[ohhgourami]

Quote:

Personally I think the NFB-10 SE is very musical with the WM8805 SPDIF or USB input.  The USB sounds great in fact and I probably wouldn't bother with an  external SPDIF converter.
 
I would probably say the NFB-10 ES is very clean, detailed with great imaging, very coherent and smooth.  SE to me is more rich and musical, and to my ears more enjoyable, more natural in tone and timbre but less coherent and clean.
 
I will probably hang on to these until my HE-6 arrives, but I have a feeling it will be the sabre ES that I will be selling based on my current feelings. 

SE will probably make HE-6 more musical and fun sounding while ES will bring out the best parts of the HE-6.  Choose wisely!  Down to personal preference now!
 

 

[leesure]

Quote:

From our design rule, the cheaper gears always smoother than the higher price gears.
So the NFB5 can be smoother than the NFB-10SE and it can exchange the OPA or bypass the OPA.
The NFB-10SE is our lowest price gear wich with the quite neutral sound , but should we have wrong ? should we  design a product have a bit smooth and less revealing instead the NFB-10SE, and produce the NFB-10SE on higher price rang?
 
 

The issue was not transparency, Kingwa. I want as much detail as possible.  The issue was a hard glare and sibilant S's.  Female vocals were unpleasant...not due to transparancy, but due to a hard edge to the presentation. Horns sounded like toys rather than real instruments.
 
However, as I've said, this is all with less than 100 hours of burn AND thru the optical input.  As I type, I'm listened thru the USB for the 1st time and I will say that the sibiance and glare are significantly reduced.  It's still a bit on the bright side of neutral, but not in the same way as before.  The midrange is not going to be confused with a lush tubey sounding amp, but I don't think it's supposed to be.  
 
New problem, however...3 times while listening to 2 songs, the sound has stopped.  I have to turn the NFB-10 off and back on.  It seems like the USB receiver is loosing the lock. iTunes keeps playing, but the sound drops.
 
I'm going to go get a different USB cable and see if that helps....any other suggestions?
 

 

[leesure]

It happened several more times.  Seems I can't get thru a whole track without loosing the lock.   Also got the sound to come back by pulling the USB out of the computer! Waiting 3 seconds and putting it back in. 
 

 

[IndieScent]

it also could be the usb of your computer. do you have another computer and see if the issue persist?

 

[drez]

I find the AudioGD USB sockets a bit too loose and that any slight nudge on the cable can disrupt playback and require unplug/replug cycle.
 
On the DI I solved this with a lot of electrical tape, but it's not really an elegant solution.
 
Nudging the cable at the computer can do this sometimes also (eg. inserting another cable)
 
Sometime just gravity also

 

 

[olor1n]

Good to read the glare is now tamed down for you leesure. Sucks about the usb though. With generic usb cables playback would skip on occasion through the FUN. I found most cables to be a poor fit in that socket until I got the Furutech Formula 2. It slotted in nicely into the 10SE as well.

 

[YoengJyh]

I got no issue at all for the USB port connection for both sides.

 

[DarknightDK]

I've never experienced any problems with the USB interface on the 10SE. That's strange, as indiescent said, might be a problem with the usb out of your computer. Try switching to another usb output of the computer?

 

[leesure]

I will try various cable and computer swaps, but I'm a bit incredulous as the USB has never lost lock with any other DAC using this same cable and computer. It's not a 'nudge' issue as I'm not near either connection. 
 
As I mentioned, it's still on the bright side of neutral and, a bit surprisingly, it seems to struggle and revert to glare with louder passages...almost like its bumping up against clipping.  That's surprising given the power and capacitance available when balanced. 
 
But right now, I'm listening to Lyle Lovett's 'I Love Everybody' album.  It's a fantastically detailed recording, but tilts to the bright side.  As long as I keep the volume a tiny bit below where I would normally max out, I'm finding it musical and detailed.  A pleasant improvement...except for having to cycle the USB in and out once each track. :-/

 

[YoengJyh]

Wow, KingWa would be happy if he reads this. Haha~

 

[olor1n]

Well good luck with the usb problem leesure. I found my Formula 2 added a touch of warmth to the sound (and with that, objectivists felt a great disturbance in the force). Perhaps finding the right one can further alleviate your issue with glare.
 
Btw, a Bifrost/Lyr vs 10SE (after some burn in

) showdown may be of great interest to others. Do you intend to do a writeup?

 

[DarknightDK]

Quote:

Btw, a Bifrost/Lyr vs 10SE (after some burn in

) showdown may be of great interest to others. Do you intend to do a writeup?

I would be really interested in that comparison as well. 

 

[drez]

x3

 

[YoengJyh]

x4 

 

[brasewel]

When I heard the Byfrost/Lyr combo at his place there really was no comparison between the 10SE mainly because of the harshness and glare exhibited by that amp. I'm beginning to think he might have received a lemon.
After my brief listen with the Byfrost/Lyr combo I felt the Lyr is not all that resolving by itself but the Byfrost helps alleviate that problem a little. The Lyr digs deep, has good imaging and soundstage and a lot of this could be attributed to the Byfrost.
I preferred my Havana to the Byfrost since I felt it was a little too solid-statish for my taste. The tonal balance was slightly off and some notes could be edgy but it compensates by having awesome detail retrieval. Not a fair comparison price wise ($400 vs $1100+tubes).
All in all great combo for ~$800