September 2014
Definitive Technology is one of my favorite loudspeaker manufacturers -- not only because the company is innovative, but because its speaker line consists of models that punch way above their price class. All office converter platinum 6.5 serial key. Not many other speakers costing only $1998 USD per pair can boast the full-range performance of my reference DefTech BP-8060ST towers. Not only that, they sound fantastic throughout their 20Hz-30kHz frequency response, and their footprint is very small. What’s not to like?
One of my least favorite consumer-electronics categories is computer speakers -- to me, almost all of them sound bad. I remember hooking up a pair of plastic computer speakers through 1/8” minijacks to my computer’s soundcard -- an experience memorable for all the wrong reasons. So when Editor-in-Chief Jeff Fritz asked if I wanted to review Definitive Technology’s Inclines, I was at first apprehensive when I heard the phrase desktop speakers -- it sounded to me like computer speakers. But this was Definitive Technology, and I was intrigued to hear what the company could do in this category. And the Incline’s price of $399/pair set my expectations high.
Description
The Incline is called that because it slopes back from the vertical at an angle of 9.5 degrees. This, DefTech claims, aims the drivers’ output directly at the listener’s ears when the speakers sit on a desktop, so that the direct sound predominates over the off-axis sound. At 11.3”H x 5”W x 4.4”D, the Incline is bigger than other desktop speakers I’ve seen, but still small enough to sit atop most work surfaces with a computer between them. The speaker is finished in typical DefTech fashion: it’s completely covered with black fabric, and sits on a base of solid aluminum. Overall, the speakers look high-tech and cool, and perfectly at home when placed to either side of an Apple iMac.
Under the black cloth, the Incline packs some unusual and intriguing engineering. The most unusual is that it’s an example of the bipolar design seen in a slew of DefTech’s tower speakers. In this context, bipolar means a speaker with drivers mounted on its front and rear surfaces, to produce a more spacious soundstage than conventional speakers. I can’t recall having seen or heard of any other bipolar desktop speaker. Each Incline has three drivers: on the front, a 0.75” silk-dome tweeter and 4” polycone midrange-woofer; and, on the rear, a 2” cone that DefTech calls a “high-definition full-range driver.” A front-firing, 4” passive radiator enhances the bass response.
Also unusual is the fact that each Incline is biamped by two 20W class-D amplifiers, for a total of four amps per pair. The drivers’ responses are tailored by digital signal processing (DSP) to get useful output down to 45Hz. You can hook up the speakers to your computer, or to any other source, in three different ways: USB, optical TosLink, or 3.5mm minijack. Only the USB port is visible on the rear panel, however. To access the other two inputs, you have to pry open the plastic panel on the back of the right speaker. There you’ll also find an output minijack for connecting a Definitive Technology subwoofer.
Setup
?Metric Halo ULN-8 - confirmed by damien (require 0.9.2 or above and new MH. Driver) Musical Fidelity V-Link - confirmed by kboss. NuForce HDP DAC - confirmed by damien (only in 16bit for 88.2k) nuForce uDAC-2 - confirmed by vk80. Playback Designs MPS-5 - confirmed by elcorso. PS Audio PerfectWave DAC - confirmed by catastrofe?
I tried the Inclines with a number of computer devices: an ancient Acer Aspire 1810T laptop running Windows 7, JRiver Media Center 17, and foobar2000; an Acer Android 4.1 tablet, model A1-810; my wife’s Apple iMac; and my kids’ fourth-generation iPod Touch. The DefTechs worked flawlessly with all but the Android, where I had problems with the USB output -- I could get sound through the Inclines, but only at quarter speed. Although this was amusing, it was clear that the tablet hadn’t been designed for this sort of use, and I couldn’t solve the problem. Nor was it the first time I’d had this problem with this tablet -- it hasn’t worked with any of the outboard DACs I’ve used lately, such as the Furutech ADL X1 or the NuForce uDAC-2. I did the bulk of my listening using my laptop. There’s no need to download an ASIO driver (there isn’t one), and Windows 7 immediately recognized the Inclines, which its sound panel identified as a “USB Audio DAC.”
One of the coolest things I learned from evaluating the DefTechs is how fun nearfield listening can be. The Inclines’ 9.5-degree tilt made it easy to move them to positions that maximized imaging. I found the best positions in my setup were 2’ apart, with the drivers angled in toward my ears.
Performance
With the setup described above, listening through the Inclines to Chesky Records’ Binaural+ recordings, such as Amber Rubarth’s Sessions from the 17th Ward (24-bit/96kHz FLAC, Chesky), was magical. In “Good Mystery,” the depth of imaging was as good as I’ve heard through a desktop setup. I could easily “see” Rubarth at center stage, with violinist Tim Snider and cellist Dave Eggar on the right, but layered behind. I got a clear sense of the recording space (a church), with the reverberations of Chuck Palmer’s drums bleeding into the left channel.
