VR2XMQ - Steve's Blog AF through SHF: January 2009

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Portable Cans: OVC HC-1000 from China.

So what is the OVC HC-1000, I would say they are the Chinese version of the Koss PortaPro portable headphones. Unknown to many in headphone circles, OVC has been the Chinese OEM (Original Eqipment Manufacturer) for well known brands like AT&T, Audio-Technica, Koss, LG, Panasonic, Plantronics, Samsung, Siemens, V-Moda, Yamaha, and many others. This probably accounts for the quality of the sound produced from the OVC HC-1000's.

HC1000 are OVC’s equivalent in my humble opinion to Audio-Technica’s ATH-ON3, Sennheiser PX100, PX200, and the Koss PortaPro & KSC series of headphones. Unfortunately there are not many sources where these are available overseas. I purchased mine locally, but if you are interested after reading this review, you can order them by mail order on Head Direct's website. Yes Fang and his team have a good ear for product sourcing. I have no connection to Head Direct, the link is provided for those who may have an interest in purchasing these interesting pair of portable cans, they cost US$29.00 and Head Direct's site page is: OVC HC-1000 so check em out.

OVC is a major manufacturer of electronics in China, and their official website is OVC , so you can head on over and check them out. The OVC HC1000 specifications state a 113dB level (+/-3) db at 1 mW efficiency and an impedance of 32-ohms. The headphones are 30-mm. drivers. Here are the specifications.

OVC HC-1000 Specifications:

Driver Units: 30mm dia.
Sensitivity: 113@ +/- 3dB for 1mW efficiency
Nominal Impedance: 32 Ohms
Typical Frequency Response: 20 - 20KHz (probably understated!)
Rated power: 5mW
Max power: 10mW
Plug: 3.5mm stereo
Net Weight: 58 grams

What do you get?:

1 pair of HC-1000 headphones foldable like spectacles;
1 cute red color carry case;
1 set of extension cords,
1 set of blue case covers;
1 set of pearl case covers;
1 pair of spare sponge ear pads;
1 6.3 mm stereo adapter plug;
1 headphone amp socket and plug cable - 3.5mm to 2.5mm mini-jack adapter.

Wow, that's allot for your money! Maybe the other manufacturers should sit up and learn. The packaging of the product is great, take a look at the box and the goodies you get from the photos.
The HC1000 cans have a single cable and an extension. The cable is 50 cm. long, the extension is 1.5 m. long. Enclosed are case cover inserts that are a special feature of the HC1000, the HC1000 can switch cover color from the default red to pearl-white and blue colors. Great for a fashion victim, I'm am however fine with the default covers as they are.

The carrying case is a sturdy, soft synthetic fabric bag with stiff fake leather inserts and is red in color. The oulook of the case is similar in shape and size to a case for glasses and is quite stylish. The bag has a belt clip.

Impressions:

They appear to have a better seal the small Senn. PX's but the headband fit is not as good or on par with the Koss PortaPro and could slide off if you do not have them properly centered on your head. My impressions on the sound at first are that they are neutral lacking a little in the lower mid range an the bass impact and extension, but this is to be expected from small sized cans with 30mm drivers. I would say that the emphasis is in a better upper mid and reble with clarity and details (Spiked for this range). They definately sound good for vocals and in many instances I like them better the the Senn. PX's. The thing that appears to be in the pros for the the HC-1000 is the depth of the sound and the soundstage presentation appear to be ahead of the Senn. PX-200 and the Koss PortaPro. At time of writing I did not compare them against my Audio Technica ON-3 Onto and must make a note to do this. On the whole the HC-1000 appeared to have a rather natural three dimenisonal sound field and stage with good dynamics and empressive clarity.

I would categorize them as what I would call in my humble opinion the best deal in under US$30.oo portable cans. I will give them a big thumbs up! Well done OVC on a fine product, now maybe it is time for some larger cans?

Reviewing gears:

Source: 4GB MP3/4 Player; 8GB 2.8"LCD TOUCH SCREEN MP3/4 VIDEO PLAYER; EPC-303 MP5 8GB 3.0 Inch TFT LCD Screen Player - Red / Black; Oregon Scientific Music Orbit & Station; Denon CDR-W1500 HDCD Recorder/Player.

