NuForce - Icon - Integrated Desktop Amplifier (Red)

by NuForce

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6 x 4.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• ASIN: B0016EPS7E
• Item model number: iconred
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,069 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 23, 2008

Product Description

The NuForce Icon is an all-in-one desktop amplifier for speakers and headphones. It's a miniature integrated amplifier with a USB DAC and a built-in headphone amp. Icon isn't your typical amp for PCs. The audiophile-grade Icon is a 12-watt Integrated Desktop Audio Amplifier featuring two outputs, a 3.5-mm stereo input for connection to an iPod or other portable device, a USB input for operation with a PC or Mac, and standard RCA inputs. It gives you lots of flexibility and has incredibly capable. "The Icon is a 'Now I get it' product for people who think good-sounding audio is expensive and silly... I think I now know why the Icon has a capital I and the other iPod-inspired products don't: It deserves it," says Wes Phillips in Stereophile magazine. For the headphone enthusiast, the Icon also offers a high-performance headphone output. Of particular interest to the computer user, the Icon's line-out functions as a PC or Mac USB-to-analog audio converter or can also be used as a connection to a subwoofer. With the same patented technology that has won a string of prestigious awards, the tiny Icon brings NuForce¡'s celebrated sound quality to the music lover's desktop. As the core of a desktop audio system, the Icon connects to an Ipod, CD player, PC or Mac. To fully utilize the Icon's sonic capabilities, we recommend high-quality monitor speakers with a sensitivity of 87 dB or higher. Via the best, jitter-free USB technology, the Icon operates as a USB DAC for converting a PC or Mac's audio signal to high-quality analog sound. For optimal headphone performance, the Icon includes a discrete, high-performance headphone amplifier. For operation as an audiophile-grade preamplifier, the Icon's linestage can be connected to a power amp or active speakers. As a high-quality auxiliary power amp in a surround-sound setup, the Icon can be used to drive tweeters or rear-channel speakers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gift from the high-end audio manufacture, April 5, 2008

By 

Yoshihiro Sasaki - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NuForce - Icon - Integrated Desktop Amplifier (Red) (Electronics)

NuForce is a high-end digital amp manufacture and they are known for the high performance proprietary Class D amp technology.
I knew their product on several auditions, I had a high expectation on this so I jumped at this chance to get it. It is well rewarded.

First, I connected Icon with my PC via USB DAC and YAMAHA desktop speakers. The sound quality of Icon was very nice from just out of the box.
I thought the ability is beyond the desktop speakers. Finally I set it up with my best speaker Dynaudio twenty five special via LINN IKEMI.

I was amazed by the quality of bass reproduction. It's so rich and deep, I can not believe it from the tiny size of Icon-1. Lower register of the speaker is well controlled as expected from Nuforce reputation.
Second, I like musicality of the Icon. Icon is not sterile nor dry without loosing any virtue of the Class D amp. In fact, Icon sports a high resolution and low distortion.
I think the overall performance is far beyond the price.

As a bonus, Icon has a decent headphone amp. This is not a cheap trick, Icon employs a discrete circuit for the headphone amp. Again, the sound quality is very good, this is no mean feat for the headphone out of audio amps.

I highly recommend this to every audio fans from the beginner who use PC mainly as a source to the audiophile who want a second system.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great hub to the perfect little desktop system, May 13, 2008

By 

RT "gadget guy" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NuForce - Icon - Integrated Desktop Amplifier (Red) (Electronics)

I bought this Nuforce amp (Silver color) just because of the reputation of Nuforce for offering audiophile quality amps that have tremendous value. When Nuforce announced they would be coming out with a $249 desktop amp, I had to buy one just because I knew it would be good.

First, look at the thing, it is beautiful in its simplicity, housed in a nifty attractive aluminum enclosure with simple knobs, and even the packaging is top rate. The unit comes with a hard silicon-like stand to stand it vertically, decent quality (but very short) banana plug speaker cables with an odd RJ-45 connection, a USB cable, a wall-wart adapter with universal voltage, everything you need to get started.