To test the high frequencies, I played one of my favorites, “Keith Don’t Go,” from Nils Lofgren’s Acoustic Live (16/44.1 FLAC, The Right Stuff/Capitol). Lofgren’s acoustic guitar can expose a bad tweeter design -- you can hear individual notes being plucked and this can sound gritty through poor speakers. The Inclines could play this track loud, and every bit as involvingly as I’ve heard it through much more expensive systems. They didn’t shy away from that last bit of detail, reproducing it with just a slight rolloff of the highs -- a good design decision for this price, in my opinion.
To get a sense of the Inclines’ ability to reproduce low frequencies, I cruelly played “Temple Caves,” from Mickey Hart’s Planet Drum (16/44.1 FLAC, Rykodisc). This track contains very low bass and is challenging even for a dedicated subwoofer. Understandably, the Inclines couldn’t -- and didn’t -- reproduce any of the room-shaking bass that has made “Temple Caves” a low-end demo track for decades. Bass freaks will have to accept what this system can do, or opt for the matching subwoofer (when that becomes available) to fill out the bottom end. However -- and surprisingly -- the Inclines’ solid upper-bass response went low enough to help me appreciate bassist David Piltch’s playing in the title track of Holly Cole’s Temptation (16/44.1 FLAC, Alert).
In addition to listening to the DefTechs in the nearfield on a desktop, as they’re designed to be used, I connected the optical digital output from my TV to the Inclines’ digital input, and watched TV while working out on my treadmill. Although this isn’t a recommended way of working out, it gets me down to my exercise room, and proved to me that the Inclines were up to the task, even as I struggled. I’d placed the Inclines some 7’ away from the treadmill, and dialogue was loud and intelligible over the raucous treadmill and my heavy breathing.
I also tried the Inclines in a more serious setup, using the digital outs of my Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 and my Oppo BDP-95 Blu-ray player. With both, I had fantastic results with music and movies. The Inclines played clearly, with good dynamic range.
Comparisons
For this section I used the system hooked up to a TV in my exercise room: an 80Wpc AudioSource Amp One stereo amplifier and a pair of DefTech ProMonitor 1000 speakers. This was a good monetary match for the Inclines; the amp, now discontinued, sold for $150, and the speakers cost $440/pair.
The two systems differ in connectivity: The AudioSource-DefTech combo is strictly analog, with two sets of RCA inputs, while the Inclines have a combination of analog and digital connections, including USB, optical inputs, and a 3.5mm minijack. When I streamed TV shows from Netflix using my Western Digital TV Live Plus media player, the Inclines displayed a more pleasant high-frequency response -- the ProMonitor 1000s sounded brighter in comparison. The bass response, too, was better through the Inclines, with DSP compensating for the smaller enclosure. The ProMonitor 1000 is probably the more accurate speaker -- it’s very neutral, perhaps with less “voicing” -- but I found the Inclines were easier to live with for their connectivity, size, and all-in-one design. If I had to reconfigure my exercise room’s audio system right now, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the DefTech Inclines as my primary speakers.
Conclusion
Despite my reservations about computer speakers, the Definitive Technology Inclines comprise a well-made, well-designed, powered speaker system. The highlight of my time with them was their phenomenal imaging, especially in the nearfield. Although their small size and low price have necessitated inevitable design compromises, those trade-offs were minor compared to how well the Inclines provided an immersive desktop listening experience. I have no hesitation in recommending the Inclines to anyone who wants a high-quality computer speaker system, or as the main system for a small bedroom or apartment. You won’t be disappointed.
. . . Vince Hanada
[email protected]
Associated Equipment
Definitive Technology Incline Desktop Loudspeakers
Price: $399 USD per pair. Warranty: Two years parts and labor. Download uncharted 3 for pc free full version.
Definitive Technology
11433 Cronridge Drive, Suite K Owings Mills, MD 21117-2294 Phone: (800) 228-7148, (410) 363-7148 Fax: (410) 363-9998
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.definitivetech.com
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amazon Nuforce uDAC 3 reviews
The Nuforce uDAC 3 has an almost identical appearance to the Nuforce uDAC2, with a tiny size just a bit bigger than the Zippo lighter, with a knob, headphone jack and active status LED on the front. , Power jacks and communication ports on the back. The aluminum casing is rounded at the sides and has the nameplate on both sides. The only difference and improvement over uDAC2 is that instead of using the standard USB port B to connect to a PC like uDAC 2, it uses a mini USB port. A seemingly small improvement, but it will please those who are mobile because they can use the same mini USB cable with other mobile devices.
Despite being small in size, the uDAC3 is a versatile device, a removable USB DAC for the home entertainment system, as well as a DAC amplifier for headphones, and can also act as a USB converter. Connected to another DAC by equipping a coaxial port for the SPDIF signal. Fifa 07 directx install.