Head Amps. & DAC: Little Dot MKI Portable Headphone Amp Amplifier; Cmoy headphone amplifier with Bass Boost Setting in a custom made exotic padauk and zebra wood case (opa2227 opamp); Xiang Sheng 708B Tube Headphone Pre Amplifier; Go Vibe mini USB Audio DAC (Burr-Brown PCM2702), Qinpu Q1 Headphone Amplifier.

Reviewing CD and Tracks: Custom made by ripping songs to FLAC than normalized/burnt via Nero9.

CD Tracks: Esteban - Norwegian Wood; Everything But The Girl - I didn't know I was looking for love; The Corrs - Runaway; Acoustic Alchemy - Mr. Chow; The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony; Willie & Lobo - Amsterdam; Tim Weisberg - Party of One; Sleep Station - There She goes; Seattle Symphony Orchestra - Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (Scherzo); Sim Riney - What was I to you; Rebecca Pidgeon - Spanish Harlem; Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon; Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells.

Additional CD's for auditioning:
1. "The Sound of Analog is Back" From Mark Levinson (Red Rose Music);
2. "CD Master- Direct Master Cut Vinyl CD" Mastering by Mark Levinson;
3. "The Purest Sound-City Folk Songs-Vili" TIS Hong Kong;
4. "Dido" SRS + WIZOR Mastering CD;
5. "The Police" SRS + WIZOR Mastering CD;
6. "Avril Lavigne" SRS + WIZOR Mastering CD.

Rating: From one star (★, lowest rating) to five stars (★★★★★, highest rating), including half a star (☆). Criteria include [Packaging / Build Quality / Accessories / Isolation / Microphonics / Comfort / Sound stage / Sound Quality / Value]

★★★★★-The best
★★★★---Really good
★★★-----Average
★★-------Just OK
★---------Not worth it

Earphones: OVC Hc-1000 Portable Dynamic Headphones
Transducer: 30 mm drivers
Spec: 32 Ω | 20Hz~ 20kHz (Head Direct specify them from 18Hz ~ 22kHz)| 113 dB/mW +/-3dB
Cord Style: 50 cm. long, the extension is 1.5 m. long, Ø3.5mm mini stereo, gold-plated.
Mini Jack Style: Gold plated, medium build sealed.
Case: Black with default red covers.
Packaging: ★★★★★ (well thought out packaging, boxed)
Build Quality: ★★★★ ( medium build)
Accessories: ★★★★★ (All accessories, everthing under the sun )
Isolation: ★★☆
Microphonics: ★★★★ (Very good)
Comfort: ★★★☆
Sound Stage: ★★★★★ ( impressive 3D, very natural)
Sound Quality: ★★★★☆ (Very impressed, netural, moderate extension and impact of bass, mids - treble is clean, clear and detailed)
Value: ★★★★★ (Completely outstanding value, best IMHO for less then US$30.00 porrtable cans)
Remarks: A pleasing and quite netral sound, bass is clean and tight with moderate extension and impact. I was impressed by the 3D sound stage produced by these 30mm drivers. The timbre was extremely good and dynamics also very good. Highly recommended for cheap prtable with everything you need supply. Extremely high value for money. I would mention that I have never ever been a fan of foam ear pads, in fact I hate them as they are really bad for isolation and I will change them to a pair of pleather ear pads which should help with isolation as well as probably the bass I suspect?

Canto Pop.

石頭記 - 達明一派

VRF - 下雨天

Blue Jeans, Sandy Lam - 下雨天

張國榮- 沉默是金

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

In Ear Cans: Eozoic EM-355 IEM's.

The Eozoic EM-355 IEM's are quite a rare breed of In-Ear-Monitors and indeed quite elusive and difficult to be found. In fact I only found 2 shops with them in stock. I believe the EM-355 IEM's are only available in two colours, a white and orange version which is the one I have and a black and silver version. The shops in Kowloon had other Eozoic earphones, but I did not bother with the others since the EM-355's seem to be the top of the range.

