[leesure]

Quote:

Hello,
 
I too am interested in NFB10SE for my Sennheiser HD595. If I get it, I will definitely make the balanced connector mod. My question is whether 10SE is an overkill to low impedance HD595. Kingwa has suggested NFB12 to me. But I am very tempted to try the complete balanced setup which should give 10SE a longer ownership considering future can upgrade and/or using it as a pure balanced DAC.
Personally IMHO Audio-gd's headphone amp design is superior than many of its competitors. This raises my next concern that 10SE lacks analog input which prevents it from being a standalone headphone amp in case crazy 32bit/384kHz recordings + fancy DAC become available in the future.
To give my question a better context, my environment will be foobar2000 + kernel_streaming/wasapi + USB + NFB?? + HD595 for now.
Thank you for your advice.

 
The NFB10se s a better sounding amp than the NFB-12 is, but it's not the be-all, end-all amp.  It's capable, fast and will drive anything.  I think it's a bit bright and has an edge in the upper midrange/lower treble that can make some female vocals glary. 
 
If you're looking to play 'crazy' 32bit/384kHz recordings, you're not likely to be running them thru a $499 amp given that any DAC that will play then at 1st will cost much more than that.  
 
This is a capable budget all-in-one balanced DAC/Amp.  Choose to buy it or not based on those features, not whether it might harm your ability to play not-yet-available source files. 
 
I am curious tho...what leads you to the conclusion that "Audio-gd's headphone amp design is superior than many of its competitors."? 

 

[tim3320070]

IMO, your money is much better spent on upgraded headphones like the HD650. The 10SE is a bit overkill for the 595.

 

[tme110]

a couple poeple very recently commented on using grados so easy to drive HP dont really seem to matter.  Plus the amp will still be there when you buy another set of phones.
 
I'd worry about the crazy high-rate files once they become available.  As it is not all DAC's that advertise 24/192 can actually play 24/192

 

[sphinxvc]

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Ok...back from my trip.  The 10se has over 250 hours. Gonna sit and listen tonight and give a thorough final evaluation. 
 
I'm sure it is pins and needles that you are sitting on. 

Any update on this?
 
Edit: Didn't see your post above, I guess the 250+ hours didn't help that midrange glare any.

 

[HD595]

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IMO, your money is much better spent on upgraded headphones like the HD650. The 10SE is a bit overkill for the 595.

the matter is after I get HD650, would I be craving about NFB10SE or something similar due to the limited NFB12?
 
 

 

[d4nim4l]

Quote:

the matter is after I get HD650, would I be craving about NFB10SE or something similar due to the limited NFB12?
 
 

I recently went through a similar process.  I have had my HD595s for around 5 years and decided to upgrade to HD600s.  I spent about ~$250 for them new on the recent Amazon lightning deal.  After I got my HD600s, I felt the need to get something to drive them "properly", so I purchased an NFB-10SE after a great deal of research.
 
For the money spent, the purchase of the HD600s was by far the better upgrade ... even listening to them un-amped from my onboard sound card.
 
That isn't to detract from the NFB-10SE, which I am incredibly happy with.  It just wasn't as good an upgrade relative to the headphone upgrade (even money aside).

 

[tim3320070]

Quote:

the matter is after I get HD650, would I be craving about NFB10SE or something similar due to the limited NFB12?
 
 

Probably but you will most likely be enjoying the new headphone for a while I bet. I had the HD595 and the 650 (and a bunch of others) were much better to my ears. The 595 with the NFB12 is an appropriate paring IMO. The HD650 and the NFB10SE is similarly appropriate paring.
 
 

 

[HD595]

Quote:

 
I am curious tho...what leads you to the conclusion that "Audio-gd's headphone amp design is superior than many of its competitors."? 

I should have said Audio-gd's amp has better price/performance ratio than many of its competitors. Audiophile equipment can be an abyss to many of us since you can always get better/more expensive equipment for that extra 1% improvement. Not to mention the space/room these equipment sit in can get crazy too.

I am budget beginner as you can tell from my struggle between a $200 and a $500 gear. Till now, I only have thought about replace my HD595 with HD650 or AKG K702 in a year or two time frame. Would NFB10 be a better product to own over NFB12? Of course, I would mod the terminator to balanced one on NFB10 setup.
 