Design
The internal design of the uDAC3 is similar to that of uDAC2, a neat, intelligent design of the Nuforce circuit for the purpose of signaling a short path. There are two dense two-sided circuit boards connected by two gold-plated pins. In order to further reduce the “jitter” phenomenon, Nuforce uses asynchronous technology, a new technique usually only applied to midrange DACs. Digital audio signals are expressed in two forms: data and timing. It is the time deviation in the transition and the movement of the signal called “jitter” that has a negative impact on sound quality. Typically, computers with unstable clock clocks create a very serious “jitter” and if the DAC receives digital signal synchronization from the computer it also means It receives the same “jitter” phenomenon. So it was recently invented as “asynchronous” technology using a dedicated clock for DAC and this clock is not synchronized with the host’s clock. With the application of this technique, the clock pulse phenomenon will be significantly overcome, contributing to better sound quality.
On the board of Nuforce uDAC3, the digital signal from the USB port is fed to a small pulse transformer that isolates and destroys noise from the source. Then the signal is taken to an IC signaled SA9027 signal reception and processing. This is a component that plays an important role in asynchronous technology, and is capable of receiving music files encoded by the DSD (Direct Stream Digital) protocol, an advanced digital encoding protocol Possible to deliver the highest sound quality. A low-clock “jitter” clock with a frequency of 12 MHz is used to recover the original clock for the data. The DAC chips used were not disclosed, but leaked information showed that this was a 24-bit AACI Kaisei DAC. This is a DAC chip that outputs directly to an 2-volt RCA analog signal without having to go through a DC blocking capacitor. A further modification to uDAC2 lies in the head-amp circuit with the use of an IC acting as an amplifier, thereby overcoming unhealthiness in uDAC2 small volume.
The entire circuit of uDAC3 uses only 5V power from the USB port of the computer. However, on the circuit there are many low-voltage voltage stabilizer ICs that regulate the voltage level of the decoder, IC receiver digital signal and other active components on the circuit. That said, at this device, Nuforce has paid more attention to processing clean source to ensure the best sound quality.
Coupling and sound quality
UDAC3 is a plug and play device. For computers running Windows and MAC users do not have to download drivers to install, but need to do some restoration of the audio device on the computer to output audio to uDAC3. For Windows-based computers, for uDAC3 to work out the need to install additional drivers to read the DSD file as detailed instructions on the Nuforce home page.
Although size is very modest but it can be said that Nuforce uDAC3 is the suitable partner for most of headset in the market. Tried the uDAC3 with a number of handsets, including the Senheiser HD598, the AKG K505, the Sony XBA4, the Yuin PK2, the V-Moda XS and more like the AKG K701, Yuin PK1. UDAC3 only slightly weak when combined with AKG K701 only. Through a test round, the most suitable partner for this tiny DAC is the AKG K505, followed by the Sennheiser HD598.
The overall sound of uDAC3 is quite natural, balanced and well detailed in complex music. The sound of the device is quite warm but still full of detail and free from high strips, it makes the headset bright light become more balanced. In contrast to the tiny size, the DAC / headamp performs quite well, reproducing dynamics and sound stage well. Compared to the sound of uDAC2, obviously the sound quality of uDAC3 is significantly better. The feel of the “bounce” of the pitch is clearer, the sound stage with the layer more separate lang. The application of asynchronous technology, the design of isolation between parts of the circuit along with the emphasis on power supply processing has brought about significant improvement in the sound quality of the youngest brother in the UDAC family.
Testing the uDAC3 as a removable DAC connected to the external system also brought quite unexpected results. The sound of this tiny device is not inferior to the mid-range DACs that have invested in detail.
With a market price of just $130, the Nuforce uDAC3 is an unmistakable device in terms of price due to its ability to meet two new technologies available only in expensive DACs asynchronous and DSD. In terms of sound quality, the uDAC3 is a clear upgrade from the same company to be confident compared to other devices in the same segment as the M2Tech DAC. This is a sensible choice for newcomers to the audio world, enjoying high-quality digital music from a computer with an unreasonable investment.
Nuforce Amp
where can you get a Nuforce uDAC 3 online
NuForce uDAC3 Mobile USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier (Black):Buy it now
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Digital
Connectivity: USB 1.1, 2.0
Compatible with frequency: 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 kHz, 24-bit
Nuforce Udac 2 Driver Download
Output Signal Level (RCA): 2 V
Dynamic range: 90 dB
S / N ratio: 98 dB
Total harmonic distortion: 0.05%
Total output: Coaxial RCA 75-Ohm
Headphone output power: 80 mW x 2 @ 16-Ohm
Power Consumption: USB Bus Powered, 80 mA / 5V
Dimensions: 68 x 38 x 21 mm
Accessories included: USB cable (1 m)
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