On first plugging in to portable CD and various head amp sources I was impressed immediately by the liquid flow of the music presented. The bass extension and impact were immediately evident to me and very tight and firm without any muddiness at all. The mid range did not seem forward nor recessed and blended well with the bass. The upper range was well presented in a similar fashion being well balanced with the mid and low frequencies without any harshness and no sibilance noted. What was also evident was the aire, timbre presented and sound stage being large and wide making vocals seem to come to life. Of course this is still early and will listen some more if there are further changes after a period of burn in (if there are changes then I will update the information here).

Features:

Over the ear IEM wearing style earphones;
Noise isolating in the ear earphones;
Spare silicone ear tips;
Fast paced dynamics and enhanced bass response;
Flexible ear tips fit a variety of ear sizes;
Durable and light weight resin housing;
13.5mm sized drivers;
Shirt clip.

Specifications:

Driver unit 13.5mm cobalt magnet;
Impedance 16 ohms;
Sensitivity 106 db;
Frequency response 20-20,000 Hz.

Reviewing gears:

Reviewing CD and Tracks: Custom made by ripping songs to FLAC than normalized/burnt via Nero9.

★★★★★-The best
★★★★---Really good
★★★-----Average
★★-------Just OK
★---------Not worth it

Earphones: Eozoic EM-355 IEM
Transducer: 13.5 mm cobalt magnet.
Spec: 16 Ω | 20Hz~ 20kHz | 106 dB/mW
Cord Style: 2m, length, Ø3.5mm mini stereo, gold-plated.
Mini Jack Style: Gold plated, medium build sealed.
Case: white and orange resin.
Packaging: ★★★ (typical bubble pack)
Build Quality: ★★★★ (good medium build)
Accessories: ★★ (No accessories, no storage pouch, only 1 spare pair ear tips )
Isolation: ★★★★
Microphonics: ★★★★ (Very good, hardly noticeable)
Comfort: ★★★★ (Really excellent thick comfortable silicone ear tips)
Sound Stage: ★★★★★ (extremely impressed with sound stage presentation, large)
Sound Quality: ★★★★★ (Very impressed extremely musical, good extension and impact of bass, mids - treble is good and detailed even at low volume listening, overall well balanced)
Value: ★★★★★

Remarks: A pleasing and well balanced sound, bass is clean and tight extension and impact is impressive. I was extremely impressed by the sound stage and aire produced by these IEM's, very large and wide. The timbre was extremely good and dynamics were fast. A very musical pair of IEM's that were able to deliver at even low volume levels.

AVAILABILITY OF THE EOZOIC EM-355 - SEE COMMENTS

beyerdynanmic custom headphones.

The New Sennheiser HD-800 Headphone.

Some videos on the new flagship of Sennheiser - the HD-800 which promises to be something special:

Jude makes a brief appearance in the last video, hahaha!

Link to the Sennheiser HD-800 page with downloadable brochures: http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/productdetail.asp?transid=500319

The retail price on these puppies is US$1,399.95

Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Chinese New Year 2009

Happy Chinese New Year
(Year of the Ox officially starts on 4th February)

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Thalia - Seduccion.

Thalia - Seduccion

Thalia - Seduction (English Version)

Thalia - Seduction (Omega Hitz Remix)

Thalia Seducción Remix.

Thalia - Seduccion (Vj Percy Dance Video Remix)

The Amazing Boats of Kotaro Horiuchi.

Pen Care.

(Above: Namiki - Vanishing Point Fountain Pen)

Pen Care

Most all fountain pens comprise the same basic components: a nib (also called a point, this is the metal writing tip of the fountain pen, these can be available in stainless steel, rhodium gold and other metals), a feed (the ribbed component attached to the back of the nib), and the ink supply (there are various options which include: cartridge, piston, converter, plunger, vacuum, and sac).

Cleaning Frequency For Fountain Pens

A fountain pen should be cleaned after every second filling of either ink from a bottle or cartridge, this may seem excessive but it will prevent clogging. Which means, if you use the pen and you replace the cartridge, insert another and then run out, clean the fountain pen before you install the third cartridge or fill from an ink bottle. This may seem to be quite annoying, but if you want your fountain pen to function well and last then the inconvenience is well worth it.

Use Cold Rinse Only & Clean Water!

