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Macworld reviews four desktop DAC-amplifiers →

Great review by R. Matthew Ward. I bought an Icon-2 a few months ago to replace a giant receiver, and I couldn’t be happier with its great sound quality, tiny size, USB connection, lack of blue LEDs, and ability to drive my Paradigm Atom speakers to much higher volume than I’m ever likely to need in front of my computer.

It’s by far the best “computer speaker” setup1 I’ve ever heard (and seen). $350 for the Icon-2 and $250 for the Atoms are steep entry prices, but these will both likely last over a decade.2

  1. I’ve only ever owned one pair of “computer speakers”: the C-battery-powered SoundBlaster set that came with my first sound card in 1994. Since then, I’ve always just used normal stereo components. Most computer speakers sound terrible and are overpriced by comparison.

    (Yes, including your high-end set from [prestigious brand such as Klipsch]. Sorry.) ↩︎

  2. Even if USB falls out of use, the Icon-2 has a line-in. ↩︎

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