 

 

[HD595]

Quote:

Probably but you will most likely be enjoying the new headphone for a while I bet. I had the HD595 and the 650 (and a bunch of others) were much better to my ears. The 595 with the NFB12 is an appropriate paring IMO. The HD650 and the NFB10SE is similarly appropriate paring.

Thanks for the reply. I sense my struggle between NFB12 and NFB10 would end soon.
So if I would have more cans, e.g. HD650 or AKG K702 in the future, would NFB10 a better deal than NFB12? NFB10 should drive HD595 nicely (not over powering), right?
Sure, there is always the possibility to trade NFB12 before getting a new DAC/Amp...
Not to distract readers from this particular thread, can you recommend any other balanced DAC+Amp besides NFB10 in similar price range?
Thanks a lot.
 

 

[elwappo99]

I have found my nfb10 to really warm up well. It sounds wonderful and is dead neutral. For the people finding a 'glare' or ''brightness' are you using a high or low gain?

 

[HD595]

Quote:

I recently went through a similar process.  I have had my HD595s for around 5 years and decided to upgrade to HD600s.  I spent about ~$250 for them new on the recent Amazon lightning deal.  After I got my HD600s, I felt the need to get something to drive them "properly", so I purchased an NFB-10SE after a great deal of research.
 
For the money spent, the purchase of the HD600s was by far the better upgrade ... even listening to them un-amped from my onboard sound card.
 
That isn't to detract from the NFB-10SE, which I am incredibly happy with.  It just wasn't as good an upgrade relative to the headphone upgrade (even money aside).

Wow. that's a surprise. I got my HD595 years ago over HD600 solely because of the 300Ohm impedance (price difference wasn't that much). Is your HD595 connecting to the 4pin XLR output? Does NFB10's balanced XLR output shine over the unbalanced output?
 
From one end, I heard people being proud of balanced end-to-end solutions. On the other end, even Sennheiser's $1500 HD800 comes with an unbalanced connector...
 
 

 

[tme110]

Quote:

 
Not to distract readers from this particular thread, can you recommend any other balanced DAC+Amp besides NFB10 in similar price range?
Thanks a lot.
 

There isn't anything even remotely close.
 
Again, No it wont over power your HP's.  The -10 isn't overkill for anything (except ear buds and maybe iems).  The Balancing Act or Liquid Fire, now that's overkill.
 
to follow up from another previous comment, you're always going to hear a bigger difference with different headphones over different amps.

 

[drez]

Quote:

I should have said Audio-gd's amp has better price/performance ratio than many of its competitors. Audiophile equipment can be an abyss to many of us since you can always get better/more expensive equipment for that extra 1% improvement. Not to mention the space/room these equipment sit in can get crazy too.

I am budget beginner as you can tell from my struggle between a $200 and a $500 gear. Till now, I only have thought about replace my HD595 with HD650 or AKG K702 in a year or two time frame. Would NFB10 be a better product to own over NFB12? Of course, I would mod the terminator to balanced one on NFB10 setup.
 

Whether other equipment is worth the price premium depends on how much you appreciate certain differences.  IMO certain gears are WAY too expensive regardless of performance for most people, or even for the technical audacity of the design esp from some ex-DIY designers and cable makers, but hey this is an over-inflated market full of apparently very rich people.
 
I find glare pretty apparent when using filter 7 on low gain, I will see if it's there on high gain but IMO with vocals other upsampling filters are better.
 
EDIT: I don't have any means to level match but from my hardly rigorous comparisons I find high gain sounds worse with my LCD-2 (congested, not relaxed).  For vocals I would avoid filters 1, 4, 7, and seem to like filter 9.

 

[leesure]

Quote:

I should have said Audio-gd's amp has better price/performance ratio than many of its competitors.  
 
 

 
But on what do you base this conclusion?  If you haven't heard them, how do you know? 
 
I don't mean to be a jerk, I just see this type of comment all the time and it never fails to baffle me.
 
Price and specs mean nothing without hearing if it sounds good.
 
 

 

[leesure]

  

Quote:

I have found my nfb10 to really warm up well. It sounds wonderful and is dead neutral. For the people finding a 'glare' or ''brightness' are you using a high or low gain?

I've burned it in for >250 hours and it's never turned off so it's always 'warm' but it's anything but warm. It's a capable amp, but it's not world beater.  
 
Its nice for the money, but that's because it's got no competition in balanced DAC/Amps at  this price.