Audio-GD NFB-12 - Page 139

High gain or low gain with your LCD-2's?

I use low and never change it, I don't believe there is any difference besides where the volume nob is
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by tme110 

I use low and never change it, I don't believe there is any difference besides where the volume nob is
 

Ok awesome, I was just paranoid that the higher gain puts in more THD for some reason...

This is why I don't build amps haha

it will probably bring up some discussion but I hear no difference and don't believe there is one and Kingwa has even said himself that there should be no other difference.  I think people who hear the difference fall victem to how hard it is to volume match.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by tme110 

it will probably bring up some discussion but I hear no difference and don't believe there is one and Kingwa has even said himself that there should be no other difference.  I think people who hear the difference fall victem to how hard it is to volume match.
 

It sounds just 30% louder with no difference but I thought somebody with a masters degree in headphone amps could answer that for me, but I will trust me ears on that. Very good piece of kit and I doubt even HE-5LE's wouldn't be able to be powered out of this.

Are these class A biased? It sounds pretty clean and it's even got the heat output to suggest that it is but I didn't do much research other than 2 people PMing me to buy one over some other 1k setups.

I was obviously talking about volume matching between hi and low gain - thus the comment about the only change being the position of the volume nob.  I can pretend I have a masters in headphones.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by tme110 

I was obviously talking about volume matching between hi and low gain - thus the comment about the only change being the position of the volume nob.  I can pretend I have a masters in headphones.
 

I hear they just give those things out to anybody anyway ;)

The difference between low and high gain is the resistors used between the DACs and the output buffer. It's the resistors I changed to (try to) make the low gain even lower on mine.

It's the series of resistors in the red rectangle. Half of them are for the low gain, the other half are for the high gain (alternating, not in blocks). The low gain resistors are half the value of the high gain ones. The two relays right of the resistors change between the sets of resistors. The H/L switch on the panel only triggers those relays.

I doubt there will be an audible difference between one set of resistors and the other. 

As for the modification I applied, I found that the level of the line out is significantly lower than it was. But I didn't notice a difference in volume for headphones. Still too loud. I haven't figured how this can be. I'm guessing it has to do with current more than with voltage. 'Got more homework to do I suppose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by captouch 


Chris, what's the verdict on the NFB-12's so far? How does it compare to the HDP?

SO. MUCH. MORE. POWER.

The DAC isn't as good because I feel that as a source, the DAC imparted a rather punchy tone to the sound, but the amp would get tinny and bright near the end of it.

HDP as a DAC and NFB as an amp would be perfect, although the M-Stage is a better amp than the NFB-12. So really HDP to M-Stage so far is the best combo for under 1k. For the $185 I paid though, it's just a silly amount of performance. It sort of looks like crap compared to the equipment I've used but analyzing the circuitry and components, they used the best DAC chip they could in a true balanced circuit and overall it's a very powerful dac/amp for the money in a somewhat still compact package.

Quote:

Originally Posted by captouch 


Cool. You should play around with the digital filters if your version supports this. I like 8x min apodising filter the best.
How does the HDP DAC compare to the Bifrost, based on your previous experience?

HDP is a better DAC. I've compared the HDP to the Burson HA-160D and it comes out at about the same level. Of course the Burson is also an incredible amp attached to it, being the main point.

The HDP actually has a good deal of bass for a DAC, and at the same time it has a pre-amp function which you can max out without any distortion which is also very nice.

Any one here used their NFB-12 with a A900/A900x if so, how does it do as a dac into those headphones. I not worry about the amp part as  I know the headphones are easy to drive. As I planning on moving fully away from internal sound cards due to poping issues. I mainly looking for transparent or close enough to it while having big/wide sound stage. Do any of the other filter settings have that type of sound signature as I seen some one mention that each filter setting sounds different.

Quote:

Originally Posted by genclaymore 

Any one here used their NFB-12 with a A900/A900x if so, how does it do as a dac into those headphones. I not worry about the amp part as  I know the headphones are easy to drive. As I planning on moving fully away from internal sound cards due to poping issues. I mainly looking for transparent or close enough to it while having big/wide sound stage. Do any of the other filter settings have that type of sound signature as I seen some one mention that each filter setting sounds different.

I've only had AD900/AD700 in my NFB12.1.