[OPrwtos]

deleted.

 

[thebathingape]

"Originally Posted by oqvist /img/forum/go_quote.gif


How often are audio GD updating their consignment page? Been a week since the last update. Curious to see when the NFB10SE will start to ship."
 
 
I wonder how many hits that page has. Recently it has been in my top 5 in chrome. Now I check it all the time since I ordered a DI the other day
 

 

[DarkWolf]

I'm getting really interested in the NFB-10SE. Right now I'm using a Head-Five directly out of my Auzentech sound card, and listening to modded 325i with spacers. The setup is far from bad and a LOT of fun! But they are also pretty colored, even for a Grado and I have to dial in a strange EQ curve. At a meet back in November, I spent quite a bit of time listening to Strid3r's HE-5LE out of his PPAv2 and DAC. I was blown away! I preferred them to the T1 out of some big Headroom amp! I also listened to some awesome Grados at the very end that were modded with some fancy all aluminum cups and spacers. Building my own spacers has gotten me along for now on fun factor alone... I still want to try and have this much fun, but with a little less color, holes int he EQ curve, and more sound stage. The spacers opened things up, but it's still not like each sound has it's own space exactly.. I know there's room for my 325i to grow with a good DAC and maybe a better amp.. I really want enough juice to be trolling the for sale section for a set of orthos though. I doubt I'll have the spare funding any time soon for an HE-6, but a 5-LE might be doable in a couple months after an amp purchase. (assuming this is doable!) The HE-500 is very interesting too, as some are saying it's simply better than the 5-LE in basically every way. Hard for me to believe, but I'm definitely interested. If a new job prospect works out I might be making a bit more by the end of Oct too... If not, I probably can't autocross next season anyway, and can save more money for other things.
 
So, trying to stay on track, how big an improvement should I expect from an NFB-10SE over my current gear on 325i and other $300 range phones? I especially want bigger, better sound stage. How well should it drive an HE-6? (I know the 5's are easier, but I want to keep my options open.) OR, should I snag a used 5E-LE soon and drive it half-assed with what I have while auditioning full size receivers at a much lower cost than a high end headphone amp? Was also getting pretty interested in a Lyr until I saw this. I listen to a lot of music, and may well love the tube sound where it's best. I don't do much classical, but certainly some classic rock and Fleetwood Mac / Stevie Nicks is one of my favorites. However, I listen mostly to electronic and pop type stuff and can't sacrifice speed or extension. I've heard very little tube or hybrid stuff, so I can't judge well.  I heard an LCD-2 (rev.1 for sure) at that meet on a very large, old school tube amp. I think I only listened to "Sisters of the Moon" off Tusk remastered. The deep, grungy electric guitar coming through the right channel, especially toward the end, simply blew my mind! It was like a real guitar amp was right there in the room next to my head! On other very good equipment I've heard, that guitar is an after thought at best. My spacers are the next best I've heard for that one passage, but a far second. Otherwise though, that particular setup was very slow and lacked any high end extension. The voice was really good, too though. Aside from those high points, it was like being in another room from a live performance, but actually believing I'm in that other room, if that makes sense. Uhg, I'm ranting. I really appreciate any input before my head explodes!

 

[IndieScent]

Quote:

I'm getting really interested in the NFB-10SE. Right now I'm using a Head-Five directly out of my Auzentech sound card, and listening to modded 325i with spacers. The setup is far from bad and a LOT of fun! But they are also pretty colored, even for a Grado and I have to dial in a strange EQ curve. At a meet back in November, I spent quite a bit of time listening to Strid3r's HE-5LE out of his PPAv2 and DAC. I was blown away! I preferred them to the T1 out of some big Headroom amp! I also listened to some awesome Grados at the very end that were modded with some fancy all aluminum cups and spacers. Building my own spacers has gotten me along for now on fun factor alone... I still want to try and have this much fun, but with a little less color, holes int he EQ curve, and more sound stage. The spacers opened things up, but it's still not like each sound has it's own space exactly.. I know there's room for my 325i to grow with a good DAC and maybe a better amp.. I really want enough juice to be trolling the for sale section for a set of orthos though. I doubt I'll have the spare funding any time soon for an HE-6, but a 5-LE might be doable in a couple months after an amp purchase. (assuming this is doable!) The HE-500 is very interesting too, as some are saying it's simply better than the 5-LE in basically every way. Hard for me to believe, but I'm definitely interested. If a new job prospect works out I might be making a bit more by the end of Oct too... If not, I probably can't autocross next season anyway, and can save more money for other things.
 
So, trying to stay on track, how big an improvement should I expect from an NFB-10SE over my current gear on 325i and other $300 range phones? I especially want bigger, better sound stage. How well should it drive an HE-6? (I know the 5's are easier, but I want to keep my options open.) OR, should I snag a used 5E-LE soon and drive it half-assed with what I have while auditioning full size receivers at a much lower cost than a high end headphone amp? Was also getting pretty interested in a Lyr until I saw this. I listen to a lot of music, and may well love the tube sound where it's best. I don't do much classical, but certainly some classic rock and Fleetwood Mac / Stevie Nicks is one of my favorites. However, I listen mostly to electronic and pop type stuff and can't sacrifice speed or extension. I've heard very little tube or hybrid stuff, so I can't judge well.  I heard an LCD-2 (rev.1 for sure) at that meet on a very large, old school tube amp. I think I only listened to "Sisters of the Moon" off Tusk remastered. The deep, grungy electric guitar coming through the right channel, especially toward the end, simply blew my mind! It was like a real guitar amp was right there in the room next to my head! On other very good equipment I've heard, that guitar is an after thought at best. My spacers are the next best I've heard for that one passage, but a far second. Otherwise though, that particular setup was very slow and lacked any high end extension. The voice was really good, too though. Aside from those high points, it was like being in another room from a live performance, but actually believing I'm in that other room, if that makes sense. Uhg, I'm ranting. I really appreciate any input before my head explodes!

no one have the NFB10SE yet I think. so I dont think anyone can properly answer your question, beside kingwa maybe.

