The consumer conclusion
The Icon/S-1 system is the finest embodiment of consumerism of its kind. With a full array of standard accessories and thoughtful optional add-ons, it skillfully places desirability above necessity in the shopper's mind. Even with the standard accessories, the system is fully functional and commendable. It is designed for desktop applications and its mission is to educate consumers that good audio is attainable for every household. When Creative Labs and Logitech are offering 2.0 stereo speakers below $50 but the Icon/S-1 combo wants $500, attainability and desirability become highly subjective of course. For desktop audio, $500 is not inexpensive. But if you try to cut corners and hope that the cheaper alternatives offered by Creative Labs, Logitech, Altec Lansing or JBL will do the job, go ahead. I've been down that road over the years trying to identify an inexpensive 2.1 desktop solution for my daughter. As I reported in my JohnBlue JB3 review, we ended up much happier with a $150 JVC mini combo that sounded more musical than any of those gaming kiddie audios. For the Icon, musical is the operative word. If you desire soothing music more than a sonic body massage, the Icon/S-1 fulfills the definition of consumerism by equating personal happiness with a $500 purchase. My only gripe is the lack of bass, which the quick minds at NuForce are going to address with their own subwoofer before year's end. Until then, the $30 Altec Lansing XB3001 is a good interim stand-in. As for my younger friends who have already invested in their $500 5.1 systems for gaming and movies, the Icon/S-1 is not likely to jerk them out of their indifference.

PS: After submitting the review to our publisher, this whole concept of bringing up 1.5kHz on the S-1 and then cutting it back on the Icon kept haunting me for days. The adding-and-subtracting premise (+6dB - 6dB = 0dB) didn't seem very logical to me. Why not just leave everything at 0dB? What difference would that make? If NuForce worries that the S-1 might not have enough boost between 800Hz to 2.5kHz when coupling to certain room acoustics, why not make it a user-selectable attenuation on the S-1? If the attenuation is done through an active circuit or in the digital domain, why not add a switch on the Icon? Is there not enough space? When the attenuation is not switchable anywhere, what is the real purpose of the equation? I came back to the same spot after a full circle. Maybe I was missing something. With my mind befuddled, I took the S-1 back onto my MYOSS stand nonetheless and conducted a series of A/B auditions with/without EQ through my DIY RJ45 adapters. I came to the same conclusion as I had before: Without EQ, the S-1 sounded as flummoxed as my mind. I had to turn to Jason for some enlightenment.


"We think the waveguide produces the best (again, at this price range of $249 a pair) mid and high frequencies for a desktop speaker. The waveguide enhances the otherwise weak FQ curve in many areas (not just at 1.5kHz). But due to the overboosting of 1500Hz, we have to bring it down. Without the waveguide, there is no way to produce such a nice midrange from a tiny 3" fullrange speaker. Another reason is that the waveguide increase the power (loudness) of the S-1. By the way, I don't think an integrated desktop system that has so many features for $500 is expensive. The iPod HiFi boom box alone costs $349."


So the waveguide math adds a few dB of overall efficiency. Then Casey Ng, NuForce's VP of product development added: "Let me explain it in another way. The waveguide provides a peak 6dB gain, this is a pure acoustic gain and much different than electrical gain. Acoustic gain gives a 'breathing living' textural quality to the sound: (1) The acceleration of the air pressure (i.e. the acoustic gain) from the throat minimize the effect of the speaker baffle and boundary effect, thus providing much better imaging than otherwise. (2) The driver has wider linearity range by reducing the excursion. The only trade-off is we have to provide an EQ inversely proportionate to the waveguide to flatten the frequency response. The Nuforce S-9 has a similar design, however, a very complex passive flattening EQ is in its crossover."


Quality of packing: Boutique-style presentation box with adequate padding.
Reusability of packing: Yes.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: Problematic with the locking lid as the fit is too tight and requires help from a letter opener or knife if you don't want to rip it open.
Condition of component received: Flawless.
Completeness of delivery: Shipped with standard SMPS and I-m Cat 5 speaker cables.
Quality of owner's manual: Informative and useful for general consumers.
Website comments: Informative, with forum, high resolution photo gallery and full support.
Warranty: 1 year.
Global distribution: Yes. NuForce also offers direct sales.
Human interactions: Professional and courteous, timely responses to questions.
Pricing: Low by audiophile standards, good by consumer standards.


The HeadFi Sidebar
I've been listening to the Nuforce Icon for over 3 months now and I actually bought one of the very first ones out of production, a "collector's item" with the DAC's left and right channels inverted (a flaw only found in a few Icon amplifiers with a serial number starting in 0000) and since then replaced with a debugged new board. Like Srajan in his preview, I have been impressed by the performance of the little box as a speaker amplifier that operates at a level far exceeding its gentle price or presumed ambitions.