Fountain pens should only be cleaned with clean, cool water. If you are a purist like me then you will clean your fountain pens with distilled water. Never, never under any circumstance should you ever clean your fountain pen with warm or hot water as it will most likely result in damaging the feed of the pen. If you find that your pen is excessively dirty, a small teaspoon of ammonia can be added to the water to soak the nib section overnight. Do not, do not use any alcohol or solvents as these will again damage your pen!

Flushing out the Nib

Flush the nib section with water until it runs very clear. You may use the faucet's power or you may use a ear syringe and force the water through, this is very effective since it gives more force and cleans the nib out allot better, but make sure you do not use excessive pressure that may cause damage!

Drying After Cleaning & Flushing

After cleaning and flushing, cover the nib section with a soft dry cloth and shake it a few times to clear the water out. Leave the nib wrapped in the cloth overnight to allow it to dry out properly. In the morning just refill your fountain pen with ink and it is ready to use! If your pens are piston fed types (only bottled ink can be used) you can soak your pens first in water then suck fresh water into the chamber and flush out the water, do this a number of times until the water is clear in color.

Storing Your Fountain Pen

Never store your fountain pen lying down. The ink will coagulate and dry in the nib section and make it difficult for the ink to flow and for the pen to write properly. Keep your pen capped with the nib pointed up at all times when not in use. Toothbrush holders work great. If you are not going to use your pen for a week or more, remove the ink or remove the cartridge completely.

Celluloids

Italy produces most of the world's celluloid pens. Celluloid is very durable since the bars used to make the pens are of a solid resin. It is still possible to chip and crack them if they are abused. A soft cloth is all that is needed to clean them to produce a lustre.

Sterling Silver

Fountain pens come in many finishes and are constructed of a wide variety materials, so their care varies from material to material. Silver, sterling and plated, use a store bought silver polishing cloth or glove. Remember silver is a soft metal and will take on a patina and will show scratches and even small dents, this material requires extra tender loving care.

Cleaning: Hard Metals

Platinum, palladium, rhodium, stainless steel and chrome: These finishes will not generally tarnish and remain "mirror like". Whilst they can show scratches and wear, they are much more durable than Sterling and/or silverplate. A soft cloth is needed and used remove fingerprints and dirt.

Cleaning: Lacquers

Lacquers are quite durable, especially "Chinese Lacquer" that S.T. Dupont uses on their pens. You should only use soft cloths to clean these pens, never any abrasive cleaners or chemical compounds which will damage the Lacquer finish. As with any painted or lacquered item, surface chips may occur if the pen strikes a hard/sharp surface, so be careful.

Cleaning: Fine Resins

This material gives many pens like Mont Blanc's precious resin pens their light weight, which some people seem to prefer. However this also makes them quite vulnerable to cracks and breakage if dropped or abused, they need tender care. They will also show slight scratches in the barrel over time, especially with dark colors. Care must be taken. at all times A soft cloth can be used to clean and polish resin pens. A good rule of thumb is to invest in a leather pen case to help protect such pens.

Wood Pens

If your pen is made from natural wood some care must be taken to maintain the beauty and the longevity. Don't leave your pen exposed to sunlight and high temperature extremes as this can damage or destroy your writing instrument and the wood. Treat it as you would any fine, delicate instrument, even though it can last a lifetime of use it will not tolerate abuse. Never use cleaning fluids or any abrasive cleaning substances on any part of your fountain pen. The fluids and abrasives can and will damage the fine finish of the wood. If you wish to have a fine sheen, use only high quality polish for wood.

Do care for your writing instrument the way you would any fine wooden product. Protect it with a light coat of good furniture paste wax designed for wooden products. After proper drying, buff with a soft, clean cloth to bring out the sheen.

Do keep your pen from extremes of temperature - heat and cold. Both are enemies of wood. Some woods are very temperature sensitive and may split or develop cracks from extremes of heat and cold.

Do use your pen. It is designed to be written with not placed in a drawer.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Full Size Cans: The Headphile Darth Beyer V3, Leopardwood With Blackmax 2.0m Cable.

The Darth Beyer V3, Leopardwood with Blackmax 2.0m cable, fitted with1/4" cable termination, genuine leather ear pads are customized wood cans based on the Beyer Dynamic 770/780 headphones, these are custom made by Headphile and the purchaser selects the type of wood that he/she wishes to customize the end caps with. The end result are a pair of cans that are truly unique. no two sets of cans will ever be the same since each set of wood end caps are individual.

