[Baird GoW]

Quote:

I would like to try gain button time by time (different songs, headphones etc.). That's my personal choice off course, some doesn't. And new chassis looks nicest compared to old one. If I will use it for years, that is important to me.

I disagree the ROC chassis had nicer feet... I noticed that when I ordered.
 

 

[ulyses]

Quote:

I disagree the ROC chassis had nicer feet... I noticed that when I ordered.
 

Weird. I didn't notice that. New chassis does not have spikes! But spikes are so cheap anyway.

 

[panda-R]

ugh, i want this bad boy so bad............

 

[axw]

 
Baird GoW, would you be so kind and describe how exactly did you mod your NFB-10ES ? I see that you upgraded the clock - is it the 80 Mhz one from Audio-GD? 
 
I am also curious about the re-wiring stuff..
 
What changes did you hear? Was it worth it?
 
Thanks!

 

[somestranger26]

Quote:

 
Baird GoW, would you be so kind and describe how exactly did you mod your NFB-10ES ? I see that you upgraded the clock - is it the 80 Mhz one from Audio-GD? 
 
I am also curious about the re-wiring stuff..
 
What changes did you hear? Was it worth it?
 
Thanks!

It's the 80mhz one and he doesn't have his yet. He will be able to compare to my not-rewired/upgraded clock one in about a month and a half.
 
Quote:

Weird. I didn't notice that. New chassis does not have spikes! But spikes are so cheap anyway.

Neither did the old one, it has really nice aluminum feet with a rubber bit on the end.

 

[Baird GoW]

What he said. Our gear is identical so I should be able to tell if there is a difference fairly easy.

 

[yupoet]

I need some suggestions from you friends. especially the people who owned DAC19dsp+C2 and NFB10.
 
I am now having a DAC19dsp and I am really happy with its sound characteristic, compared to my previous FUN (I had both WM8740 and AD1852 -- with which I was not so satisfied.)
Mean while I have a headphone German Maestro GMP450 which is of very detailed / neutral favor. And as well I have audio-gd CIA400 as preamp+poweramp.
 
So that's my current gears. Now I am going to buy a C2.1 or C2SA head amp for my GMP4t50. But I am also thinking whether I should sell my DAC19dsp and then replace it with NFB10ES + USB DI from audio-gd.
The cost is considerable the same. DAC19dsp + C2SA = NFB10ES + USB DI.
 
But how will it feel like? Will it be a good choice? After that I will lose PCM1704, will lose warm and musical sounds (which I am really loving), and will lose DSP1 (which seems to have fixed my thinkpad jitters); But within NFB10ES+USB DI I will get a high qualified DAC ES9018 (which is a top level DAC chip at his figures), will get balanced output (although my headphone is not balanced but I might go for balanced HD650 in future), will get DSP3 for upsampling and de-jitter ability (although it might not be as good as DSP1).
 
Now I am really un-determined, keep considering it day by day. Can some one give me some valuable feedback --> if you have listened to both DAC19DSP + C2 and NFB10 (whatever ES or WM)?
 
Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[haloxt]

I'd say forget about headphones and just use speakers . dac19dsp+cia-400 will be better than nfb-10+cia-400 because nfb-10 is meant to be used in balanced, and because half of its circuitry is for headphone amp., whereas cia-400 and dac19dsp are meant to be used single-ended, and because the dac19dsp is a dedicated dac.
 
Not to mention you will be taking a hit in the wallet by selling the dac19dsp used.

 

[yupoet]

I think I had asked the same silly questions before in another thread, still I am not too confident. Since the NFB10 is really powerful for its price. On the other hand, I wanted to buy a dac+amp combo was because I want to save one piece of power cable (which usually cost me about 100$ each). From many of the advices I can only see one constructive suggestion, that is stick to the single end until I can afford real high-fi class products. Say REF7 + Master pre-amp + Master poweramp. Thanks a lot Haloxt (Mr.) ,I was just cannot control my curious thinkgs (whether NFB10ES+SA300SE will outperform DAC19DSP+CIA400s, and whether NFB10ES outperform DAC19dsp + C2SA). Now I will tell myself -- forget about the gears, just love my music.
 
 

 

[axw]

Quote:

I'd say forget about headphones and just use speakers . dac19dsp+cia-400 will be better than nfb-10+cia-400 because nfb-10 is meant to be used in balanced, and because half of its circuitry is for headphone amp., whereas cia-400 and dac19dsp are meant to be used single-ended, and because the dac19dsp is a dedicated dac.

Quoting C-400 product page: signal paths are in balanced mode throughout input to output. Given that I see XLR inputs on it, I think it means C-400 does not have to be used single ended and moreover, is very likely to perform better in balanced mode. And here comes NFB-10ES 

 
Btw, it seems being a "dedicated dac" is not that much of an issue, Audiofil found both devices to perform very similar, we both agree that NFB-10ES is superior when in balanced. I have an overall preference for NFB-10ES signature because of DAC-19's lacks in bass and dynamics departments - and this does not have to do with single ended vs balanced mode.

 

[haloxt]

I am pretty sure the CIA-400 is single-ended, they must've just lifted that from the C-500 page and forgot to remove it. I'll send an email to audio-gd to ask about it.

 

[Baird GoW]

kingwa was gonna let me buy cia-400 for $780 cause i already bought $1200 of gear from him but then I found out it doesn't drive speakers well (its not that powerful) which was problematic for me.

 

[sayh]

If cia-400 limit edition has indeed become balanced suddenly, it would be a good deal. Likely it is still SE as always.

 

[Caphead78]

kingwa was gonna let me buy cia-400 for $780 cause i already bought $1200 of gear from him but then I found out it doesn't drive speakers well (its not that powerful) which was problematic for me.

Wait, I thought it was a speaker amp. If it can't drive speakers well what is it good for?

 

[Baird GoW]

Well I talked with kingwa directly and another person on head-fi selling his. The head-fier told me he thought it "the sound is very mark levinson like, clear, relax, laid back and lacks a little dynamics and low power. would advise u to go for minimum C-500"
Quote from kingwa:"The CIA400 sound neutral but very slight boost the bass, so some owners think about its power is large, its sound still quite monitor."