Audio-gd NFB-10

[Wulvy]

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Wulvy,
 
When did you order your NFB-10ES?.

 
Well in US time I paid for it on the 12th of November, but I bought it via the NZ distributor - Into Audio also known as Macrog on head-fi (whom I highly recommend to any Kiwis out there). He could have already had it on order or given higher priority. My serial number ends in 01 but I have no idea how their serial number system works.

 
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Wulvy,
 
It looks like the Roc chassis you have gotten does not have vents on the top. The picture in Audio-GD for NFB-10ES in Roc chassis does have vents. Is it ok to use without the vents?.

I can't find it right now, but in one of the Phoenix threads this was brought up and Kingwa replied with some numbers showing the amp would last like 60 years with normal use even without the vents, and the Phoenix undoubtedly gets warmer than the NFB-10. Extrapolating from what Kingwa said, I would say there's no harm in not having the vents. Personally, I like it without and hope mine comes that way since I'll be putting my headphone stand on top to save some space.

Good spotting geek101, I didn't even notice... been too busy listening

... I think it looks a bit cooler with the vents and is probably more practical. I'm not bothered though.
 
I did notice earlier when I was running headphones it was warm to touch. Definitely not what I could class as hot but considerably warm. I'm just using the line out with speakers at the moment and its just above room temp which is probably high teens centigrade. I'll let you convert that to faranheit. I'm sure Kingwa would have put the vents in if he was worried.

 

[hardtarget666]

[size=10pt]Wulvy, my NFB-10ES has the vents and I actually would have preferred not having vents as one needs to be careful about dust settling inside the amp. As they say, grass is always greener on the other side 

. [/size]
 
[size=10pt]By the way, how are you finding the bass with your 702’s?[/size]

 

[Wulvy]

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[size=10pt]Wulvy, my NFB-10ES has the vents and I actually would have preferred not having vents as one needs to be careful about dust settling inside the amp. As they say, grass is always greener on the other side 

. [/size]
 
[size=10pt]By the way, how are you finding the bass with your 702’s?[/size]

Interesting that some shipped with vents and some without. Haha very true.
 
Hard question mate. Keep in mind my limited experience with good headphones. The bass is imo what the K702 does worst, but I think I've become quite accustomed to the 702's sound signature. I hear the bass, but it's not on par with my bookshelf/sub combo in terms of energy or impact, it is definitely present though and of more detail. If you focus on something in the mid/highs it can melt away a bit but if you listen to the song as a whole it doesn't feel like its missing anything. Some songs sound better with a punchy bass response and some songs sounds better with a more laid back K702 style. I'd say in general I prefer the high energy impacting bass (thus the K702 isn't a perfect headphone for me) but often this goes hand in hand with a decrease in the "quality" of the bass which I'm not a fan of at all.
 
The NFB10 vs FUN (from memory) hasn't added in quantity of bass and I don't expect it to. It has added to the resolution of it though. It's funny how on lower fi gear there's a certain low frequency cutoff where everything below that is just one note. There's definitely no point like that with NFB10/K702.
 
It will be interesting to see the effects of good balanced cable on the K70x when my K701 arrives. Your impressions of the difference of balanced with the NFB10 and your 650 are promising.

 

[Omega17TheTrue]

Interesing, i have a similar setup (audio-gd compass and k601) and plan to get the NFB-10 WM (a little different since yours is sabre chip) i await your impresion with the balanced cable but it is a balanced cable using the single entry plug ? seem not fully balanced to me.
 
Someone know the power suply class of the NFB-10 ?

 

[Wulvy]

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Interesing, i have a similar setup (audio-gd compass and k601) and plan to get the NFB-10 WM (a little different since yours is sabre chip) i await your impresion with the balanced cable but it is a balanced cable using the single entry plug ? seem not fully balanced to me.
 
Someone know the power suply class of the NFB-10 ?

Nice setup.
 
It is fully balanced. The single XLR plug is a 4 pin plug. A normal balanced cable has 2 3-pin XLR's one for each channel. So in one plug there is a pin for correct phase,a pin for inverted phase and a ground. With a 4 pin plug only the correct and inverted phase pins are there for each channel. For some reason with a 4 pin plug no earth is required, so its only 4 pins instead of 6 (I don't know the reason for this). Both 4 pin balanced and 2 x 3 pin balanced give the exact same sound. I can't say this for sure but this is how I understand it.
 
I don't know exactly what you mean by power supply class, but there is a quite a bit of info on the power consumption, transformer and output at the bottom of the product page on Audio-GD.