 

[tme110]

I use 325's with the -10ES and the combo is pretty nice.  Considering you're using a sound card I'd imagine the improvement would be fairly large.  The -10 has way more power than any grado would ever need but the combo still works great.

 

[sphinxvc]

Darkwolf, on paper the 10SE looks plenty powerful enough to drive the 5LEs with ease, but not for the HE-6.  I wish the 10ES was around when I had my 5LEs, I may have held onto them.  (The 10WM or 10ES are better options for the HE-6 one as they can provide a full 8Ws at 50ohms.)  
 
The HE-500s are nice, but I wouldn't pay retail for one, the HE-6 and LCD-2 are (edit: better) at a similar price.  

 

[DarkWolf]

Well any phone in that price range I would buy used. Haven't been seeing any He-500's hitting the market yet though.

 

[drez]

there has been a few over the last month or so - initial hype is wearing down.  But second hand they aren't any less dear than HE-6, but HE-6 needs all the power of the NFB-10WM to get to decent volume.

 

[olor1n]

Quote:

How often are audio GD updating their consignment page? Been a week since the last update. Curious to see when the NFB10SE will start to ship.
 
 

I forwarded payment on the 15th and have just received shipping confirmation and tracking. Will hopefully have it by next week.

 

[DragonOwen]

DarkWolf

I have NFB-10ES, SCHIIT Lyr and HE-6/500. So I compared amp in 10ES with Lyr on both headphones... IMO HE-500 is better with Lyr, even if I compare how they sound on balanced output from 10ES... but for HE-6 I clearly would recommend 10ES on balance output, they sound much better on it, then with Lyr.

 

[nsk1]

How would you describe difference between Lyr and amp NFB-10ES? And with HE-500, difference is big?

 

[DragonOwen]

Quote:

How would you describe difference between Lyr and amp NFB-10ES? And with HE-500, difference is big?

 
With different headphones the differrence between this amps is different 

 Also Lyr is sound different with different tubes... But basically Lyr is very dynamic amp, it has very powerful "drive", so it's better for some rock music... on genres like jazz or classic I think 10ES sound better because it's sounds more clearer IMHO.
With HE-500 Lyr gives more "space" and dynamic in music, also each sound is more thick then with 10ES... but difference is not very big, but it's noticeable, especially in dynamic. With HE-6 I think it's sounds better with balanced output of 10ES because of balanced connection... I listened HE-6 with some power amps and I slill prefer the balanced output of 10ES, because it's sounds more clear, more detail and has a little tighter and better controlled bass, also soundstage a little larger). Also I think that HE-500 is a great headphone, but if compare it's sound to HE-6 and HE-4 IMO the price on HE-500 is too high, because HE-4 sound not much worser than HE-500 (actually I think it's almost same level, but has different signature) and HE-6 is much better than HE-500/4... By the way, I also has a chance to listen HE-4 on Lyr and 10ES, but without direct comparission, so in my opinion HE-4 with Lyr is simply fantastic, it's like they made for each other 

 

 

[milosz]

Quote:

Kingwa asked if I'd like to evaluate the new NFB-10SE, so one is on its way to me. I'm keen to find out just how good it is. We've come a long way since the original Compass DAC/amp.

I still have my Compass.  It sure is a handy little gizmo.  I find it really useful as a DAC / Preamp in a smaller system. I have a setup in my bedroom where I use it off a Squeezebox III, and I like that I can feed it with an analog line input, like an SACD player, DVD, tuner or phono preamp.  And, sure, it can even drive headphones....
 
It's preamp and power supplies are really pretty good, in an absolute sense- the analog stage and power supply are really extremely good. The DAC is not great but it is good, and it certainly doesn't hurt that the DAC has a REAL power supply not a wall-wart like many DACs would in this price range.
 
As a headphone amp, I would be ready to sell the Compass. As a line level preamp with an OK DAC, I can't think of anything that I could buy at the price of a used COMPASS that could compete with it.
 
I have a bunch of Audio-Gd products, I like them all... power supplies are always carefully designed, never an afterthought. Parts & build quality are very good.
 
My NFB-10ES and NFB-2 are the best boxes I have from Kingwa; really top-notch.
 
It's funny that there is (or WAS anyway)  an NFB-10ES   and now an NFB-10SE, related but quite different animals.  I am glad I got the NFB-10ES before they stopped making them, I really love the ESS Sabre DAC.  I also have an NFB-2 which has a Wolfson setup in it; I think the Sabre DAC has it beat.
 

 

[DarkWolf]

Thanks for the replies guys. Especially DragonOwen, though, your findings sort of throw a monkey wrench into my current understanding. I guess that's head-fi for you. How would you rate the Lyr for faster paced music and/or electronic? Also, I simply haven't seen a lot of impressions on the HE-4. What kind of signature does it have? Can you compare any of them to HE-5LE? That's the only one I've actually heard so far. (And seemed to like everything about it!)

 

[Currawong]

For the people who asked: Yes, I'm selling my Ref 1 and getting a Ref 7.1
 
The 10SE has been here for a few days. My first thought is: Don't worry about 192k high-res files and get the DIR9001. The WM8805+WM8741 is a bit lacking in the dynamics department. The general sound is wide and clear with the LCD-2s, however.