The ones I have are customized using Lepoardwood. A Little information about Lepoardwood:

LEOPARD WOOD: Genus/Species: Piratinera guianensis Common Names: Snake wood Source: Central and South America Color: Heartwood reddish brown Pattern: Interlocked grain, moderately fine texured Characteristics: Heavy, hard Uses: Turnings, carving,inlays, decorative veneer.

COMMON NAMES: Snakewood, letterwood, leopard wood, speckled wood, amourette

SPECIFIC GRAVITY: .82 to 1.3

DENSITY: 81 lbs./cu.ft.

TANGENTIAL MOVEMENT: 9.00%

RADIAL MOVEMENT: 6.00

DURABILITY: Excellent

SOURCE: Central and tropical South America

DESCRIPTION: Extremely heavy, hard and strong wood. Heartwood is reddish brown with speckles of black appearing as hieroglyphics or snakeskin markings. Straight grain. Texture fine and even. Snakewood is brittle and splits easily. Very smooth when finished; has natural polish. This is quite a rare type wood.

The Darth Beyer V3's can be ordered from Larry at headphile.com (http://www.headphile.com/page8.html). The cans have been fitted with the Beyer Dynamic Genuine Leather ear pads at the same time. You must bear in mind that there is no current stock and the craftsmen will make each pair of heaphones individually upon receipt of order and payment, so you must be patient as there will be a waiting time before you get your cans.

Wood: Leopardwood
Cable: Blackmax (This is a US$75.oo upgrade from the stock cable)
Cable length= 2.0m
Cable Termination = 1/4" plug
Earpads: Beyerdynamic Genuine Leather ear pads, include the original grey velour ear pads.

The cost:

a. Lepoardwood version V3 US$425.oo (inclusive of a pair of 770 cans)
b. Cable length 2m option US$ 20.oo
c. Blackmax cable upgrade US$ 75.oo
d. Beyerdynamic leather ear pads US$ 45.oo
e. International shipping EMS US$ 39.oo

Total = US$604.oo

If you were to buy these from Headphile, it would cost over $600, the ear pads alone cost $45 before shipping. The isolation is much better also with the newer leather ear pads as they do not have small ventilation holes like the velour types and think this is a factor that does not help the isolation, durability is also a plus, the leather is really supple and comfortable as well.

Headphile: http://www.headphile.com/page8.html

Larry will generally finish wood in a three step old school process, the final being Carnauba based wax. You can buff the wood with a cotton or micro-fiber cloth. Larry also will use only finishes that don't mess with natural resonate quality of the wood, unlike Poly finishes that most everyone else uses.

Darth Beyer V3 are closed dynamic type vis-a-vis originals un-modified: Bass extends in the mids a bit, the V3 isolate very well with leather pads. More bassy then the original un-modified 770, now extra deep. The original 770's sound thin, lacking clarity and definition when compared to the Darth Beyer's. The bass on the umodified 770's seem now to lack control and recessed, mids are also laid back compared to the modified version.

The Stock Unmodified Beyerdynamic 770 Specifications:

Features:

Closed, diffuse-field systems

"Bass reflex" technology for improved bass response

Clinically high and mid-range reproduction

Rugged headband construction

Single-sided cable


Transducer type	Dynamic
Operating principle	Closed
Weight without cable	270 g
Frequency response	5 - 35,000 Hz
Nominal impedance acc. to IEC 60268-7	250 Ω
Nominal SPL acc. to IEC 60268-7	96 dB
Nominal THD acc. to IEC 60268-7	<>
Power handling capacity acc. to IEC 60268-7	100 mW
Sound coupling to the ear	Circumaural
Ambient noise isolation	approx. 18 dB (A)
Connection	Gold plated stereo jack plug (3.5 mm) and 1/4" adapter (6.35 mm)
Length and type of cable	3 m / straight cable
Nominal headband pressure	approx. 3.5 N

Reviewing gears:

Reviewing CD and Tracks: Custom made by ripping songs to FLAC than normalized/burnt via Nero9.