 

[haloxt]

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[size=10pt]Wulvy, my NFB-10ES has the vents and I actually would have preferred not having vents as one needs to be careful about dust settling inside the amp. As they say, grass is always greener on the other side 

. [/size]
 
[size=10pt]By the way, how are you finding the bass with your 702’s?[/size]

It can always be taped, from inside or outside.

 

[somestranger26]

Well Edwin has sent me a nice little response to my latest request for a tracking number:
 
Quote: Edwin (1/12)

Very sorry about the delay,because the NFB-10 now is making,so that we need one week time for shipping out your order,after we shipped,we will sent the tracking number to you

 
Quote: Edwin (1/4)

Your NFB-10ES Non-USB Version is finished,but because the factory had delay the component of the Digital Interface Version B to us,so that we just received the components yester day(1st - 3nd Jan the factory is holiday can not sent to us),so that we arrange shipping out your NFB-10ES Non-USB Version and Digital Interface Version at 11th Jan,very sorry about the delay.

 
 
I can't believe I'm being lied to like this. He said my NFB-10 was finished a week ago and now tells me it's just now being built? Now it's been delayed a month since I was told it would originally ship.

 

[Omega17TheTrue]

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It is fully balanced. The single XLR plug is a 4 pin plug.

Sorry i forget to mention i was speaking of the AKG mini XLR plug on the side of the headphone and the headband internal wire that power the other driver.

 
Audio-gd do not mention its power class but their high-end gear is class A, that explain why it is hot.

 

[sphinxvc]

Quote:

Well Edwin has sent me a nice little response to my latest request for a tracking number:
 
Quote: Edwin (1/12)

Very sorry about the delay,because the NFB-10 now is making,so that we need one week time for shipping out your order,after we shipped,we will sent the tracking number to you

 
Quote: Edwin (1/4)

Your NFB-10ES Non-USB Version is finished,but because the factory had delay the component of the Digital Interface Version B to us,so that we just received the components yester day(1st - 3nd Jan the factory is holiday can not sent to us),so that we arrange shipping out your NFB-10ES Non-USB Version and Digital Interface Version at 11th Jan,very sorry about the delay.

 
 
I can't believe I'm being lied to like this. He said my NFB-10 was finished a week ago and now tells me it's just now being built? Now it's been delayed a month since I was told it would originally ship.

 
Quite frustrating I imagine.  If I were you, I'd just stop inquiring (being fed BS) and wait for that tracking number.  That's what I did.  Once I had a confirmation of the correct components I waited it out assuming I couldn't expect the same things I expect of businesses state side.  When they ship they ship.  

 

[hardtarget666]

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Interesting that some shipped with vents and some without. Haha very true.
 
Hard question mate. Keep in mind my limited experience with good headphones. The bass is imo what the K702 does worst, but I think I've become quite accustomed to the 702's sound signature. I hear the bass, but it's not on par with my bookshelf/sub combo in terms of energy or impact, it is definitely present though and of more detail. If you focus on something in the mid/highs it can melt away a bit but if you listen to the song as a whole it doesn't feel like its missing anything. Some songs sound better with a punchy bass response and some songs sounds better with a more laid back K702 style. I'd say in general I prefer the high energy impacting bass (thus the K702 isn't a perfect headphone for me) but often this goes hand in hand with a decrease in the "quality" of the bass which I'm not a fan of at all.
 
The NFB10 vs FUN (from memory) hasn't added in quantity of bass and I don't expect it to. It has added to the resolution of it though. It's funny how on lower fi gear there's a certain low frequency cutoff where everything below that is just one note. There's definitely no point like that with NFB10/K702.
 
It will be interesting to see the effects of good balanced cable on the K70x when my K701 arrives. Your impressions of the difference of balanced with the NFB10 and your 650 are promising.

Thanks for your impression. Will be interesting to see what differences you experience with the balanced K701's.
 

 

[ulyses]

NFB10 and other amp-dacs have linear power supply. Audio-gd's dedicated dacs and amps have class A.

 

[Wulvy]

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Sorry i forget to mention i was speaking of the AKG mini XLR plug on the side of the headphone and the headband internal wire that power the other driver.

 
Audio-gd do not mention its power class but their high-end gear is class A, that explain why it is hot.

Oh I'm with you. It's actually getting modded to dual entry hard wired, that is no detachable connector and permanent wire going into each driver, like this except terminated with 4 pin xlr. It is fully balanced

 


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Well Edwin has sent me a nice little response to my latest request for a tracking number:
 
Quote: Edwin (1/12)

Very sorry about the delay,because the NFB-10 now is making,so that we need one week time for shipping out your order,after we shipped,we will sent the tracking number to you

 
Quote: Edwin (1/4)

Your NFB-10ES Non-USB Version is finished,but because the factory had delay the component of the Digital Interface Version B to us,so that we just received the components yester day(1st - 3nd Jan the factory is holiday can not sent to us),so that we arrange shipping out your NFB-10ES Non-USB Version and Digital Interface Version at 11th Jan,very sorry about the delay.

