Firestone Audio Fubar III

By Shane Hanify

June 2010

Firestone Audio Fubar III USB DAC/Headphone amplifier. $679

Firestone Audio have a few products in their lineup and this is the third in the chain ahead of the two Fireye amps previously reviewed.

Packaging is different from the little amps – this is a much bigger box with a welcome cardboard insert holding everything securely in place. It comes with an instruction manual, a 1.5m stereo RCA cable, a USB cable and a plugpack power supply. Also supplied is an Allen key to get into the unit to configure it.

This little amp is considerably larger than its siblings, in a similar brushed aluminium but of a better fit and finish.

On the front panel is a blue LED, a 6.4mm headphone jack and a smooth volume control with a well finished aluminium knob. Around the back you'll find a pair of variable RCA outputs, a high/low gain switch, a power switch, a USB socket and a DC socket for the power supply.

Setup

As with the Fireye amps, I had my AKG k171s to hand, a loaner pair of Grado SR80i and an aftermarket USB cable that was used for the first week.

Initial thoughts

After a bit of a hiccup (the supplied power supply would not power the unit up) I was up and running. It was left to run for about 24 hours to bed in.

The Fubar III delivers a much sweeter fuller sound than its little brothers with vastly better staging and texture. Presentation at the default settings is quick and smooth, with wonderfully deep bass, exhibiting none of the foibles of the little amps. It could sound a touch thin on some recordings, but that was more down to the track than the amp.

As expected, the higher current design gave the music a lot more slam, giving my CD player a run for its money – especially when partnered with an aftermarket USB cable.

It initially sounds not quite as forward as either of its siblings, allowing you to relax into the music and enjoy it immediately, regardless of genre. There is a touch of sibilance on some tracks, but nothing really to worry about, resolving tune after tune with an easy flowing nature that draws you effortlessly in.

Unfortunately, this higher resolution comes with a price.

Low bitrate (less than 160kbps) mp3s sound atrocious. The compression and loss of detail in these tracks really pull your attention to the technical side of things rather than the music – whereas the siblings gloss over these shortcomings, the bigger brother is critical and unforgiving.

Luckily, the converse is also true.

Fed a good recording, such as a lossless track and it really shines. Even with the standard USB cable this little box was pushing my CD player hard, and coupled with the aftermarket one, came so close to tipping it over I contemplated getting one.

Settling in

After a further week or so, we really started to get to know once another.

The CD player started getting less and less use, always a good sign, true – it did have it in overall sound, there was never any denying that, but the gap was close enough that listening to music off the pc was now a pleasant activity, rather than the background role it was previously assigned to.

Bass weight through the headphones had settled in nicely now, with a greater sense of control – with the pc at near maximum volume, and the Fubar at around 1 o'clock it made the little AKG's sing like I'd imagine they should – near on flat, and wonderfully detailed. Ultimate bass was a little lacking, but I put that down to the aftermarket cable used on the AKG's – not any fault of the little amp and certainly easily lived with.

Going back through the big amp confirmed my suspicions on this as time after time I'd look up from what I was doing as the low notes rumbled down the room causing me to burst out into spontaneous bouts of grinning.

As a headphone amp, I'd say in its class it would hold its own weight – and as a DAC feeding into an amplifier and speakers, it certainly does. The Fubar III is a brilliant all-rounder that does things quietly and without drama, lifting the sound of a computer several levels above your average soundcard. Highly recommended.