experienced with the 650s! On to classical music, an RCA CD with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. What a stunningly "big" sound, exactly as it should be! Every instrument was in place, the violins were so much sweeter than with the HeadAmp, which made them sound grainy, something the HD-650s can never be accused of. Once again, the NuForce "disappeared" - I was enveloped in the music as I've never been in the 4 years I've had these headphones!All this from a such a diminutive unit! Physically, the NuForce is beautifully machined with a nice "heft" to it. The volume control is smooth and responsively sensitive, I never had to turn it past the 9 o'clock position (with the off position being 6 o'clock). The amp is way more than sufficient to drive the Sennheisers. Especially when, by comparison, the HeadAmp seemed to "strain" (if that's the right term) on louder passages. But as I said, only when compared with the HDP.I could go on and on about how much I'm in love with this headphone amp after almost 3 months of endless musical pleasure, but everyone on this Amazon page has already said it - and much better than I have. Suffice it to say, if you're in the market for a headphone amp tons of flexibility and sublime sound, I highly recommend you put the NuForce Icon HDP on your "must-hear" list!