★★★★★-The best
★★★★---Really good
★★★-----Average
★★-------Just OK
★---------Not worth it

Earphones: Darth Beyer V3 Lepoardwood with 2M Blackmax Cable & Beyer Leather Pads.
Transducer: Dynamic Closed
Spec: 250 Ω | 5 - 35,000 Hz | 96 dB dB/mW
Cord Style: 2m, length of Blackmax Cable, 6.35 mm jack.
Mini Jack Style: Gold plated, solid build.
Case: Headphile custom made Lepoardwood.
Packaging: ★★★★★
Build Quality: ★★★★ (good heavy build)
Accessories: ★★ (No accessories)
Isolation: ★★★★★ (approx. 18 dBA for stock)
Microphonics: ★★★★★ (Very good, not noticeable)
Comfort: ★★★★★ (Really excellent thick comfortable Beyer Leather ear pads)
Sound Stage: ★★★★★ (extremely impressed with sound stage presentation, large/deep)
Sound Quality: ★★★★★ (Very impressed extremely musical, good extended extension and impact of bass, mids - treble is extremely good and detailed and very high resolution.)
Value: ★★★★★
Remarks: A pleasing and well balanced sound, bass is clean and tight deep extension and impact is surely impressive. I was extremely impressed by the sound stage and aire produced ing a very large and wide sound stage with depth. The timbre was extremely good and dynamics were fast paced. There has been allot of comments that the Darth Beyer V3 have a bloated and exagerated bass, I found this not to be so, the bass extension is not bloated but deep rendering down to 5Hz, most headphones are unable to resolve this bag end bass and such comments are a bit unfounded. These headphones also respond to the quality of reproduction equipment and cables in the audio reproduction chain and respond quite easily when feed with good equipment and cables of high resolution. In my chain I have used silver cable from source to end. Because of the high resolution of the headphone, it will provide garbage if you feed it with garbage i.e. garbage in = garbage out. If properly feed these headphones are amazing.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Tauchmeister 1937 XXL GMT Watch -Worldtour Luminous protecting crown system Model No. T0181.

XXL GMT-Worldtour Luminous protecting crown system Model No. T0181

Made by Aeromatic 1912 - Frankfurt/Germany
Limited Edition

About Tauchmeister Watches

Tauchmeister 1937 is a company located in Germany. They specialize in large and extra large sized watches. Most of the watches are assembled in Germany using Asian and Swiss made parts and movements.

Tauchmeister has used many current and past Military designs as models for many of their offerings. The large and very large case size has become extremely popular in the U.S. and Tauchmeister has been in a prime position to prosper with their affordable and very broad line of oversize watches.

Tauchmeister gives you a lot of watch for the money.

Dial

Central second indicator

Separate usable 24h indictor "red hand" at posion 12 o'clock

Adjustable 2nd time zone with the crown at Pos. 1

Date indicator at 3 o'clock (quick winding with the crown at Pos. 1 in
clockwise rotation)

World City Ring (winding with the crown at 9 o'clock position)

24 hour ring (winding with the crown at 8 o'clock position)

Lumious hands and indexes

Color: black / blue

Movement

High quality "SWISS Ronda Cal.515-24H" quartz movement

Hacking mechanism (Second hands stops when adjusting
the time)

Second hand ticks

Strap

High quality leather strap with thornbuckle

Length 250mm

Width 22mm

Color: black

Case

Dial width 40mm

Case size 47.1mm

Pin to pin (Strap) 52mm

Lug to lug 57mm

Thickness 15mm

All stainless steel

20 ATM (680ft. / 200m) water resistant

Mineral glass

Screwed bottom

Special screwed crown protecting system
(with a screwed cover)

Weight: 124gr / 4.355oz

Color: silver

The TO181 is a lovely watch, the first picture shows
the model TT0186 which is slightly different to the T0181.

Headphone Amplifier: Nu Force Mobile (Blue).

This is the first portable headphone amplifier from Nu force called the "Mobile" which incorporates a built in DAC and is available in 4 different colors to choose from. The one under review and in the photos is the blue version. The charging of the internal lithium ion battery is accomplished by connecting it to the supplied USB cable and connecting it to the USB port, charging takes a mere 2.5 hours of fast charging to accomplish for 13 hours of usage. Whilst 13 hours is acceptable, a long usage period would be much better.