 
 
I can't believe I'm being lied to like this. He said my NFB-10 was finished a week ago and now tells me it's just now being built? Now it's been delayed a month since I was told it would originally ship.

 
Quite frustrating I imagine.  If I were you, I'd just stop inquiring (being fed BS) and wait for that tracking number.  That's what I did.  Once I had a confirmation of the correct components I waited it out assuming I couldn't expect the same things I expect of businesses state side.  When they ship they ship.  

That's unfortunate somestranger26. I am awaiting your thoughts on the NFB10 matched with the HE-6, which I understand is very power hungry. +1 sphinxvnc

 

[.Sup]

Quote:

Quote:

Well Edwin has sent me a nice little response to my latest request for a tracking number:
 
Quote: Edwin (1/12)

Very sorry about the delay,because the NFB-10 now is making,so that we need one week time for shipping out your order,after we shipped,we will sent the tracking number to you

 
Quote: Edwin (1/4)

Your NFB-10ES Non-USB Version is finished,but because the factory had delay the component of the Digital Interface Version B to us,so that we just received the components yester day(1st - 3nd Jan the factory is holiday can not sent to us),so that we arrange shipping out your NFB-10ES Non-USB Version and Digital Interface Version at 11th Jan,very sorry about the delay.

 
 
I can't believe I'm being lied to like this. He said my NFB-10 was finished a week ago and now tells me it's just now being built? Now it's been delayed a month since I was told it would originally ship.

 
Quite frustrating I imagine.  If I were you, I'd just stop inquiring (being fed BS) and wait for that tracking number.  That's what I did.  Once I had a confirmation of the correct components I waited it out assuming I couldn't expect the same things I expect of businesses state side.  When they ship they ship.  

exactly. Be patient. I have waited 2 months for my HM602 player and I haven't sent a single inquiry 

 

[Baird GoW]

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Well Edwin has sent me a nice little response to my latest request for a tracking number:
 
Quote: Edwin (1/12)

Very sorry about the delay,because the NFB-10 now is making,so that we need one week time for shipping out your order,after we shipped,we will sent the tracking number to you

 
Quote: Edwin (1/4)

Your NFB-10ES Non-USB Version is finished,but because the factory had delay the component of the Digital Interface Version B to us,so that we just received the components yester day(1st - 3nd Jan the factory is holiday can not sent to us),so that we arrange shipping out your NFB-10ES Non-USB Version and Digital Interface Version at 11th Jan,very sorry about the delay.

 
 
I can't believe I'm being lied to like this. He said my NFB-10 was finished a week ago and now tells me it's just now being built? Now it's been delayed a month since I was told it would originally ship.

 
Quite frustrating I imagine.  If I were you, I'd just stop inquiring (being fed BS) and wait for that tracking number.  That's what I did.  Once I had a confirmation of the correct components I waited it out assuming I couldn't expect the same things I expect of businesses state side.  When they ship they ship.  

exactly. Be patient. I have waited 2 months for my HM602 player and I haven't sent a single inquiry 

They lied to him TWICE. He definitely has a reason to be mad. It shouldn't take 2 months to get you a HM-602... I'm starting to get angry that head-direct has had my HM-601 for 22 days and had not sent me my replacements tracking #.

 

[Wulvy]

Miscommunicating to him, let alone twice, is definitely poor service. I wouldn't say they lied as I definitely doubt it was intentional. Maybe Edwin was given wrong information or he made a wrong assumption somewhere. The language barrier certainly doesn't help.
 
He has a reason to be mad? Yes I'd say that's a fair call. But, adding it up: demand for Audio-GD has increased massively recently and they released all these new products coinciding with Christmas/New Year some of which had a fault (like the NFB10 ES) they had to iron out. Plus, possible miscommunications on their end and other human error, the language barrier... I can understand why they have taken so long.
 
They've consolidated their product line (removed all ES products) and are cutting down on design of new products to specifically focus in improving their customer service. You probably ordered one of their products at the worst time you could have, a few months earlier or later and you would have likely had a much better service (albeit probably not a NFB-10 ES).
 
But they definitely aren't going to win any awards for customer service for the past few months.
 
I feel sorry for somestranger26 and I also feel a little sorry for Audio-GD.