Audio-GD NFB-1.32 - Page 4

I'm using the USB conection with the speakers that have low mids and bass bloated. the DIR module shouldn't be afected with usb conection right?

Sorry, thought it was through toslink. Nevermind :-)

Tried the USB mod to avoid +5v feeding energy, It seems it's a lot smoother as others said.

Just make sure the tape or whatever used to cover pin 1 is not too thick otherwise you may get a Blue screen reboot, the other pins need to make contact otherwise you'll get funky behavior. So just an FYI if you see this occurring.

Here's hoping that Kingwa galvanically isolates usb pin 1 from within the dac in future iterations of the usb 32 design perhaps in a v2, if it is indeed getting clean linear power from within the dac, and do this for any future dac iterations. It's definitely a sonic improvement across the board, imho, and is a step in the right direction, if we're attempting to squeeze the last bit of sonics out a dac, by providing clean linear regulated power to the usb chip and isolating it from potentially dirty power coming over the usb cable.
Edited by xtreme4099 - 12/1/12 at 11:27pm

It seems like a good idea, i'll second that. I hope you do not mind i have forwarded your idea as PM to Kingwa, as unfortunatelly he mainly focus his interest on 11.32 thread.

Edited by SidiousX - 12/3/12 at 7:17am

I have been a member of Head-Fi for some time but this will be my first post. I just purchased the NFB-1.32 and the ship date should be around February 17. I'll be very interested to compare this DAC between my Parasound D/AC-1100HD and my Ken Law D02 NOS DAC. I'll follow up with my review after it arrives. Equipment I'll be testing the DACs with.

 

Parasound D/AC-1100HD

Ken Law D02 NOS

NFB-1.32

AKG K550

MMG

Dual Custom Tekton 8" Subs

DCM 12" Sub

DCM Timeframe 1000

Tekton 6" Fostek

Tekton 4" Fostek

Parasound HCA-750A

Bryston 3B ST

Dared VP-845

Carot One Ernestolo Class D Tube Amplifier

Hand built Joe Curcio Daniel TP2 Vacuum Tube Preamp

iMac / iTunes

I have been enjoying the DAC alot. Build and sonic quality are excellent!
Smooth sounding but not too smooth with alot of detail, large soundstage with pinpoint imaging.
The USB control panel is very nice with many settings to fine tune what's best for you.
I am using a PC utilizing JRiver (USB) managing CD collectictn ripped in FLAC format.

Dac playing through Lightspeed Attenuator - Korneff 45 Tube amp -Volti Audio Modified Lascala's

I am very happy with the purchase!
Edited by Arw118 - 2/17/13 at 8:38am

 

Looking forward to the review, tingod!

So before I get into a review of the Audio-Gd NFB-1.32 I am going to explain my setup and what I have learned so far. My goal is to drive the NFB 1.32 from my 24" iMac using the mini pin fiber out. Reason for using the optical connection is due to the distance my computer is from my stereo 30 ft. I received the NFB 1.32 in pristine condition, fast shipping. The packaging was exactly what was needed to protect it and the build quality looks fantastic. It did come with a very small extra IC chip that I guess is older USB firmware that I read somewhere on this forum. It also came with extra jumpers to change the way optical can be routed through the DIR module for different sound preferences.

 

Rocky start: First I used a premium 16ft. USB cable and the DAC preformed as it should, it decoded digital audio and passed it to my preamp. I tried all various Hz and bit Integer values that the Mac has and the DAC still worked as it should. I had a brand new Apple Airport Express so I decided to try the mini pin optical out to the DAC and the audio played with constant intermittent pauses, as if someone was pressing a mute switch on and off randomly 3 to 4 times a second. So I tried the second optical in on the DAC with the same result. I checked my settings in iTunes and made sure that anything that could process or color the audio was turned off, same stuttering result. I hooked up a new Apple TV using it's optical out and got the same result.   I had another Apple TV that I purchased in early 2012 and it still stuttered but not as bad once every 2 to 3 seconds.

 

I emailed Audio-Gd at 11:00 P.M. and Kingwa immediately got back with me suggesting that the optical source may be inferior. He suggested to change the jumpers in the DAC to route the single through the DIR module, thought being that this may resolve the issue of the bad optical source. 

 

Before I changed the jumpers I dug out an original Apple Airport Express the kind that the new Apple Airport utility doesn't even support anymore and hooked it up to the DACs optical in and guess what, it worked perfect!  Then I attached a 30ft fiber-optic cable from my Mac to the DAC and that worked perfect too. So, the NFB-1.32 is very sensitive to cheap optical signals i.e. Apple's new products.

 

What I really wanted to do was to use USB but everything I tried didn't work. I bought one 16ft USB to mini USB to connect directly to a powered USB hub that I could place 16ft from my computer and then attach another 16ft USB cable directly to the DAC. Now you would think this should work but it doesn't, I had the same intermittent stuttering about once every 5 to 10 seconds. So I purchased the best 30ft USB cable with a supposedly embedded chip that is suppose to amplify the signal, that didn't work either. With that cable it just didn't work.

 

I'm currently writing this while listing to the DAC for the first time and so far everything is working the way it should. I don't want to give an off the cuff review so I'll wait until I have some time to properly listen to it but it does sound really good.

You might want to sell all your iStuff and get a Squeezebox Touch instead.

Connect it to the DAC through USB and be done with it ;)

I'm trying to decide between this one and the Resonessence Concero DAC. Very different design philosophies, with Audio GD having put a lot more effort, it seems, into the analog section and power supply, but still they appear to be very close in performance and sound signature.

I ordered the Concero and own the NFB-27. By extrapolation I might give some (pseudo) inputs on the Concero vs NFB-1 when I receive it.

 

The NFB-1 should have a similar voicing to the NFB-27. Its technicalities should be on par with the Reference 5.32 (I used to own), which in turn, is very similar to the Metrum Quad (I still own and will be using the Concero with).

 

I know, this sounds a bit far-fetched 

I look forward to your postings.  This DAC is also a possibility for me as well as the Concero.

Hey Guys,

 

I've had the opportunity to compare the NFB 1.32 to my REF5.32 for almost 2 weeks now and I must say if I hadn't bought my REF5.32 earlier I would have saved some money by going for the 1.32. Kingwa did an awesome job on the 1.32 with the ESS9018 and you definitely can't go wrong with this DAC for the price. If you like a livelier presentation with good treble, you will like this DAC! Get one now!

 

Cheers!

Edited by panda-R - 3/26/13 at 5:59am

there corrected.

 

By the way I noticed something the USB driver version 1.21 is no longer available on the site, and 1.22 won't install in my NFB 1.32 :O