Should the NuForce Be With Me?
April 17, 2009 1:55 PM Subscribe
Thinking of buying the NuForce Icon Desktop Amplifier. Opinions, direct experience, alternative recommendations welcome.
I have a relatively decent turntable as well as a CD player but the receiver I'm using as an amp is gigantic, old and takes up a ton of space (although it works perfectly). To save space but also to upgrade to better quality I was thinking of the NuForce.
I'm no audiophile but I can definitely tell when equipment is opening up a better experience of the music. The NuForce is designed for desktop listening with a PC but I'm planning on powering either a couple of bookshelf speakers or a couple of larger Pinnacle living room speakers.
If anyone has thoughts on an alternative piece of equipment that can meet my space needs but also match the kinds of reviews of quality I'm seeing about the NuForce - or if you think the NuForce is just a bad idea for what I want to do (overall living room listening, movies, turntable, CDs...basically have it power my entire set up) and you have other suggestions in the same price range, let's hear em.
Fire away with questions too and I'll update as much info as I can. Like I said I'm not an audiophile so I don't really even know what kind of info would help answer this question.
I have a relatively decent turntable as well as a CD player but the receiver I'm using as an amp is gigantic, old and takes up a ton of space (although it works perfectly). To save space but also to upgrade to better quality I was thinking of the NuForce.
I'm no audiophile but I can definitely tell when equipment is opening up a better experience of the music. The NuForce is designed for desktop listening with a PC but I'm planning on powering either a couple of bookshelf speakers or a couple of larger Pinnacle living room speakers.
If anyone has thoughts on an alternative piece of equipment that can meet my space needs but also match the kinds of reviews of quality I'm seeing about the NuForce - or if you think the NuForce is just a bad idea for what I want to do (overall living room listening, movies, turntable, CDs...basically have it power my entire set up) and you have other suggestions in the same price range, let's hear em.
Fire away with questions too and I'll update as much info as I can. Like I said I'm not an audiophile so I don't really even know what kind of info would help answer this question.
Dayton has the original T-amp in a new paintjob and the original price here. One important issue with either the T-amp or the one you've pointed out is that with 12-15W, and more practically 5-10 W, on the output you may not have enough power to drive less efficient speakers to high volume. This will probably not be a problem with desktop speakers or high efficiency audiophile types but probably will if you want to fill a larger room with standard home audio speakers. Jester's advice to look for a 'digital' or class D amp makes sense, preferably one with a little more power per channel. If you find one, it'll probably be a little less svelte than the one you're currently looking at but still smaller than the standard home stereo amp.
posted by monocyte at 7:45 PM on April 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by monocyte at 7:45 PM on April 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
That is the second gen, the original was $39 or so.
Check around but everyone seems to gush over the sound quality. The one you picture is too small to be anything but the same digital technology.
"class T" refers to digital chips made by tripath technology. I owned stock in this company, which is now completely worthless, delisted, $0.00 value garbage. That I will still say their product was good says something, but really any "class d" or digital amp should do almost as well.
posted by jester69 at 2:46 PM on April 17, 2009