Thursday, 13 September 2012

Nuforce Cube Quick Review

Nuforce Cube Quick Review

Thanks to Nuforce for the sample

Brief:  Nuforce makes a tiny, pretty DAC/Amp/Speaker

Price:  US$119 (about £74 but hard to find outside the US)


Accessories:  3.5mm stereo cable 0.6M, USB Cable 0.7M, Soft carrying pouch

Build Quality:  Lovely, it feels solid and its metal exterior feels rather premium.

Aesthetics:  Very pretty, very, very pretty.  I do wish the back colour was matching but that’s my only quibble.  Overall it looks great, no question.

Sound:  The device is a compromise product and for music I cannot say I loved it.  It was impressive for its size but I am somewhat of an audio snob and for music it may have been unquestionably a great leap up on the rubbish laptop speaker but it wouldn’t be my first choice.  Now if I was a real road warrior then using the Cube is a lot more attractive as it’s so easy to take with you but for music, I’d still struggle to use it and not move to headphones.  Where it really shone for me was in AV use.  It does mids super well and TV, films, podcasts all were excellent, just great for on the go use.  If there was a reason to make me part with cash that would be it.  If I was traveling and had kids then this and a tablet would be invaluable, a brief stint with Netflix, my phone, the Cube and my nephew was enthralled with the combo.  My own use with a tablet was a very positive experience and better yet, it doubles as a stand too!  The DAC and headphone capabilities were icing more than core functions I felt, clearly much better than the rubbish on most laptops but not going to replace dedicated DAC’s and amp’s if you have them.

Value:  For a portable speaker it’s not the cheapest you’ll find but it’s clearly of a good quality and unquestionably the most attractive I’ve seen.  You get what you pay for and this is more costly but its quality reflects that.

Pro’s:   Very pretty, great quality mid range, superb for AV use.

Con’s:  Rather directional sound, no off switch, hard to find outside the US.

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