This unit can serve several purposes:
- It has two line inputs to connect iPods or your computer to it. Both analog inputs are switchable using the lower front knob
- And it has a USB input so you can plug your computer into it and it acts as a soundcard with up to 16bit/48Khz sampling rate. You can select this using the lower knob at position number 3
- It has a low level line out so you can use this as a preamp to your powered speakers or subwoofer. The output is controlled by the volume (top) knob.
- It has RJ-45 jacks which you use with the included cables to plug into any normal bookshelf or floorspeaker. It has banana plugs on the other end. They recommend a speaker with a sensitivity rating of above 86dB@1m.

I tried every one of its functions and it's superb for what it costs.
The Digital amp is only rated at 12W per channel, but it's enough to power medium efficiency bookshelf speakers to fill a small 12x8 room with sound. I plugged in my $900/pr NHT Classic 3 speakers and the sound quality was solid, tuneful, with very good bass impact.

Next I tried the preamp plugged into my $1300 Dynaudio powered speakers. The preamp output is very high grade, there is no appreciable hissing on the output even when the volume know is at full (with no music).

The built-in DAC is a great convenience feature, although its sound quality doesn't compare to a good external DAC like a 0404 USB, it's far better than any HD on-board chipset sound that is prevalent on many motherboards. I find the sound quite natural, and smooth. It doesn't have the detail of a good high end DAC, but makes for a great alternative to buying a separate soundcard.

Then I tried my $350 AKG K701 and Denon D2000 headphones. The headphone amp is quite good. Not as refined as my $300 dedicated Headroom Micro amp, but way better than any laptop or computer headphone output jack I've heard. Again, very good considering its price. It would compete well to previous $100-150 headphone amps I had (like a Headroom Bithead)

The only two issues is the short proprietary speaker cable, but Nuforce sells longer ones if you want to buy it, and the pinouts are published on their website in case you want to make your own much longer ones. The reason they used this cable is because cable activates the amp's built in equalizer when paired with matching Nuforce S-1 speakers. And the other one is that amp makes a pop sound through the speakers when you first turn it on with the front knob, so I always turn it on, wait two seconds and then continue increasing the volume so the pop happens while the volume control is still low.

So for those who are looking to upgrade their computer audio, getting one of these, adding some $250 PSB B15 bookshelf speakers will get you a great desktop listening station.

5.0 out of 5 stars Little bugger, big punch, September 26, 2009

By 

Ryan P. Fell "Audio, electronics, and fun for... (Orlando, FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: NuForce - Icon - Integrated Desktop Amplifier (Red) (Electronics)

This neat-o little device is a big step for people who are learning just how good music can sound.

Suddenly, you can use the USB DAC and clean up the sound out of your PC considerably. Hook this up to a pair of bookshelf speakers, and you have a great little system for a room. Most importantly, the sounds coming out of it are clean, smooth, and much clearer than you can imagine if you've only ever spent your money on BOSE or your Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or Target soundsystems. It's night and day.

If you've got an iPod that you spent $250 on, you can hook it into this and instantly make it sound clearer.

I use this in my tiny little listening office upstairs, and his bass was hard to manage; a LOT of thump comes out of this thing when he's turned up. No distortion, just punch. When I finally wired this onto the right CD player, the sound was jaw-droppingly smooth and tight. I kid you not; I turned on a CD with a little extra bass on it to balance everything, and I wound up not leaving the room until the CD was over. I was hooked.

This is a stone bargain for someone who wants to really experience music and find out what he or she has been missing. Finding a good pair of bookshelf or powered speakers to pair with it (I'm looking at you, Audioengine A2 White (Pr) 2-way Powered Speaker System) could turn any little room, computer room, guest room, bedroom, etc. into a listening oasis. ESPECIALLY a must if you're thinking about getting a sturdy pair of can headphones for home listening (for example, Grado Prestige Series SR80i Stereo Headphone).