[gurmi100]

Hi everybody! I recently bought a Nuforce Dia through Ebay, as it was not available in India. As per the specifications on the Nuforce site, the Dia has a headphone/ line-out capability. However, the manual that came with the unit states that the 3.5mm jack is meant only for the sub-woofer.
I seek help on two points:
1. Can I safely connect a headphone to the Dia? Can the line out be used to input to an external (better) amplifier?
2. Which of these bookshelves do well with the Dia - Dali Zensor 1, PSB Alpha B1, Boston A25?
This is my first post and I am a complete NOOB; please do help me out.

[nuforce-casey]

Hi,
The 3.5mm is safe for either line out or headphones.  As for the speakers, look for one with has higher impedance and higher sensitivity.

For example,

A)  4-ohm, 89dB/w
B) 8-ohm, 89dB/w  => choose B.

[gurmi100]

Thanks Casey! Your reply is reassuring. However, would there be loss of audio-quality if line-out is taken to an external amplifier? I ask because addition of an external amplifier would open up my speaker choices; as of now I have limited choices.
As far as Bookshelves mentioned in my earlier post are concerned all have sensitivity around 87-88db and lowest impedance value is ~4 ohms for Boston A25 & PSB Alpha B1 and ~5 ohms for Dali Zensor1 (as per Stereophile measurements). I was just wondering if anyone has used the suggested speaker(s) with Dia/ icon of if there are some known good matches for the Dia in the budget bookshelf category.
Thanks once again for replying to my queries!

 

[nuforce-casey]

Thanks Casey! Your reply is reassuring. However, would there be loss of audio-quality if line-out is taken to an external amplifier? I ask because addition of an external amplifier would open up my speaker choices; as of now I have limited choices.
As far as Bookshelves mentioned in my earlier post are concerned all have sensitivity around 87-88db and lowest impedance value is ~4 ohms for Boston A25 & PSB Alpha B1 and ~5 ohms for Dali Zensor1 (as per Stereophile measurements). I was just wondering if anyone has used the suggested speaker(s) with Dia/ icon of if there are some known good matches for the Dia in the budget bookshelf category.
Thanks once again for replying to my queries!

 

Based on your need, I think you will be better off using the DDA-100, which has 4 times the power over the DIA (no external amplifier requirement).

Unfortunately, I have not heard any of the speaker models you mentioned with Dia, to give you any comment.

[gurmi100]

Well, its been quite some time; I thought I shall post an update. I auditioned a few speakers, PSB Alpha B1, Cambridge Audio S30, Magnat Bookshelves and Dali Zensor1. Of all these bookshelves, I found PSB Alpha B1 the best to my liking but there was noticeable compression at higher volumes which is understandable considering the meager 18 wpc that the Dia outputs. I have finally ordered a pair of Tekton Mini Lores, based purely on the positive reviews. I just hope it turns out to be a good purchase! Any thoughts on this combination would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks to all!     

[JLM]

The mini-Lore should work well.  The nice thing about the Dia is that its so small you can take it with you to audition speakers at the store.  I did that with a battery powered 7 wpc T-amp years ago.  (You should have seen the faces of the sales staff, as they'd never heard of battery powered amps that could fit in your hand.)

[gurmi100]

Thanks JLK for your comments! I too carried the DIA for all my auditions and like you mentioned the sales staff were surprised by its small size and that it could drive large bookshelves & even floor-standers. Yet, they all had reservations about the power adequacy of the DIA. All performance issues were immediately attributed to the meager output from the unit. I was told that there is no way the sound from the DIA can be compared with that from a PROPER integrated amplifier. That is why I finally settled for a higher efficiency Mini-Lore; the only sore point is that I have not auditioned these speakers. Thus, your comments are comforting indeed!