Spectacular Audio

The Nuforce^® Icon Mobile^™, along with its accessories, allows the user to obtain better sound quality from mobile music players, smart phones and personal computers. The Icon Mobile™ 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:

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

There are reasons your PC or Mac's audio output doesn't sound particularly good. Noise from the computer's digital circuits often bleeds into the audio signal. Also, design engineers who have been told to keep production costs down don't expend much effort on audio. Additionally, your computer's audio output has not been optimized for headphone use. Headphones require a low impedance output. The computer's output signal is normally high impedance. Briefly stated, your computer's Audio Line Out really isn't suitable for headphone use.

And there's this to consider too: a digital volume control reduces 16-bit audio resolution, which is already somewhat compromised with respect to first-rate sound, to even less resolution. By reducing volume through the computer's software, you may be listening to resolution as low as 8 bits.

The Icon Mobile sounds better for several critically important reasons. Among these are a heavily filtered power supply, a DAC that's been implemented for optimal performance, and a circuit designed to drive low-impedance headphones. Last but far from least, unlike digital volume controls, the Icon Mobile's high-quality analog volume control does not compromise resolution.

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 high-quality rotary volume pot for maximizing USB and iPod signal-to-noise ratios.
A Gain Select switch provides compatibility for a wide range of headphones and earphones.
A built-in, rechargeable Lithium Ion battery with USB featuring a 2.5 hour charge-time for 13 hours of continuous playback with maximum power.
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

Bundled Accessories:

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

Dimension: 88mm x 55mm x 12mm

Nuforce Icon Mobile