Product Description

The Nuforce Icon Mobile, along with its accessories, allows the user to obtain better sound quality from mobile music players sources, smart phones and personal computers. The Icon Mobile also serves as a rechargeable, high-performance headphone amplifier with adjustable gain or stand-alone USB DAC with support for Skype, Messenger or similar microphones.

Desktop Applications:

1. Connected to a computer via USB, the Icon Mobile can drive a pair of active, i.e., powered, speakers.

2. The external 3.5mm stereo input, when inserted, takes precedence over the USB DAC. This function allows the user to listen to music from sources such as an iPod without having to disconnect the Icon Mobile from the computer.

Mobile Applications: Due to cost constrains or power consumption considerations, mobile devices such as an iPod or smart phone do not incorporate high-performance headphone amplifiers. The Icon Mobile's optional iPod connector permits the user to bypass the iPod's volume control. The compact, lightweight Icon Mobile, which can drive a variety of headphones, connects to these devices via 3.5mm stereo input.

Choice of 4 Colors

Product Features:

Two headphone/line outputs: a 3.5mm 4-pin mini stereo (with mic) jack and a 3.5mm 3-pin mini stereo jack for driving earphones and line-level sources such as active speakers.

A 3.5mm mini stereo external input.

A Gain Select switch provides compatibility for a wide range of headphones and earphones.

A high-quality rotary volume pot for maximizing USB and iPod signal-to-noise ratios.

A built-in, rechargeable Lithium Ion battery with USB featuring a 2.5 hour charge-time for 13 hours of continuous playback at maximum power.

Technical Details

Support for USB audio input and ouput

The Battery-Low indicator blinks when the battery requires recharging.

Headphone Amp:

Power output: 80mW x 2 @ 16-Ohm

THD+N: 0.054% @ 25 mW, 1 kHz

S/N: 98dB @ 40mW

USB DAC:

USB 2.0 compatible

Supports 44.1kHz and 48kHz native sampling rates

Microphone input: 16-bit ADC 4-pin mini stereo compatible headsets

Accessories:

Bundled Accessories:

3.5mm stereo cable
USB cable
Silicone band
Plastic tool for adjusting gain setting

Dimension: 88mm x 55mm x 12mm

Review Impressions:

Build Quality: A: It looks small, sleek and sexy but well designed and built. The size is a bit more conventional and suits other portable source devices well
Treble: B+: Top end is well presented.
Mid range: B+: Respectable.
Bass: B+: Respectable.
Neutrality: B+: Decent.
Sound staging: B+: good sound stage with good width.
Transparency: B+: above average transparency.

The Nu Force is well designed headphone amplifier, even the packaging has been given allot of thought to. The overall performance is good and it sports a trendy case design in 4 colors to choose from. I am not happy that Nu Force did not include a pouch with this amplier and a rubber band was included in the bundle for srtapping to other source products, not a good idea! A pouch would go along way to protecting the amplifier from getting scratched. The suggested retail price is US$99.00.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Some Favs.

I Didn't Know I Was Looking Love (HQ Audio Version):

Always:

This I Promise You:

I`ll Be Loving You Forever:

When Will I See You Again:

I Cant Give You Anything:

CSN: Just A Song Before I Go.

Live:

Mont Blanc: Greta Garbo Special Edition Fountain Pen

Mont Blanc Greta Garbo Special Edition Fountain Pen:

Writing System: Cartridge fountain pen (no converter)
Nib: Handcrafted rhodium-plated 18 K gold nib with heart-shaped hearthole
Nib Width: Medium
Barrel: Black precious resin
Cap: Cream coloured precious resin
Trim: Platinum-plated fittings; cap ring embellished with "Greta Garbo" signature
Clip: Clip set with 1 white, round Akoya pearl (5.25 mm)

Mont Blanc: Jules Verne Fountain Pen.

This is a lovely limited edition fountain pen from the Mont Blanc Writers Edition.

Jules Verne: Limited Edition Fountain Pen

Launch: 2003
Limitation:
14.000 Fountain Pens
12.000 Ballpoint Pens
4.500 Sets, including a fountain pen, ballpoint pen and a mechanical pencil

Bright blue lacquer over a guilloche of waves
Platinum-plated mountings
Rhodium-plated 18-karat gold nib