The Icon paired with the Rogers LS3/5a proved that it easily accommodates low-sensitivity speakers as long as the load remains gentle (the Rogers are given as 12-ohm nominal). I did hit low levels of distortion on a few occasions with the 6-ohm FJ OMs when the task proved too demanding (only when using the internal DAC however whose low gain causes additional stress and demand on the amplifier). Overall the deep and powerful bass, the slightly reserved treble and the overall tonal richness and transparency mated very well with both sets of speakers. The Rogers especially preferred being driven by the Icon and far more so than any other solid-state amplifier I have tried on them over the past 10 years. I did not test the Icon with the Ronins from Nomad Audio. Their abysmal impedance curve and ogre-like appetite for current seems too insurmountable for the tiny standard Icon power supply (I may try the upgraded one when available).


But the purpose of this side bar is to share my impressions on the Icon as headphone amplifier. In addition to driving most reasonable speakers in its intended desk-top application and providing a digital input, the Icon can drive a pair of earphones via mini jack which mutes the speaker outputs when a headphone is plugged in. I would have preferred a switch to mute the outputs but at this price, it's probably not a reasonable expectation.


To assess the performance of the Icon, I used the Musical Fidelity A5 CD player as source, a well known and highly regarded entity which is "only" ten times as expensive as the Icon (my alternative was to use the Esoteric P05/D05 unbalanced which would have been an even less likely pairing). A pair of Zu Audio Gedes connected the player to alternately the Icon and the Musical Fidelity XcanV3, my current can reference. In the absence of Nuforce's own headphones (due shortly but not available during this review) I listened through both the AKG K701 and Beyer DT911. My old Creek OBH-11se did make a quick appearance but it was quickly obvious that it did not operate at the same level of transparency and silence as the other two amplifiers. Let's cut the chase, the Icon is not a dedicated headphone amplifier but listening to it I was impressed by how close it came.


One of the delightful characteristics of the Icon as a speaker amplifier, its plentiferous bass, is even more obvious over headphones, so obvious actually that the usually 'bass-shy' or even 'lean' AKG K701 sounded too ripe at times. The AKG is not an easy load and I suspect that it was taxing the Icon close to its limit with bass-heavy material to incur imprecision and excessive booming. With the more benign load of the Beyer DT911, the Icon's powerful bass however became a true asset, never showing any sign of bloat or loss of control. The XcanV3 on the other hand did not have as much energy and detail down low but showed absolutely no difference in character over both headphones, proving higher resilience to taxing loads.


At the other end of the spectrum resides the Icon's only true weakness. The treble is truly extended, even beyond the XcanV3's, but unfortunately not the most refined. The AKG K701 is extremely transparent and revealing on top and it was not kind to the Icon (unless it was again the result of being too demanding a load pushing the amp beyond its ability). Violins did turn a little glassy, sometime nasal; sopranos also had a not so engaging glare and regardless of recording, the upper midrange and treble just lacked refinement, drifting into distortion at times.


Switching to the Beyer DT911, things got instantly better, mostly due to the slightly rolled-off top of those cans. Yet the DT911's treble sounded more refined with the XcanV3, especially thanks to the absence of audible distortion (a sort of fuzz surrounding the louder treble notes), confirming that regardless of earphones, the weakness of the Icon is the accurate reproduction of high treble energy.


On pretty much everything else, the Icon matched or bettered the XcanV3; in and of itself quite an accomplishment. It had the edge in quietness, transparency and detail highlighting (all desirable traits for most head-fi enthusiasts) but also and more surprisingly in its ability to define the famous headscape to give a visual representation of the soundstage inside one's head. With the Icon, images solidified and individual musicians took on more of a three-dimensional perspective. This trait was accompanied by a feeling of reduced compression as though the XCanV3 tried to cram a little too much music into too tight a space. The Icon just created more room and therefore better defined each instrument. I would not say that the Icon acted like a magnifying glass as perspective and proportions were well preserved but there was unquestionably a sharper focus to the imaging.


I did listen extensively to the Icon through its digital input as well and although I should not have been surprised (something's gotta give at this price point), it was fine for casual listening but could not come close to a dedicated CD player or the on-board DAC marketed by Headroom in their desktop series (but those DAC options cost more than the full Icon so no surprise there).


I have three issues of varying gravity with the onboard DAC that in my view prevent it from getting a true audiophile stamp of approval unlike when the Icon is used as conventional speaker and headphone amplifier from its analog input. The first one is that resolution and transparency are quite inferior to that of even entry-level audiophile players. Again, that's no surprise but most head-fi lovers appreciate the sense of hyper resolution only headphones bring. If that's what you are after, then know that the on-board DAC will not deliver.


The second is the much lower gain structure when using the internal DAC. It's not a problem when using headphones that are easy to drive like the Beyer DT911 but with the AKG K701 and its low sensitivity I was forced to listen with the pot close to the 5:00 position compared to 12 o'clock when fed from the A5 and ended in distortion territory more often than I cared for.